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.
