Acts 15:28Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

At the same time, he shows that the decree was not made by condescension. It was not because they supposedly spared them as weak men. On the contrary, great reverence for the teachers then prevailed. Rather, it was because this would have been a needless burden.

See how brief the letter is. It contains nothing superfluous, no elaborate devices, and no syllogisms, but only a decree. It was a lawgiving of the Spirit. In various places they call the law a burden.

"It seemed good to the Holy Spirit." If He is subordinate, why did it "seem good" to Him? If the Spirit is under laws and serves, how can what seems good belong to one who is subordinate?

Is it not what seems good to the king that comes to pass, and not what comes into the mind of subjects? "As it pleased the Lord," says Job. "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit," say the apostles.

The expression of dignity is equivalent in both cases, since the glory of the Kingdom is indivisible. Yet the malice of heretics again finds an opening.

They say: since the apostles said, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit," and then added, "and to us," do they therefore possess the dignity of divinity? We must take care that they do not place the poison of their unbelief into inexperienced souls. We must not let them pour heretical impiety into innocent ears.

They often speak with gravity in this way: Brother, let nothing that has been said astonish you. He calls you brother, as it were, and then slays you as an enemy.

Do not be surprised, he says, if the apostles said of the Holy Spirit, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit." But look also at what is added: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us." It seemed good to the apostles.

Are the apostles gods? Do they have God's dignity? Whenever a heretic says this, we shall bring forth arrows from Holy Scripture, for they are "the sharp arrows of the mighty" (Ps 119:4), sent into the heart of the king's enemies.

What, then, must be said to him? If the joining of the apostles with the Holy Spirit diminishes the dignity of the Spirit, then the joining of Moses with God also diminishes God's dignity.

I will give an example. If you do not regard the words, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit," as great because the apostles are added, then you will not be able to call even faith in God great. For Moses is joined with God, since Scripture says, "the people believed the Lord and Moses" (Ex 14:31).

But we shall bring forth another arrow. If the added glory of the apostles destroys the dignity of the Spirit, then the addition of Samuel's name to the name of God insults God and diminishes His dignity. For it is written, "all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel" (1 Sam 12:18).

In turn, let us bring another, a third arrow against impiety. If the joining of the apostles with the Holy Spirit diminishes the dignity and divine authority of the Holy Spirit, then Gideon also diminishes God's dignity, since his name is joined to God's name. For when all the people went to war, they cried out, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!" (Judg 7:20).

Therefore, just as Moses is joined with God, not as equal in honor to God, but as God's servant, so also Samuel is joined with God, not as equal in honor, but as a prophet. Gideon too is joined with God, not as equal in honor, but as a military leader.

So also the apostles are joined with the Spirit as preachers of the Gospel. Therefore recognize the dignity and do not dishonor the honor of the Spirit. Recognize the God-inspired theology of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

This is the uncreated nature, the true dignity, the indivisible Kingdom, the undivided portion, the unbroken hope, the incomprehensible glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To Him belong all glory, honor, and worship unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Yet they did not claim for themselves the authority to dispose of so great a matter. In the written epistle they confessed: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: to abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication."

By this writing they clearly showed that, although it was written by the Apostles, who were men, through the action of the Spirit it became law for the whole world. Barnabas and Paul received this law and made it effective throughout the whole world.

This unity is independent of outward differences. Let some observe such outward rites and others not observe them. Both, by the power of their common faith in Jesus as Redeemer, have the Holy Spirit as the faithful pledge of their participation in the Kingdom of God.

Yet this difference did not extend only to outward things. As could be inferred from the particular Jewish view of Christianity, other dogmatic disagreements were joined to it. They had simply not yet been expressed. Later, if they were not overcome by the power of the Spirit dwelling ever more deeply within, they would rise up with all the greater force.

The mediation itself, however prudent it was, could not abolish the deeply rooted division. That division would be abolished only by the action of the same Spirit from whom this mediation came.

The Christians who thought in a Pharisaic manner had long been accustomed to consider only one Christianity authentic and perfect. For them, only Christianity closely joined and fused with Judaism gave the right to possess all the privileges of members of the Kingdom of God.

For this reason, the measures of the apostolic council were not yet wholly strong enough to produce a change in their way of thinking. They could either disregard the decree of the Jerusalem Council as though it did not exist, or interpret it according to their own understanding and for their own advantage.

That is, they could agree that observance of the Law was not imposed as an obligation on Christians from among the Gentiles. Yet they could still argue that the Gentiles would do better if, voluntarily and out of love for Jehovah, they kept the whole Law.

Even before this council, they were not ashamed to appeal to the authority of the Apostles. Yet the Apostles themselves clearly say that they had by no means given them authority to act in this way. So afterward they could do the same, and still more. They could use for this purpose the local distance of the Gentile churches from the Church of Jerusalem.

After this, the council states the very rules which, by its decree, Christians from among the Gentiles must strictly fulfill in life. In general they are free from the yoke of the Law. Yet first the council expresses the unalterable force of these rules as binding for them, saying that this seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.

The ordinance of the Jerusalem Council would have been binding for Christians from among the Gentiles already because it was a council. In it the voice of the Catholic Church was expressed, and especially of the Church of Jerusalem, the Mother of all Christian Churches.

From this Church the word of God had gone forth (1 Cor 14:36), and it continued to be guided by the Apostles of Christ themselves. Yet the ordinance becomes still more unalterably binding because it was inspired by the Spirit of God Himself, who gave life to the assembly.

"The Holy Spirit is mentioned so that they might not think this was a human teaching. And us is added to show that they themselves also accept it, though they belong to the circumcision" (Chrysostom, cf. Theophylact).

"It is remarkable that neither Peter nor James dared, without the whole Church, to make decrees concerning circumcision, though they recognized this as necessary. Yet even all together they would not have relied on themselves, had they not been convinced that this was also pleasing to the Holy Spirit" (Theophylact).

"No burden" means nothing from the rites and ordinances of the Mosaic Law (v. 10).

"Except these necessary things" means those things whose necessity was conditioned by temporary circumstances and by relations between those converted to Christ from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

"If this is pleasing to the Spirit, then it is not a human teaching," says Saint John Chrysostom. "And us is said in order to show that they themselves also accept it, though they belong to the circumcision."

"The Apostles say, It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, not placing themselves on the same level as the authority of the Spirit. Rather, they subject themselves to the Spirit, as those then instructed by Him. By this they show that they have, as it were, one vision, one thought, and one authority with the Spirit. The decree pleased the Apostles as something they proclaimed ministerially."

"It is remarkable that neither Peter nor John dared, without the whole Church, to make decrees concerning circumcision, though they recognized this as necessary. Yet even all together they would not have relied on themselves, had they not been convinced that this was pleasing also to the Holy Spirit."

As for the decrees themselves, they are precisely those proposed by the holy Apostle James, though in different words. The decree was conciliar and therefore, so to speak, legislative. Yet it is offered for fulfillment only as something good, that is, worthy of free reception. What instructive lack of pretension!

"Great then was the respect for teachers," says Saint John Chrysostom. "And see how brief the epistle is. It contains nothing superfluous, no artifices, no syllogisms, but only the decree, in which the legislation of the Spirit was accomplished. By burden they mean the Law."

"Farewell!" This was the customary closing greeting among Greeks and Romans (cf. Acts 23:30).