No greater burden than these necessary things

Whilst the conference in Jerusalem was confined to the apostles and elders, they did not communicate their decision back to Antioch until they had discussed it with the whole church. This is an important point and one that should be followed in all assemblies. There will be occasions when elders will be privy to information that cannot be shared with others, but where decisions are made that affect everyone those matters ought to be made known to all in fellowship. This openness of communication enabled the church at Jerusalem to extend greetings to their Gentile brethren, thereby helping to eradicate the problem that had occurred at the start of the chapter.

In verses 23 to 31 we have the details of the letter that was written to the brethren in Antioch and elsewhere, and although it is not a letter of commendation there are a number of principles in it that would equally apply to such letters. The letter says all it needs to, and yet it is succinct. It came from all at Jerusalem and was read to all at Antioch. It begins with a greeting and it concludes with a wish for the spiritual wellbeing of the recipients. Details are given of the spiritual worth and work of the brethren named in the letter. The result of it being read was that they ‘rejoiced over its encouragement’, v. 31 NKJV.

It needs to be borne in mind that when this incident occurred Christianity was still in a state of transition, moving from Jewish customs to the implementation of New Testament church practices. It would be a few more years before Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth in which he does not mandate that as a principle that they should abstain from meats offered to idols. However, he does remind the Corinthians that they should not use such liberty as a means of causing others to stumble.

In detailing what needed to be abstained from, the brethren in Jerusalem were not imposing man-made regulations on the Gentile Christians; they were following the dictate of the Holy Spirit. Similarly, all our practices must be verified in principle or precept by the word of God, and not the legislation of men.