When the people read it, they rejoiced at its encouraging message.
Parallel translations
- WEB When they had read it, they rejoiced over the encouragement.
- KJV Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
- NKJV When they had read it, they rejoiced over its encouragement.
- NASB When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.
- NLT And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
On reading it, the believers rejoiced at the encouragement. The good news of grace upheld brought real joy.
Overview
The Gentile Christians were relieved and gladdened to learn they need not be circumcised or keep the law to be saved. Their joy reflects the freedom of the gospel preserved by the council. This response confirms that the decision was received as good and encouraging news, not as a compromise.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Gal 2:4–5This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.
- Gal 5:1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
- Phil 3:3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
- Acts 15:1Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
- Acts 15:10Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?
- Acts 16:5So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 15:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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