Bible Study Lesson for Acts 15:22-35: Church Council's Letter to Gentile Believers

(Note: When I taught my Bible study on the Book of Acts I used a flannel map as a visual aid. In my lecture notes you will find reference to this flannel map. The primary commentary I used was Compton's Interactive Bible, a software CD; I sometimes refer to this as my Interactive Bible CD.)

We now move into the second section of the chapter which describes the letter that the council writes and how it is received.

Read Acts 15:22. Luke makes a point to emphasize that it was a unanimous decision of the whole church to send this letter and to choose these particular messengers. This seems to imply that the Judaizers who had spoken at the beginning of this meeting had been won over to the opposite camp by the arguments of James and the others. I think it was a smart move on the Jerusalem's church's part to send two of their own to go back to Antioch with the letter. These men could represent the apostles and the Jerusalem church in Antioch, as well as answer any questions this letter generated.

The two men chosen were Judas, called Barsabbas and Silas. Barsabbas here is probably a surname; we saw this name one time before, associated with a man named Joseph. Read Acts 1:23-26. It is likely Joseph and Judas were brothers. We don't know anything more about Judas Barsabbas except what we will read in the next few verses, that he was a prophet. Jump ahead to Acts 15:32. Since Judas is chosen here and his brother was a candidate for the apostle position, it is probably safe to assume that he was one of the elders or honored lay people of the church.

As for Silas, we don't know much about him except that he, too, was a prophet (from verse 32) and that he is a Roman citizen. We will learn this in Acts 16 after Paul and Silas are beaten unjustly. Read Acts 16:35-38. In a few verses here in chapter 15 we will see how Silas replaced Barnabas as Paul's traveling companion.

Read Acts 15:23. Just a comment here, Antioch was the leading city of the combined Roman provinces of Syria and Cilicia.

Read Acts 15:24. The Jerusalem church elders start their letter by acknowledging what the Judaizers had been doing and that these men had come out of the Jerusalem church; what they had been doing and preaching, however, had not been done under the proper mantel of church authority. They had gone out on their own and stirred up trouble among the Gentiles.

Read Acts 15:25-26. They make it clear that Paul and Barnabas are friends of the Jerusalem church and that they honor and appreciate all that they had been doing. (In other words, these two verses gives their work the official "stamp of approval.")

Read Acts 15:27. They want to make sure there is no confusion about the origin of this letter - by send two witnesses, they can confirm the letter's validity and message. The church leaders are pretty smart cookies!

Read Acts 15:28-29. Here we have a repeat of what James recommends in verses 19-20, with a little bit of a twist. Here they also mention that they believe the Holy Spirit agrees with these stipulations, as well as the leaders of the Jerusalem church. Notice how gently they give these stipulations, however. "You will do well to avoid these things." There is no mention of "you'll be cast out of the church if you don't" or anything that dogmatic or judgmental. It is a very gentle correction and recommendation, the letter amazingly brief. They don't go into any long winded explanation about why they believe they should abide by these rules, no preaching, just short and to the point. Lovely.

Read Acts 15:30-31. Here my instruction booklet for my flannel map says I should put this symbol - of the Christian world being freed from captivity, as symbolized by the broken chains. { Put broken chain symbol on flannel map near Antioch. } The chains represent the captivity of legalism.

Read Acts 15:32-33. Judas and Silas stay for a time, using their gift of prophecy to encourage their brothers and sisters in Antioch. They play an important role of fostering unity between the Jerusalem and Antioch churches. They are clearly welcomed and appreciated by the church of Antioch for they are eventually sent back to Jerusalem with blessings.

My Bible leaves out verse 34 from the main text, though I do have a footnote that says that some manuscripts have "but Silas decided to remain there." It sounds like then that Judas and Silas had fulfilled their mission as representatives and could then return home, but while Judas did return, Silas stayed.

Read Acts 15:35. Antioch is Paul and Barnabas' home church, so they stay and continue to help lead the growing church there.

To be continued...

Sources
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version