We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves also will, by word of mouth, tell you the same things.
απεσταλκαμεν ουν ιουδαν και σιλαν και αυτους δια λογου απαγγελλοντας τα αυτα
5 Church Fathers comment on this verse
It was fitting that there should not be only a letter, lest they say that the decree had been shortened, or that one thing had been said instead of another. The praise ascribed to Paul shut their mouths. Therefore not Paul alone, nor Barnabas alone, is sent, but also others from the Church. Thus they would not regard him with suspicion, since he held the same teaching, nor would only those sent from Jerusalem be present.
And in order to give this decree greater force and clarity, two honorable men, Judas and Silas, were chosen from the midst of the Church of Jerusalem. They could give the Church instruction and confirmation.
The written decree of the council was expressed in the words of the Apostle James. After greeting the brethren from the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, the council first gives a strict rebuke to the Judaizing false teachers who had caused disturbance and wavering in Antioch. By contrast, it praises Barnabas and Paul, calling them beloved and men who have given up their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It also indicates the purpose for which it sends Judas and Silas together with Paul and Barnabas. After this the council states the very rules which, by its decree, Christians from the Gentiles must strictly fulfill in life, while being generally free from the yoke of the law.
Yet beforehand it expresses the unchangeable obligatory force of these rules for them, saying that this seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. The decree of the Jerusalem council should have been binding for Gentile Christians already because it was an assembly. In it the voice of the Catholic Church was expressed, and moreover of the Jerusalem Church, the mother of all Christian Churches, from which the word of God went forth, 1 Cor 14:36. This Church also continued to be guided by the very apostles of Christ. Yet the decree becomes still more immutably binding because it was inspired by the Spirit of God Himself, Who gave life to the assembly.
Judas and Silas: see the note on verse 22. They will explain orally the same thing that is written in the letter, and more fully, as verse 32 shows. This was to remove every misunderstanding and explain every doubt.
The praise of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas expressed in the conciliar epistle names them as men wholly devoted to the work of Christ and calls them beloved. This shows that, in contrast to the self-appointed false teachers, they are recommended as worthy of complete trust. So too are Judas and Silas, to whom the primary right of explaining everything orally is entrusted, as immediate representatives of the Jerusalem Church. It is also worthy of attention that their election for the embassy is said to have taken place unanimously. Consequently, in their teaching one may hear, as it were, the voice of the whole Church, which so harmoniously chose and sent them for the work of bringing peace to the Churches disturbed by false teaching.
"It was necessary to send not only an epistle, lest they say that the decree had been distorted. And to show that this was not done arbitrarily, but as all had assembled and written this after proper deliberation, they say: 'having chosen men from among us.' The praise ascribed to Paul shut their mouths. Therefore not only Paul or Barnabas is sent, but also others from the Church, so that he would not be viewed with suspicion."
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 12 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS