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-
cury were said to have wandered, and to
have been entertained by Baucis and Phile-
mon. 12.] This distinction is (besides
the reason given) in accordance with what
Paul himself cites (as the saying of his
adversaries, it is true, but not therefore
without some physical foundation), "his
bodily presence is weak." So Chrysostom,
adding, "Barnabas seems to me to have
been a person of noble appearance and
bearing."
leader of the discourse]
Titles like this were commonly given to
Hermes, the god of eloquence.

13.

which was before their city] i. e. which
was the defender, or tutelar god, of their
city.
bulls and garlands] The mean-
ing is not that the bulls were wreathed
with the garlands: these last may have
been to hang on the doors of the house
where the Apostles were: or for manifold
purposes connected with the sacrifice.
They brought them, not to the gates of
the city, but to the doors of the outer
court of the house: see ch. xii. 13.

14. the apostles] This is the first place
where Paul and Barnabas are so called.
St. Paul constantly claims for himself the

1 render, bulls.

S

n render, rushed forth. P render, vain gods. rrender, multitude.

:

title in his Epistles: see Rom. i. 1; 1 Cor.
i. 1; ix. 1; xv. 9; 2 Cor. i. 1; Gal. i. 1; Col.
i. 1; 1 Tim. i. 1; 2 Tim. i. 1; Tit. i. 1.
It seems to have been borne in this higher
sense also by James the Lord's brother:
see Gal. i. 19, and note, and the Introduc-
tion to the Epistle of James and by Bar-
nabas, here and in 1 Cor. ix. 5, 6: see also
Gal. ii. 9. So that there were, widening the
word beyond the Twelve, fifteen Apostles,
usually so called. The word was also used
in a still wider sense: see Rom. xvi. 7;
2 Cor. viii. 23 (marginal rendering); 1 Thess.
ii. 6 in which latter place Silvanus and
Timotheus seem to be included in it.
The Apostles were within: on being told,
they rushed forth into the crowd.
15. The original, these vain... may be
filled up by things or gods: more probably
the latter, as contrasted with the One
living God. 16.] Compare Rom. iii.
25, 26, and ch. xvii. 30. 17.] Com-
pare Rom. i. 19, 20. The words gave us
rain from heaven had a remarkable appli-
cability in a country where we have seen
from Strabo (on ver. 6) that there was
great scarcity of water. He relates that
in one city of Lycaonia, where water was

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.
abode long time with the disciples.

d

e

how he had opened

28 And [d there] they

XV. 1 And a certain men which
Judæa taught the brethren, and said,

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
seems to me to be almost beyond the pos
sibility of question, that this journey was
the same as that mentioned Gal. ii. 1-10.
In that case, Paul there (ver. 2) says that
he went up "by revelation." In this ex-
pression I cannot see it necessarily implied
that the revelation was made to himself,
but that there was some intimation of the
Holy Ghost, similar perhaps to that in
ch. xiii. 2, in accordance with which the
church at Antioch sent him and Barnabas;
-there being prophets there, by whom
the Spirit spoke His will. certain

other of them] Titus was one, Gal. ii. 1, 3,
and that, in all probability, in order to give
an example of a Gentile convert of the un-
circumcision endowed with gifts of the Holy
Spirit. Titus is not mentioned in the Acts;
but only in 2 Cor., Gal., 2 Tim., and the
epistle addressed to him.
3. being

brought on their way by the church]
This seems to have been something of an
official escorting of them on the way, and
perhaps parting from them with solemn

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,

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

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.
Tit. ii. 11:

iii. 4, 5.

h

among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear
the word of the gospel, and believe. 8 And God, which
knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the
Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
9 m and put no

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.
1 render, also they.

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
had in fact been settled by divine inter-
ference long since. 8, 9.] The allusion
is throughout to spiritual circumcision, as
the purification of the heart. God, who
saw deeper than the mere fleshly distinction
between Jew and Gentile, who knows that
the hearts of all are unclean, and that
the same all-sufficient sacrifice can cleanse
them all, if applied by faith (compare the
remarkable parallel, 1 Pet. i. 18-22 incl.),
put no difference between us and them,
but has been pleased to render them spi-
ritually clean. purifying their hearts,
not simply by faith,' but by their faith,
or by the faith in Christ. 10.] tempt
God, by putting obstacles in the way of
His evidently determined course.
yoke] See Gal. v. 1. Peter could not be
so much referring to the mere outward
observance of ceremonies, which he himself
and the Jewish converts thought it ex-
pedient to retain,--but to the imposition
of the law, as a condition of salvation, on
the consciences of the disciples. This being
so, the words, "which neither our fathers
nor we were able to bear," will refer, not
to the burdensomeness of ceremonies, but
to the far more grievous burden of legal
death, of which Paul cries out so bitterly
in Rom. vii. 24,-and says, Gal. v. 3, “I
testify to every man that is circumcised, that
he is a debtor to do the whole law."
11.] Seeing that we all in common believe
that the grace of Christ is the sufficient,

and only cause of our salvation, it can
neither be reasonable nor according to God's
will, to fetter that grace with superfluous
and vexatious conditions. See nearly the
same argument retorted on Peter himself,
Gal. ii. 14 ff. even as also they] they
are the Gentile Christians, not our fathers:
-their ground of trust is the same as ours:
ours, no more than theirs.
12.] The
multitude (see above) then,-and not be-
fore, on account of their mutual disputes,

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