Acts 15:23 - Printer Friendly

ESV: with the following letter: "The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.

NIV: With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.

NASB: and they sent this letter with them: 'The apostles and the brothers who are elders, to the brothers and sisters in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles: Greetings.

CSB: They wrote: "From the apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers and sisters among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

NLT: This is the letter they took with them: 'This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings!

KJV: And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:

NKJV: They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

The apostles and elders of the church in Jerusalem have affirmed the truth: Gentiles do not have to convert to Judaism to receive salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus. Gentiles neither need to be circumcised nor follow the Mosaic law. So that Jewish Jesus-followers feel comfortable eating with and living life with Gentiles in their church, however, Gentiles must adhere to Jewish sexual purity laws and refrain from eating blood and food sacrificed to idols (Acts 15:6–21).

To share this information, the council writes a letter. The letter is sent with representatives to the district of Syria, 300 miles to the north. The apostles mentioned here are the ten remaining original disciples of Jesus (James the son of Zebedee had been martyred; see Acts 12:2), plus Matthias who replaced Judas (Acts 1:23–26). The elders are respected men who lead the church in Jerusalem. All have been trained by Jesus or by those who were trained by Jesus.

The issue arose when Jewish Christians who had been Pharisees visited the church in Antioch, the capital of Syria. As Pharisees, they still clung to the Mosaic law, as well as the unnecessary oral law, and insisted that every Jesus-follower must do the same. Paul and Barnabas, who made their home in Antioch, disagreed, and they and other representatives from the church brought the issue to Jerusalem (Acts 15:1–3). Now, the Antiochene envoys, along with men from Jerusalem, have the privilege of accompanying the answer to Syria. Once the church in Antioch is made aware of the new policy, Paul and Silas will take the letter to the churches Paul and Barnabas planted in modern-day Asia Minor (Acts 15:40–41; 16:4).

Acts 15:22–29 records probably the first or second letter sent by a Christian leader with instructions as to how the church should live. A possibly earlier message is what we now call the book of James. The council in Jerusalem has decided: Gentiles do not need to convert to Judaism to receive salvation from Jesus. They are, however, asked to make a few alterations to their dietary and sexual practices. This is not for salvation, but to maintain unity and community in the Jewish-Gentile church.

Paul and Barnabas are in Syrian Antioch, home from their first missionary journey. Legalistic Christians from Jerusalem arrive and insist Gentiles must convert to Judaism. When negotiations fail, a delegation travels to Jerusalem to request clarification from Jesus' closest students. The leadership in Jerusalem agree with Paul and Barnabas. They write a letter that Gentiles should only make concessions, mostly dietary, which will ensure unity with the Jews in their congregation. After delivering the letter to Antioch, Paul takes Silas and Barnabas takes John Mark to share the letter to other churches they have planted.

Acts chapter 15 resembles Acts 11:1–18, where Peter testified before the leadership of the church in Jerusalem. His subject was how the Holy Spirit had fallen on uncircumcised and unbaptized Gentiles. Here Paul and Barnabas also testify that Gentiles are coming to faith in Jesus without being circumcised. The issue the leadership must decide is the extent Gentiles must be responsible to follow the Mosaic law. Their decision is that the Law is in no way required to be saved, but Gentiles should graciously make concessions so their Jewish brothers and sisters feel free to live in community. This forms a partial background to the rest of Paul's missionary journeys as explained in Acts.

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.