Acts 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.

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.