Atos 15
Bede
Atos 15:2
They decided that Paul and Barnabas and some others from them should go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, etc. About this ascension of his, Paul himself writes to the Galatians: Then, after fourteen years, I went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also, and I communicated to them the Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles (Galatians II); where the very number that he mentioned must be reckoned in years. For we know that the apostles Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom in the thirty-eighth year after the passion of the Lord, that is, in the last year of Nero, and that the blessed Peter sat upon the episcopal throne in Rome for twenty-five years. Now, twenty-five and fourteen make not thirty-eight but thirty-nine. Therefore, it follows that we believe the blessed Peter came to Rome in the same fourteenth year after the passion of the Lord, in which Paul conversed with him at Jerusalem, in the fourth year of Claudius Caesar; and likewise, unless I am mistaken, from this position it is proven that the blessed Apostle Paul came to faith in the same year in which the Lord suffered and rose again. — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:5
Saying that it is necessary to circumcise them. The Galatians were deceived by this error, believing that circumcision and the ceremonies of the law should be mixed with the grace of baptism. — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:9
Purifying their hearts by faith. Therefore, it is not necessary to cleanse them with the circumcision of the flesh, whose hearts such great faith purifies, that they even deserve to receive the Holy Spirit before baptism. — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:10
Now, therefore, why do you test God by placing a yoke on the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear. It is clear that it should be understood in many ways what is said: You shall not test the Lord your God (Matt. IV). Therefore, he tests God who attempts to serve and please him in a way other than he has commanded, who confides that he can keep his commandments without the help of his grace. But the blessed Peter wishes to remove the heavy yoke of law observance from the necks of the disciples, so that he may place upon them the light yoke of evangelical freedom. Of which Paul also says to the companions of the same grace: For you did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father (Rom. VIII). — Retractions on Acts
Atos 15:11
But by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be saved, even as they are. If therefore they, that is, the fathers who could not bear the yoke of the old law, believed themselves to be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is manifest that this grace was what made the ancient righteous live. Since the righteous shall live by faith, there could have been different sacraments for different times, yet all converging harmoniously to the unity of the same faith. — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:16
After this I will return, and build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen, and the rest. The tabernacle of David signifies the shadow of the law, which was corrupted and torn apart by the traditions of the Pharisees, but when the Lord returns, that is, appears in the flesh, it is raised up by the spiritual grace of God, so that not only Jews but also all nations of the Gentiles may seek his name. — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:20
And from things strangled, and blood, that is, from shedding blood or eating with blood. These indeed were allowed for those coming from a Gentile life, as the rudiments of the faith and the ingrained habit of Gentilism, but lest they should think that the same sufficed even for the more perfect, he diligently added and said... — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:20
To abstain from the pollutions of idols, and fornication, and that which is strangled, and blood. He speaks of that which is strangled as carrion, about which Ezekiel writes: "The priests shall not eat anything that is dead of itself or torn by beasts, whether it be from birds or from cattle" (Ezek. XLIV). Jerome explains this: "And according to the literal sense, says he, this pertains to the whole chosen royal and priestly race, which properly refers to Christians, who are anointed with spiritual oil, about which it is written: 'God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.' These precepts apply, that they do not eat dead flesh, whether from birds or from cattle, whose blood has by no means been shed, which in the Acts of the Apostles is called strangled; and the epistle of the Apostles from Jerusalem warns that these things should necessarily be observed; and what is taken by a beast, because this too is similarly strangled; and it condemns priests who, with gluttonous greed, keep these things from thrushes, fig-peckers, dormice, and the like." — Retractions on Acts
Atos 15:21
For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him in the synagogues; that is, and if they are not burdened by the severity of the precepts now, yet with passage of time, as they more frequently gather for reading of the law and the prophets, they will gradually adopt ways of life and the interrelated laws of mutual love to be preserved. For the primitive Church, still Judaizing, it is understood to have celebrated these on Sabbaths. — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:24
They have troubled you, subverting your souls, to whom we gave no commandment. In the Greek, more is added: Subverting your souls, saying, you must be circumcised, and keep the law, whom we gave no commandment. — Retractions on Acts
Atos 15:26
Who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Greek is added: In every temptation. — Retractions on Acts
Atos 15:28
It has also seemed good to us; not by our will alone, but by the urging of the same Spirit. — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:28
For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us. In the Greek it is written: For it has pleased the Holy Spirit, and us. — Retractions on Acts
Atos 15:28
It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us; that is, it pleased the Holy Spirit, who, being the arbiter of his own power, breathes where he wills and speaks what he wills. — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:33
They were dismissed in peace by the brethren to those who had sent them. Where it is written To those who had sent them, in the Greek it is written To the Apostles. — Retractions on Acts
Atos 15:35
Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch. In those days, what the apostle Paul said was fulfilled: When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face (Galatians 2). — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:38
But Paul insisted that he should not be received. Because, standing on the very forefront of the line, he had stood too tepidly, and rightly, Paul rejected him, lest others be corrupted by his influence as though it were contagion. — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:39
And Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. For the brother he loved and who was related to him (for they are said to have been cousins), Barnabas, separated from Paul, returned to his native island, and nonetheless carried out the evangelical work commanded to him. — Commentary on Acts
Atos 15:39
There was, however, discord. Do not think this a sin. For it is not wrong to be troubled, but to be troubled irrationally, without any just cause. — Commentary on Acts