‘Forasmuch as we have heard that certain who went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, to whom we gave no commandment, it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.'
They first of all made clear that those men who had come among them in Antioch and had troubled them had not been sent with any authority from them. They were those ‘to whom we gave no commandment'. They had received no authority or command from the church in Jerusalem and Judaea. They had simply been acting independently on their own authority. Thus anything that they had taught could be disregarded, for it was contrary to the views of the Apostles and the Jerusalem church.
They then expressed their deep regret that those at Antioch had been ‘troubled (stirred up) with words' and that their ‘souls had been subverted (plundered)'. The expressions are strong. It was a recognition of how deeply affected they knew those at Antioch to have been, and the unnecessary searching of soul that it had unnecessarily caused, and they regretted it.
They then stressed that their message was a united one from the whole body of the church. They assured them that they had ‘come to one accord'. They were all agreed. Sadly it would prove not to be fully true, for there would still be those who through the coming years would fight against the decision, and go round denying it, but it was true of the church as whole. And it was certainly the Apostolic position.
And finally they stressed their total oneness with, and admiration for, ‘Barnabas and Paul', whom they could call ‘beloved', and whom they pointed out were men who had ‘hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.' They were greatly concerned that all should recognise the standing that the two had in the eyes of all the leaders in Jerusalem.