Acts 16:4

Decrees. Gr. dogmata, “opinions,” “judgments,” “decrees,” from doked, “to give an opinion.” The “decrees” here were the decisions of the council in Jerusalem (see ch. 15:22-31). The inference is that Paul passed on copies of the decisions (called an “epistle” in ch. 15:30) to the churches he had previously raised up. The apostles gave the decrees to the Gentile Christians for their guidance and observance. There was nothing in them that the Christian Jew would be likely to disregard, and the freedom granted to the Gentiles did not apply to the Jewish Christians. To the Gentiles, however, they would assume the character of a charter upon which the Gentiles could take their stand in the case of any dispute with the Judaizers. The same decrees may also have helped many Gentiles to decide to enter the Christian church, knowing they would not be burdened with a heavy round of ceremonies.