Acts 15:8-11

15:8 And God, who knows the heart, ¹  has testified ²  to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, ³  15:9 and he made no distinction ⁴  between them and us, cleansing ⁵  their hearts by faith. 15:10 So now why are you putting God to the test ⁶  by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke ⁷  that neither our ancestors ⁸  nor we have been able to bear? 15:11 On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through ⁹  the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they are.” ¹⁰ 

[15:8]  ¹ sn The expression who knows the heart means “who knows what people think.”

[15:8]  ² tn Or “has borne witness.”

[15:8]  ³ sn By giving them…just as he did to us. The allusion is to the events of Acts 10-11, esp. 10:44-48 and Peter’s remarks in 11:15-18.

[15:9]  ⁴ tn BDAG 231 s.v. διακρίνω 1.b lists this passage under the meaning “to conclude that there is a difference, make a distinction, differentiate.”

[15:9]  ⁵ tn Or “purifying.”

[15:10]  ⁷ tn According to BDAG 793 s.v. πειράζω 2.c, “In Ac 15:10 the πειράζειν τὸν θεόν consists in the fact that after God’s will has been clearly made known through granting of the Spirit to the Gentiles (v. 8), some doubt and make trial to see whether God’s will really becomes operative.” All testing of God in Luke is negative: Luke 4:2; 11:16.

[15:10]  ⁸ sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restriction that some in the early church wanted to place on Gentile converts to Christianity of observing the law of Moses and having males circumcised. The yoke is a decidedly negative image: Matt 23:4, but cf. Matt 11:29-30.

[15:10]  ⁹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[15:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “by.”

[15:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “Jesus, just as they are.” BDAG 1016-17 s.v. τρόπος 1 translates καθ᾿ ὃν τρόπον (kaq’ Jon tropon) here as “in the same way as.”