Elihu Justifies God

341 And Elihu made answer and said, 2 Give ear, you wise, to my words; and you who have knowledge, give attention to me; 3 For words are tested by the ear, as food is tasted by the mouth. 4 Let us make the decision for ourselves as to what is right; let us have the knowledge among ourselves of what is good. 5 For Job has said, I am upright, and it is God who has taken away my right; 6 Though I am right, still I am in pain; my wound may not be made well, though I have done no wrong. 7 What man is like Job, a man who freely makes sport of God, 8 And goes in the company of evil-doers, walking in the way of sinners? 9 For he has said, It is no profit to a man to take delight in God.

10 Now then, you wise, take note; you men of knowledge, give ear to me. Let it be far from God to do evil, and from the Ruler of all to do wrong. 11 For he gives to every man the reward of his work, and sees that he gets the fruit of his ways. 12 Truly, God does not do evil, and the Ruler of all is not a false judge. 13 Who put the earth into his care, or made him responsible for the world? 14 If he made his spirit come back to him, taking his breath into himself again, 15 All flesh would come to an end together, and man would go back to the dust.

16 If you are wise, take note of this; give ear to the voice of my words. 17 How may a hater of right be a ruler? and will you say that the upright Ruler of all is evil? 18 He who says to a king, You are an evil-doer; and to rulers, You are sinners; 19 Who has no respect for rulers, and who gives no more attention to those who have wealth than to the poor, for they are all the work of his hands. 20 Suddenly they come to an end, even in the middle of the night: the blow comes on the men of wealth, and they are gone, and the strong are taken away without the hand of man. 21 For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. 22 There is no dark place, and no thick cloud, in which the workers of evil may take cover. 23 For he does not give man a fixed time to come before him to be judged. 24 He sends the strong to destruction without searching out their cause, and puts others in their place. 25 For he has knowledge of their works, overturning them in the night, so that they are crushed. 26 The evil-doers are broken by his wrath, he puts his hand on them with force before the eyes of all onlookers. 27 Because they did not go after him, and took no note of his ways, 28 So that the cry of the poor might come up to him, and the prayer of those in need come to his ears. 29 ... 30 ...

31 ... 32 ... 33 ... 34 Men of knowledge, and all wise men, hearing me, will say, 35 Job's words do not come from knowledge; they are not the fruit of wisdom. 36 May Job be tested to the end, because his answers have been like those of evil men. 37 For in addition to his sin, he is uncontrolled in heart; before our eyes he makes sport of God, increasing his words against him.

351 And Elihu made answer and said, 2 Does it seem to you to be right, and righteousness before God, to say, 3 What profit is it to me, and how am I better off than if I had done wrong? 4 I will make answer to you and to your friends: 5 Let your eyes be turned to the heavens, and lifted up to see the skies; they are higher than you. 6 If you have done wrong, is he any the worse for it? and if your sins are great in number, what is it to him? 7 If you are upright, what do you give to him? or what does he take from your hand? 8 Your evil-doing may have an effect on a man like yourself, or your righteousness on a son of man.

9 Because the hand of the cruel is hard on them, men are making sounds of grief; they are crying out for help because of the arm of the strong. 10 But no one has said, Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night; 11 Who gives us more knowledge than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the heaven? 12 There they are crying out because of the pride of the evil-doers, but he gives them no answer. 13 But God will not give ear to what is false, or the Ruler of all take note of it;

14 How much less when you say that you do not see him; that the cause is before him, and you are waiting for him. 15 And now ... ; 16 And Job's mouth is open wide to give out what is of no profit, increasing words without knowledge.

The Council at Jerusalem

151 Now certain men came down from Judaea, teaching the brothers and saying that without circumcision, after the rule of Moses, there is no salvation. 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had had no little argument and discussion with them, the brothers made a decision to send Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them to the Apostles and the rulers of the church at Jerusalem about this question. 3 So they, being sent on their way by the church, went through Phoenicia and Samaria, giving news of the salvation of the Gentiles, to the great joy of all the brothers. 4 And when they came to Jerusalem, they had a meeting with the church and the Apostles and the rulers, and they gave an account of all the things which God had done through them. 5 But some of the Pharisees, who were of the faith, got up and said, It is necessary for these to have circumcision and to keep the law of Moses.

6 And the Apostles and the rulers of the church came together and gave thought to the question. 7 And when there had been much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, My brothers, you have knowledge that some time back it was God's pleasure that by my mouth the good news might be given to the Gentiles so that they might have faith. 8 And God, the searcher of hearts, was a witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit even as he did to us; 9 Making no division between them and us, but making clean their hearts by faith. 10 Why then are you testing God, by putting on the neck of the disciples a yoke so hard that not even our fathers or we were strong enough for it? 11 But we have faith that we will get salvation through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they. 12 And all the people were quiet while Barnabas and Paul gave an account of the signs and wonders which God had done among the Gentiles by them. 13 And when they had come to an end, James, answering, said, My brothers, give ear to me: 14 Symeon has given an account of how God was first pleased to take from among the Gentiles a people for himself. 15 And this is in agreement with the words of the prophets, as it is said, 16 After these things I will come back, and will put up the tent of David which has been broken down, building up again its broken parts and making it complete: 17 So that the rest of men may make search for the Lord, and all the Gentiles on whom my name is named, 18 Says the Lord, who has made these things clear from the earliest times. 19 For this reason my decision is, that we do not put trouble in the way of those who from among the Gentiles are turned to God; 20 But that we give them orders to keep themselves from things offered to false gods, and from the evil desires of the body, and from the flesh of animals put to death in ways against the law, and from blood. 21 For Moses, from times long past, has his preachers in every town, reading his law in the Synagogues every Sabbath.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Acts 15:1-21

Commentary on Acts 15:1-6

(Read Acts 15:1-6)

Some from Judea taught the Gentile converts at Antioch, that they could not be saved, unless they observed the whole ceremonial law as given by Moses; and thus they sought to destroy Christian liberty. There is a strange proneness in us to think that all do wrong who do not just as we do. Their doctrine was very discouraging. Wise and good men desire to avoid contests and disputes as far as they can; yet when false teachers oppose the main truths of the gospel, or bring in hurtful doctrines, we must not decline to oppose them.

Commentary on Acts 15:7-21

(Read Acts 15:7-21)

We see from the words "purifying their hearts by faith," and the address of St. Peter, that justification by faith, and sanctification by the Holy Ghost, cannot be separated; and that both are the gift of God. We have great cause to bless God that we have heard the gospel. May we have that faith which the great Searcher of hearts approves, and attests by the seal of the Holy Spirit. Then our hearts and consciences will be purified from the guilt of sin, and we shall be freed from the burdens some try to lay upon the disciples of Christ. Paul and Barnabas showed by plain matters of fact, that God owned the preaching of the pure gospel to the Gentiles without the law of Moses; therefore to press that law upon them, was to undo what God had done. The opinion of James was, that the Gentile converts ought not to be troubled about Jewish rites, but that they should abstain from meats offered to idols, so that they might show their hatred of idolatry. Also, that they should be cautioned against fornication, which was not abhorred by the Gentiles as it should be, and even formed a part of some of their rites. They were counselled to abstain from things strangled, and from eating blood; this was forbidden by the law of Moses, and also here, from reverence to the blood of the sacrifices, which being then still offered, it would needlessly grieve the Jewish converts, and further prejudice the unconverted Jews. But as the reason has long ceased, we are left free in this, as in the like matters. Let converts be warned to avoid all appearances of the evils which they formerly practised, or are likely to be tempted to; and caution them to use Christian liberty with moderation and prudence.