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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Acts 15:20 - 15:20
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
But that we write unto them (alla episteilai autois). By way of contrast (alla). First aorist active infinitive of epistellō, old verb to send to one (message, letter, etc.). Our word epistle (epistolē as in Act 15:30) comes from this verb. In the N.T. only here, Heb 13:22, and possibly Act 21:25.
That they abstain from (tou apechesthai). The genitive of the articular infinitive of purpose, present middle (direct) of apechō, old verb, to hold oneself back from. The best old MSS. do not have apo, but the ablative is clear enough in what follows. James agrees with Peter in his support of Paul and Barnabas in their contention for Gentile freedom from the Mosaic ceremonial law. The restrictions named by James affect the moral code that applies to all (idolatry, fornication, murder). Idolatry, fornication and murder were the outstanding sins of paganism then and now (Rev 22:15). Harnack argues ably against the genuineness of the word pniktou (strangled) which is absent from D Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian. It is a nice point, though the best MSS. have it in accord with Lev 17:10-16. The problem is whether the words were added because “blood” was understood as not “murder,” but a reference to the Mosaic regulation or whether it was omitted to remove the ceremonial aspect and make it all moral and ethical. The Western text omits the word also in Act 15:29. But with the word retained here and in Act 15:29the solution of James is not a compromise, though there is a wise concession to Jewish feeling.
Pollutions of idols (alisgēmatōn). From alisgeō only in the lxx and this substantive nowhere else. The word refers to idolatrous practices (pollutions) and things sacrificed to idols (eidōluthōn) in Act 15:29, not to sacrificial meat sold in the market (1Co 10:27), a matter not referred to here. Cf. Lev 17:1-9. All the four items in the position of James (accepting pniktou) are mentioned in Leviticus 17, 18.