Forasmuch as we have heard
By the report of Paul and Barnabas, who were sent by the church at Antioch to Jerusalem, to acquaint them with the state of their case:
that certain which went out from us;
( Acts 15:1 )
have troubled you with words,
or doctrines:
subverting your souls;
removing them from the doctrine of grace to another Gospel, and which deserved not the name of a Gospel; and was very destructive to their souls, at least to the peace and com fort of them: this shows what an opinion the apostles, and elders, and members of the church at Jerusalem had of these "judaizing" preachers, and their tenets; they looked upon them as troublers of God's Israel, and upon their doctrines as subversive of spiritual joy and comfort.
Saying, ye must be circumcised and keep the law;
the ceremonial law; the Alexandrian copy, and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions leave out this clause; (See Gill on Acts 15:1), (See Gill on Acts 15:5).
to whom we gave no such commandment:
it looks as if these "judaizing preachers" not only pretended to be sent out by the apostles, to preach; but that they had particularly this in their instructions from them, that they should insist upon it, that the Gentiles that were received into the churches, should be circumcised, and be obliged to keep the other parts of the ceremonial law, when they had no such orders from them.