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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comThrough the Bible Day by Day - Acts 15:12 - 15:12
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a Generous Conclusion
Act 15:12-21
When their turn came to speak, Paul and Barnabas contented themselves with emphasizing the signs and wonders by which God had set His seal on their words and methods. Would He have done so if they had followed a wrong course? Notice the two prepositions that they used in describing their work. They first told of what God had done in co-operation with them and then of what He had done through or by them, Act 14:27; Act 15:4; Act 15:12. Consider also that remarkable phrase about God bearing witness, Act 15:8. See also Act 14:3 and Heb 2:1-4.
James had a prominent position in the Jerusalem church, because he was the Lord’s brother and a man of remarkable holiness and prayerfulness. He laid emphasis on the divine program, which moved forward from Jew to Gentile, from the rebuilding of the ruined Tabernacle of David to the seeking of the Lord by the residue of men. The implication was that though Jehovah dwelt in a special manner with His Chosen People, yet the Gentiles would come seeking Him directly and without becoming incorporated with the Jews.