22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church,
decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul
and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were
leaders among the believers. 23 With them they sent
the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your
brothers,
To the Gentile believers in
Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our
authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So
we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends
Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their
lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore
we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are
writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy
Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following
requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food
sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from
sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Notice the love to their fellow brothers and sisters in this
letter. They directly call them out as
“brethren”. They are related through the
blood of Jesus Christ. They have heard
that some are disturbed and troubled by what has been said, so they have all
greed to send you these dear friends who have risked all and been tested to
give you this letter. Judas and Silas
are going as from the Jerusalem church to validate what Paul and Barnabas are
saying, since those two would have certainly returned with this decision and it
might not have been believed. And
finally! They specifically mention of
how the Holy Spirit urged them to come upon this decision of not following the
law.
30 So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where
they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31 The
people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. 32 Judas
and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and
strengthen the believers. 33 After spending some
time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to
return to those who had sent them. [34] 35 But
Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and
preached the word of the Lord.
The people of the church of Antioch were “glad for its
encouraging message”. I think many there
were afraid that they would be at odds with the church in Jerusalem and there
would be some division. Paul worked extremely
hard at settling divisions in the church as his letters to the missionary churches
he started show.
Silas likes being there and stays there. Paul and Barnabas are the pastors there in
Antioch so they go back to doing their work.
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