i Dan. ii. 46. 65. 1 ch. x. 26. m James v. 17. Rev. xix. 10. n 1 Sam. xii. 21. 1 Kings xiv. 22. Amos ii. 4. 1 Cor. viii. 4. 01 Thess. i. 9. p Gen. i. 1. P's. xxxiii. 6: cxlvi. 6. k he was the chief speaker. 13 Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought 1oren and garlands unto the m gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. 14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and : i k Matt. xxvi. Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, 15 and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? m We also are men, of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from 13. Jer, these P vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein 16 9 who in 9 times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts Deut. xi. 14. with food and gladness. 18 And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them. 19 t And there came thither certain Jews Matt. v. 45. from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the s 8 people, Rev. xiv. 7. q Ps. lxxxi. 12. ch. xvii. 30. 1 Pet. iv. 3. r ch. xvii. 27. Rom. i. 20. 8 Lev. xxvi. 4: xxviii, 12. Job v. 10. Ps. lxv. 10: lxviii. 9: exlvii. 3. Jer. xiv. 22. t ch. xiii. 45. r kliterally, leader of the discourse. m render, doors: see note. ° literally, Men. 9 render, the generations. 8 render, the multitudes. country of Phrygia that Jupiter and Mer- 13. which was before their city] i. e. which 14. the apostles] This is the first place 1 render, bulls. S n render, rushed forth. P render, vain gods. rrender, multitude. : title in his Epistles: see Rom. i. 1; 1 Cor. u u 2 Cor. 25. and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, sup- "3 fim... posing he had been dead. 20 Howbeit, as the disciples 19. ch. xi. 23: 2. xiii. 43. z Matt. x. 38: Luke xxii. stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city : * and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. Matt. xxviii. 21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, 22 confirming the souls of the disciples, [and] exhorting them to continue in the faith, y and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had a ordained them elders in every church, a and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they bbelieved. 24 And after they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. 25 And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalía: t literally, evangelized that city. a render, made many disciples: see Matt. xxviii. 19. y render, many tribulations. 28, 29. Rom. T. viii. 17. 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12: iii. 12. a Tit. i. 5. a render, they prayed with fasting, and reached by digging the wells very deep, it was sold for money. 19. who persuaded the multitude] We are told that the Lycaonians were fickle and untrustworthy. They stoned him, not in the Jewish method, but tumultuously and in the streets, dragging him out of the city afterwards.--He refers to this stoning, 2 Cor. xi 25, "once was I stoned." 20. the disciples stood round about him] not to bury him, but, as would naturally be the case, in mournful anxiety and regret. he rose up] The first, and I think the right impression is, that this recovery was supernatural. It is not indeed so strongly implied, as to leave no doubt: especially as a blow from a stone would be likely to stun, and occasion the appearance of death. Derbe] See above, on ver. 6. It is probably now Divlé. From Derbe not being enumerated, 2 Tim. iii. 11, with Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, as the scene of any of Paul's sufferings, we may perhaps infer that none befell him there.They may have fled to Derbe, as being in a different jurisdiction from Lystra; the latter being comprised in the Roman province of Galatia, whereas Derbe seems to have belonged at this time to Antiochus, king of Commagéné. 21. they returned again] They were not far from the famous pass, called the Cilician gates,' which leads direct into that province: but, notwithstanding all that had befallen him, St. Paul prefers returning by the churches which he had founded, to a short and easy journey to the coast by his own home. 22. that we must... ] Is not this use of the first person a token of the presence of the narrator again? My own conjecture would be, that he remained in Antioch during the journey to Iconium, &c., and back. The events between those two limits are much more summarily related than those before or after. 23. when they had elected them elders] The verb means, appointed by suffrage: and probably, by the analogy of ch. vi. 2-6 (see 2 Cor. viii. 19), the strict meaning is here to be retained. The word will not bear Jerome's and Chrysostom's sense of laying on of hands,' adopted by Roman Catholic expositors. Nor is there any reason here for departing from the usual meaning of electing by shew of hands. The Apostles may have admitted by ordination those presbyters whom the churches elected. 25. Attalía] A maritime town at the mouth of the river Catarrhactes, in Pamphylia, not far from the border of Lycia, built by Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamus, in a convenient position to command the trade of Syria or Egypt. It is still an important place, b b ch. xii. 1,3. 26 and thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had c ch. xv. 40. с been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. 27 And when they were come, and dch. xv. 4,12: had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all e 1 Cor. xvi. 9. that God had done with them, and xxi. 19. 2 Cor. ii. 12. Col. iv. 3. Rev. iii. 8. a Gal. ii. 12. b John vii. 22. ver. 5. Gal. iii. 2. Col. ii. 8, 11, 16. c Gen. xvii. 10. Lev. xii. 3. d Gal. ii. 1. the door of faith unto the Gentiles. d e how he had opened 28 And [d there] they XV. 1 And a certain men which с cumcised, after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. 2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this e Rom. xv. 25. question. 3 And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenicé and Samaria, fch. xiv. 27. f declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they 1 Cor. xvi. 6, 11. e motion among his people allows him to remain uncircumcised - when a certain Eleazar, who had the reputation of being very strict about his national observances, prevails on him to perform the rite, for that without it he could not be a Jew. should called Satalia. To reach it they had to certain Ananias, who, for fear of a comcross the plain from Perga. whence, as being the centre whence their apostolic commission had spread. 27. the door of faith] The same metaphor is used in 1 Cor. xvi. 9; 2 Cor. ii. 12; Col. iv. 3, by St. Paul, and shews, perhaps, his hand in the narrative.-On the explanation of long time here, see chronological table in Introduction. CHAP. XV. 1-35.] DIFFERENCE RESPECTING THE NECESSITY OF CIRCUMCISION FOR THE GENTILE CONVERTS. COUNCIL OF THE APOSTLES AND ELDERS AT JERUSALEM. 1. certain men] Called in Gal. ii. 4 "false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus." Some of our later MSS. read, "certain men of the sect of the Pharisees which believed," as in ver. 5. Doubtless it was so. In spite of the special revelations which had accompanied the reception of the first Gentiles into the church, the strong Judaizing party adhered to their old prejudices respecting the necessity of conformity to the law of Moses. With this party Paul was in conflict all his life; and even long after, we find it raising its head again in the sects of the Ebionites and the Nazarenes.-Neander notices the account in Josephus, where Izates, K. of Adiabene, is converted to Judaism by a 2.] Compare Gal. ii. 5. go up to Jerusalem] I assume here what other of them] Titus was one, Gal. ii. 1, 3, brought on their way by the church] caused great joy unto all the brethren. 4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received f of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared & ver. 12. ch. all things that God had done with them. 5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, h xiv. 27: xxi. 19. saying, that it was needful to circumcise them, and to hver. 1. command them to keep the law of Moses. 6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. 7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, [ig Men and] brethren, i chy. x. 20: xi. ye know how that a good while ago God made choice f i. e. by. commendation to God: causing great joy to them. It shews that the mind of the church was with them, not with the Judaizers. This was also the case in Phoenicia and Samaria, as is shewn by "all the brethren." 4.] On their arrival at Jerusalem, there seems to have taken place an official reception of them and their message, in public. There they relatedas a most important element for the determination of the question-God's dealings with them (see on ch. xiv. 27), and recounted the places where churches of believing Gentiles had been founded. This having taken place, a protest was entered on the part of the Pharisee believers-in no way doubting the truth of these conversions, nor in any way disparaging the ministry of Paul and Barnabas,-that it was necessary to circumcise them, i. e. those of whom they had spoken, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.-It may be objected, that this view would not be consistent with Paul's statement, Gal. ii. 2, I communicated unto them that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation. But I cannot see any inconsistency, if the words used in both cases be accurately weighed. To the church and apostles and elders, Paul and Barnabas gave a simple recital of how God had dealt with them among the Gentiles: but Paul did not lay before the whole assembly the Gospel which he preached among the Gentiles, viz. the indifference of the Mosaic law to their salvation (Gal. i. 7-9), for fear of its being hastily disparaged or repudiated, and so his work being hindered: "lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain," Gal. ii. 2. But, in private interviews with the chief Apostles, James, Peter, and John (Gal. ii. 9), he did unfold the whole freeness of this Gospel, and so effectually, as to 12. gomit: see on ch. i. 16. prepare the way for their full and public accordance with him at the council. 6.] The Apostles and elders only are mentioned as having assembled: in which case "all the multitude" (ver. 12) must mean that of the elders, and the decision of ver. 22 must have been arrived at in a larger assembly. But most probably the deliberation of the Apostles and elders implied the presence of the brethren also, who are intended by "all the multitude" -and there was but one assembly. The objection, that no one place could have held them, is nugatory: the official presence of all is assumed continually in such cases, where the assembly is open to all. 7.] A promiscuous debate, not perhaps without some angry feeling, ensued on their first coming together, and among the multitude, as is implied in ver. 12,-man disputing with man. Peter] Partly on account of the universal deference paid to him, but principally because of his peculiar fitness to open the apostolic decisions on the subject, from having been made the instrument of the first public and approved reception of the Gentiles. ye (emphatic) know] In Peter's speeches in ch. x., this phrase occurs at the beginning of a sentence, ver. 28, and ver. 37 : and we have traces of the same way of expressing the personal pronoun in his speeches, ch. ii. 15; iii. 14, 25. Such notices are important, as shewing that these reports are not only according to the sense of what was said, but the words spoken, verbatim. a good while ago] literally, "from ancient days." In regard to the whole time of the Gospel up to that day (about 20 years), the date of the conversion of Cornelius, at least fifteen years before this (compare Gal. ii. 1), would very properly be so specified. The length of time elapsed is placed by Peter in the k 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. ch. i. 24. 1 ch. x. 44. m Rom. x. 11. 43. 1 Cor. i. 2. 1 Pet. i. 22. o Matt. xxiii. 4. Gal. v. i. p Rom. iii. 24. Eph. ii. 8. iii. 4, 5. h among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear 1 n ch. x. 15, 28, difference between us and them, "purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 pk But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as 1 they. 12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. 13 And after they had held their 1 James answered, saying, [" Men and] brethren, peace, q ch. xiv. 27. r ch. xii. 17. hread, you. krender, Howbeit. i render, their faith. m render, signs: as in ch. v. 12, vii. 36, xiv. 3; Rom. xv. 19. n omit: see on ch. i. 16. a strongest light, to shew that the question and only cause of our salvation, it can 13.1 being tranquillized by Peter's speech, quietly received from Paul and Barnabas an account of the seals of signs and wonders by which God had stamped the approval of their ministry among the Gentiles. The miracles at Paphos and Lystra would be among the principal of these. after they had held their peace, viz. Paul and Barnabas. Both had spoken; doubtless wonders, unrecorded, had been wrought by the hand of Barnabas, which he had recounted. James] See note, ch. xii. 17, and the Introduction to the Epistle of James. I assume here, that this is James the Just, the brother of the Lord, the author of the Epistle: and though an Apostle (Gal. i. 19: see also note on ch. xiv. 14), not one of the Twelve. If we may presume to judge from the character of his Epistle, to say nothing of the particulars which tradition has handed down concerning him, his decision would come with remarkable weight on this occasion. For he is, among all the sacred |