Acts 15:2

Paul and Barnabas. These apostles were at the center of the dispute, for the demands of the Judaizers presented a direct condemnation of the work that these two missionaries had done in Cilicia, in Antioch itself, and on their First Missionary Journey. Such work they could not but interpret as a triumph of God’s grace. They had proclaimed salvation through faith in Christ. Now they could not stand by silently while their converts were told that the acceptance of God’s grace through faith was not sufficient, but that external rites must be performed in order to obtain salvation.

Dissension. Gr. stasis, “status,” “party,” or “faction.” In Mark 15:7 and Luke 23:19 it is used of the insurrection in which Barabbas had been a ring leader. Here it portrays a vigorous dispute.

Disputation. Gr. zetesis, “a seeking,” and so “a questioning” “a debate.”

They determined. Gr. tasso, “to appoint,” “to arrange” (see on ch. 13:48).

Paul and Barnabas. No better representatives of the cause of freedom in the gospel could have been chosen than these two, who had already worked so successfully among the Gentiles.

Certain other. These are not named. They may have been some of the prophets at Antioch (ch. 13:1), or some of the men from Cyprus and Cyrene (ch. 11:20) who had a special interest in the Gentiles. Titus went, probably as a striking example of the kind of work the Holy Spirit had enabled Paul and Barnabas to do (Gal. 2:1).

To Jerusalem. On the question of the identification of this visit to Jerusalem with that of Gal. 2 see Additional Notes at end of chapter, Note 1.

Apostles and elders. Peter, John, and James, the Lord’s brother, were at Jerusalem (see Gal. 2:9; cf. ch. 1:19). These, with the elders (see on Acts 11:30), and possibly other apostles not specifically named, appear as the guiding group of the youthful church. The fact that the early church referred the vexing question of circumcision to a council of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem is a highly significant precedent for church organization. It stands against the theory that a final decision in ecclesiastical matters should be made by one man acting as an autocrat. It is also illustrates the need of counsel and authority on a wider level than that of the local congregation, when affairs affecting the entire church are in question. For the NT church, the apostles and officials of the initial congregation at Jerusalem logically constituted such a board of appeal. At the same time it will be noted later in the chapter (ch. 15:22, 25) that apparently the final decision in the present instance was based on the agreement of all present, including those who had appealed the case as delegates from Antioch, and not merely on a decision of the Jerusalem leaders.

By taking their problem to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas, and indeed the whole Antiochian church, demonstrated their confidence in the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the leadership at Jerusalem. Thus Paul declares that he went up to Jerusalem “by revelation” (Gal. 2:2). See AA 96.