Discovery BoxActs 15:4-6 
Context15:4 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.
1 tn BDAG 761 s.v. παραδέχομαι 2 has “receive, accept” for the meaning here.
2 tn Or “announced.”
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.
4 sn See the note on Pharisee in 5:34.
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.
6 tn Grk “them”; the referent (the Gentiles) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Or “keep.”
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.
