Which when they had read
That is, when the brethren of the church at Antioch had read the
letter delivered to them; for not Paul and Barnabas, or Judas and
Silas, who were sent with it, read it, but the brethren to whom
it was sent, as was proper.
They rejoiced for the consolation,
or "exhortation", as the word may be rendered, which was given
them in the letter, to abstain from the above things, without
being burdened with any other; and they rejoiced that there was
such an agreement among the apostles, elders, and brethren at
Jerusalem; and that their sentiments, and those of Paul and
Barnabas, and other faithful ministers and saints at Antioch,
were alike, and were opposed to the judaizing preachers and
professors; and above all, they rejoiced that they were freed
from the burdensome yoke of the law, and that the controversy
which had been raised among them, was likely to be ended, and to
issue so well.
