Acts 15:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

By divine revelation he was assured that such an explanation was now necessary for the good of the Church (Gal. 2:2). Thus, in the fourteenth year after his conversion, as he himself says in Galatians, he went up to Jerusalem.

He intended to set before the most highly esteemed apostles the manner of his preaching of the Gospel among the Gentiles. He wished them not to think that all his labors had been in vain.

Rather, he wished them to know that he preached the same Gospel as they did. This Gospel was working with the same divine power among the Gentiles as among the Jews.

To present a living example of the Gospel's work among the Gentiles, Paul took with him Titus, a young man of Gentile origin whom he had converted. Later Titus became his particular fellow-worker in preaching.

In Jerusalem, before the public examination began, private communications took place. Paul gave the apostles Peter, John, and James (Gal. 2:9) a detailed account of how he preached the Gospel to the Gentiles and of the fruits of his labor.

They acknowledged the divine character of his calling and were far from thinking that they should instruct him. They agreed that he should continue to labor independently among the Gentiles.

They asked only that he not forget to exhort the newly converted churches to help the Church of Jerusalem in its bodily needs (Gal. 2:1-10).

Even in separate communities, where Paul and Barnabas told what God had done among the Gentiles through their preaching, their reports were received with joyful sympathy.

But some of the converted Pharisees began to insist that the Gentiles receive circumcision together with the Gospel. Only on this condition did they agree to recognize them as their brethren. For this reason they even demanded that Titus be circumcised.

Paul defended the equal rights of the Gentiles with the circumcised in the Kingdom of God, on the basis of faith alone in the Redeemer. Therefore he did not yield even concerning Titus, since his concession would have been counted as agreement with their teaching.

Since Paul in Galatians speaks only of private communications, κατ ίδίαν, this at first glance seems to contradict the narrative of Acts. But the contradiction only proves that the two narratives are not speaking of one and the same thing.

First there could have been private communications, and afterward a common deliberation. Therefore both narratives can refer to the same matter.

This reception of the teaching on the freedom of the Christian religion moved the Apostle Paul to act cautiously. Before submitting the question to the general Church assembly, he first set forth his Gospel privately before the chief apostles.

He says this himself in the Epistle to the Galatians (Gal. 2:2). It was the Gospel that he preached among the Gentiles.

He acted in this way so that, in calm conversation with the apostles alone, he might first reach full agreement and oneness of mind with them. The slightest disagreement between him and the apostles could have made all his labors vain.

The apostles of the circumcision came into full agreement and oneness of mind with the apostle of the Gentiles (Gal. 2:3 and following).

It confirmed the view that the Gentiles should be received into the Church apart from Judaism and the law of Moses. It also gave occasion for the decisive posing of the question whether the law of Moses was obligatory for Christians from the Gentiles.

What Paul and Barnabas said presented, as it were, a report to the elder Church on their activity. It also justified that activity against the accusations of certain men who had come from Judea.

It confirmed the view that the Gentiles should be received into the Church apart from Judaism and the law of Moses. It also gave occasion to pose decisively whether the law of Moses was obligatory for Christians from the Gentiles.