The Yerushalayim Council ~ Part 4

We pick up the ongoing story of Sha’ul in Acts 15:22.

Note: To examine the graphics in this series, click on them for a pop-up version.

Letter Sent to the Goyim

²² Then, the emissaries and the elders, together with the whole Messianic community, decided to select men from among themselves to send to Antioch with Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba. They sent Y’hudah, called Bar-Sabba, and Sila, both leading men among the brothers,

Y’hudah Bar-Sabba, perhaps related to Yosef Bar-Sabba (Justus in Acts 1:23). Sila, referred to in English translations as Silas and Silvanus, was a prophet (Acts 15:32) and a companion of Sha’ul on his second journey (Acts 15:40–18:22). Sha’ul mentions him in three of his letters; he is also mentioned at 1 Kefa 5:12.

²³ with the following letter:

From: The emissaries and the elders, your brothers
To: The brothers from among the Gentiles throughout Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:

Greetings!

²⁴ We have heard that some people went out from among us without our authorization and that they have upset you with their talk, unsettling your minds. ²⁵ So we have decided unanimously to select men and send them to you with our dear friends Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul, ²⁶ who have dedicated their lives to upholding the name of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. ²⁷ So we have sent Y’hudah and Sila, and they will confirm in person what we are writing.

The letter not only conveyed the findings of the council but also commended the ministry of Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul. A letter in the ancient world was a substitute for the personal presence of the author. It was often carried by a trusted person who would validate and expand upon its contents, which Y’hudah and Silas, as emissaries of the leaders of the Yerushalayim Kailah, would do.

²⁸ For it seemed good to the Ruach HaKodesh and to us not to lay any heavier burden on you than the following requirements: ²⁹ to abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will be doing the right thing.

Shalom!

Ya’akov names both the Ruach HaKodesh and human initiative (us) as factors in the Council’s decision. Throughout the Brit Hadasah, there is the interplay between divine guidance and human actions that accomplish God’s purpose (e.g., Phillipains 2:12–13). The four things to avoid are repeated from verse 20 but in a different order.

Goyim Rejoice

³⁰ The messengers were sent off and went to Antioch, where they gathered the group together and delivered the letter. ³¹ After reading it, the people were delighted by its encouragement. ³² Y’hudah and Sila, who were also prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers. ³³ After they had spent some time there, they were sent off with a greeting of “Shalom!” from the brothers to those who had sent them. ^{34  * 35} But Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba stayed in Antioch, where they and many others taught and proclaimed the Good News of the message about the Lord. [1]

The letter was an encouragement to the Keilah at Antioch because it endorsed the strategy of Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba in evangelizing Gentiles and did not impose unnecessary burdens on new converts.

In our next post, we will begin to explore Sha’ul’s Letter to the Galatians.

Click here for the PDF version.

^* Some manuscripts include verse 34: But it seemed good to Sila to stay there.

[1] Acts 15:22-35.