Acts 15:1-35
So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. (v. 3) It’s a small item, but it lends further support to my comments from yesterday that Paul and Barnabas were preaching and teaching wherever they went. I regularly recall the words from Peter and John to the Sanhedrin: we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. (Acts 4:20b) While they were on this journey it’s very likely that some of the Jews from the “circumcision party” who had come down from Jerusalem to Antioch were now returning to Jerusalem with Paul and Barnabas, and traveling with them they were hearing the many events among the Gentiles that Paul and Barnabas were reporting. I’m sure that hearing these things softened their hearts even before the Jerusalem Council.
Peter speaking: But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus… (v. 11) There are other verses, mostly from Paul’s epistles (see, for example, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:24, 28, II Timothy 1:9) that point to salvation by faith/grace, but I’ve never seen this verse from Acts quoted in support of the “grace, not works” theology. Interesting…
James is quoting the Old Testament in verses 16 and 17. These verses sound a lot like what Isaiah would have spoken, but in this case the author is Amos (Amos 9:11,12). I could only find one other quote from Amos in the New Testament, one that we read earlier in Acts 7:42-43 (Amos 5:25-27).
See also: February 27 / Acts 15:1-5; February 28 / Acts 15:6-21; February 29 / Acts 15:22-29; March 1 / Acts 15:30-35