Kisah Para Rasul 15:4-6

15:4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were received ¹  by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported ²  all the things God had done with them. ³  15:5 But some from the religious party of the Pharisees ⁴  who had believed stood up and said, “It is necessary ⁵  to circumcise the Gentiles ⁶  and to order them to observe ⁷  the law of Moses.”

15:6 Both the apostles and the elders met together to deliberate ⁸  about this matter.

Kisah Para Rasul 21:20-22

21:20 When they heard this, they praised ⁹  God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews ¹⁰  there are who have believed, and they are all ardent observers ¹¹  of the law. ¹²  21:21 They have been informed about you – that you teach all the Jews now living ¹³  among the Gentiles to abandon ¹⁴  Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children ¹⁵  or live ¹⁶  according to our customs. 21:22 What then should we do? They will no doubt ¹⁷  hear that you have come.

[15:4]  ¹ tn BDAG 761 s.v. παραδέχομαι 2 has “receive, accept” for the meaning here.

[15:4]  ² tn Or “announced.”

[15:4]  ³ tn “They reported all the things God had done with them” – an identical phrase occurs in Acts 14:27. God is always the agent.

[15:5]  ⁴ sn See the note on Pharisee in 5:34.

[15:5]  ⁵ sn The Greek word used here (δεῖ, dei) is a strong term that expresses divine necessity. The claim is that God commanded the circumcision of Gentiles.

[15:5]  ⁶ tn Grk “them”; the referent (the Gentiles) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:5]  ⁷ tn Or “keep.”

[15:6]  ⁸ tn The translation for ἰδεῖν (idein) in this verse is given by BDAG 279-80 s.v. εἶδον 3 as “deliberate concerning this matter.” A contemporary idiom would be to “look into” a matter.

[21:20]  ⁹ tn Or “glorified.”

[21:20]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “how many thousands there are among the Jews.”

[21:20]  sn How many thousands of Jews. See Acts 2-5 for the accounts of their conversion, esp. 2:41 and 4:4. Estimates of the total number of Jews living in Jerusalem at the time range from 20,000 to 50,000.

[21:20]  ¹¹ tn Or “are all zealous for the law.” BDAG 427 s.v. ζηλωτής 1.a.β has “of thing…τοῦ νόμου an ardent observer of the law Ac 21:20.”

[21:20]  ¹² sn That is, the law of Moses. These Jewish Christians had remained close to their Jewish practices after becoming believers (1 Cor 7:18-19; Acts 16:3).

[21:21]  ¹³ tn BDAG 511 s.v. κατά B.1.a has “τοὺς κ. τὰ ἔθνη ᾿Ιουδαίους the Judeans (dispersed) throughout the nations 21:21.” The Jews in view are not those in Palestine, but those who are scattered throughout the Gentile world.

[21:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “to forsake,” “to rebel against.” BDAG 120 s.v. ἀποστασία has “ἀποστασίαν διδάσκεις ἀπὸ Μωϋσέως you teach (Judeans) to abandon Moses Ac 21:21.”

[21:21]  sn The charge that Paul was teaching Jews in the Diaspora to abandon Moses was different from the issue faced in Acts 15, where the question was whether Gentiles needed to become like Jews first in order to become Christians. The issue also appears in Acts 24:5-6, 13-21; 25:8.

[21:21]  ¹⁵ sn That is, not to circumcise their male children. Biblical references to circumcision always refer to male circumcision.

[21:21]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “or walk.”

[21:22]  ¹⁷ tn L&N 71.16 has “pertaining to being in every respect certain – ‘certainly, really, doubtless, no doubt.’…‘they will no doubt hear that you have come’ Ac 21:22.”