Acts 15:4
And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.
The verse records the arrival at Jerusalem of Paul and Barnabas as delegates from Antioch in the dispute over whether Gentile converts must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. On arriving they were received and welcomed by the church with the apostles and elders, and heard as they told what God had done with and through them. Their report set forth God's power in Paul's conversion and in bringing faith to the Gentiles, together with the confusion caused by the demand that Gentile believers be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. That report led to the council's decision that Gentile believers were not bound to circumcision or the ceremonial law, while Jewish converts might observe those ordinances if they chose. The meeting shows church order in leaders counseling together under the guidance of the Holy Spirit rather than by mere authority, so that prejudice was set aside and the believers were joined together in union, peace, and harmony.
Arrival and Report at Jerusalem
The verse records the arrival in Jerusalem of the delegates from Antioch, Paul and Barnabas, sent in the controversy over whether Gentile converts had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses and the ceremonial law to be saved and admitted to the church. It belongs to the account of the Jerusalem meeting over circumcision and the law of Moses, where leaders counseled together and allowed the Holy Spirit to guide the decision rather than settling differences by mere authority. When they arrived they were received and welcomed by the church, the apostles and elders, the assembly of believers in Jerusalem. That reception was a welcoming by the Jerusalem church together with the apostles and elders, who heard what God had done with them and through their work among the Gentiles.
Their report told of the success of their ministry and the results among the Gentiles, the progress of the gospel and God's power and accomplishment in bringing faith to the Gentiles. It included Paul recounting his conversion and the work God had done through him, returning from mission and telling the believers how God had worked with them. It also laid before them the confusion and dispute caused by the claim that Gentile believers had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. The Antioch church that sent them, in Syria, was a large and growing congregation and an important center of missionary activity whose members included many different classes of people from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds.
The Jerusalem Christians who heard them included people shaped by strong Jewish exclusiveness who were indignant that Christianity was moving away from Jewish ceremonies and traditions. Some disciples there remained zealous for the ceremonial law and regarded Paul jealously, believing his teaching made the law's obligations too loose. Jewish Christians who pressed for circumcision and the ceremonial law regarded those requirements as a test of sincere conversion that would keep people continuing in immorality from entering the church and bringing it into disrepute.
Decision and Church Unity
The report at Jerusalem led to the council's decision that Gentile believers were not bound to circumcision or the ceremonial law. Jewish converts could observe those Mosaic ordinances if they chose, but they were not obligatory for Gentile converts. That decision about Gentile converts and the ceremonial law remained in force and was affirmed, so the later advice to Paul to conform to ceremonial practices was inconsistent with it and was not prompted by the Holy Spirit. False teachers from Jerusalem disregarded that decision and urged the Galatians to keep the law.
Paul's account of the gospel's progress and God's power among the Gentiles, including his conversion and the work God had done through him, softened prejudice against him and led the brethren to praise God. At the earlier council the Holy Spirit witnessed to his message, and the assembly set aside its prejudices, agreed with his position, and sent that agreement to the churches. In connection with this meeting the other apostles recognized Paul's divine call to preach to the Gentiles and received him as their equal fellow worker. His ministry was linked with theirs, his position as an apostle was acknowledged, and he followed those decisions in his work among the Gentiles.
The meeting shows church order as leaders counseling together and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide the decision rather than settling differences by mere authority. It presents church order as a shared, orderly ministry that supports the work and its unity, not as authority for leaders to command the Lord's laborers. The difference of understanding over circumcision, whether admission to the church should be granted to uncircumcised Gentiles, was short-lived and was soon settled. Through divine illumination and sanctification of the Spirit the believers were perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. They were blessed with union, peace, harmony and confidence in one another, believing and speaking the same things, with one heart and one mouth glorifying God.
Such oneness is and always will be the fruit borne under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Their love and Christian unity is an evidence to the world that God has sent Jesus to save sinners, and with convicting power it testifies that the Word of God is the safe rule of life. At Jerusalem Paul was defending Christianity against the narrow restrictions of Judaism, the same defense he made at Antioch.