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For the details of these verses, reference must be made to the exegetical portion of this Commentary. We should fully understand:

1. The intense enmity of the Judaizing party against St. Paul.

2. The opportunity of increasing that enmity found in the fact that many of St. Paul's enemies from Asia and Europe were present in Jerusalem at this time, attending the feast.

3. The difficulty of the Christian leaders, who had not openly broken with rabbinical Mosaism, and consequently found St. Paul's presence in the city a source of extreme anxiety. They could not openly condemn him; and indeed this they were not prepared to do. They could not openly approve him, for this would be sure to rouse dissension, and it would certainly put St. Paul's life in peril.

4. The spirit and temper of the apostle himself, who was rather bold than cautious, and had on several important occasions (as, e.g, Acts 19:30, 31) to be actually held back from courses of action that were hardly prudent. The leaders of the Church at Jerusalem tried to master the difficulties of the position by compromise, which is usually a sign of conscious weakness, and often rather makes than settles the difficulty with which it deals. "The heads of the Church in Jerusalem dreaded nothing but an uproar, if St. Paul's presence in the city should become known. In order, therefore, to appease the multitude, they proposed to the apostle to observe the sacred usages publicly in the temple, with four men who were paying their vows, and to present an offering for himself - a proposal which he willingly adopted. But although the concession of the apostles to the weak brethren proceeded from a good intention, yet it turned out disastrously. The furious enemies of St. Paul were "only the more exasperated by it" (Olshausen). It was a case of "over-caution," and it well illustrates the weakness and the peril that usually lie in over-cautious schemes.

I. THE PLACE FOR COMPROMISE. Which is the practical expression of extreme caution, and the constant resort of cautious dispositions. It is useful:

1. When the matter in dispute cannot have a full and final adjustment.

2. When such serious interests are at stake that it is important not to keep open the dispute.

3. When both parties have a measure of right on their sides, and the claim of each must be moderated to admit the right of the others.

4. When the intense feeling of the disputants prevents the acceptance of any positive settlement. These may be illustrated both from worldly and from Christian spheres.

II. THE PERILS OF COMPROMISE. They arise from the fact that, as a rule,

1. Compromise settles nothing, but really leaves the old difficulty to find a new expression.

2. It keeps in relation parties who would be much better apart.

3. It gives those who are in the wrong, an impression of weakness in those who suggest the compromise, and so encourages them in the wrong and leads them to take advantage of the weakness; as is illustrated in the case before us of the Judaizing party.

III. THE PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE OF TAKING A FIRM STAND UPON WHAT IS RIGHT. Nothing disarms opposition as this does, and nothing settles disputes as a fine and wise decision. If the apostolic council had simply and firmly accepted St. Paul, given their public testimony to their confidence in him, and explained the relation in which the Gentile Churches and their teacher stood to the Jewish Churches and their teachers, mistakes would have been corrected, opposition would have been checked, and St. Paul's enemies would have failed to make a party. All the calamities that followed, though foreordained of God, are, on their human side, traceable to the over-caution and weak compromise of the Jerusalem apostles. Learn the value of prudence and caution in the practical concerns of life, but learn also the perils of the exaggeration of caution, and the adoption of compromises when we have before us questions of right and wrong. Right is right, and we must stand to it whatever may be the peril. - R.T.

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KJV: And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

WEB: They, when they heard it, glorified God. They said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.