Gundry on Acts 15:2

  
Robert Gundry makes the following interesting comment concerning both the perspective of the church in Antioch and Luke’s own point of view in Acts 15:2.

“Notably, none of the Judean teachers are said to have been appointed to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. So from the standpoint of the church in Antioch, it’s the Law-strapped doctrine of the Judeans that’s suspect, not the Law-free teaching of Paul and Barnabas. Otherwise the church would have sent Judeans to plead a case against Paul and Barnabas. Since Luke is writing in the main to convert Gentiles, it pleases him to note an already developing trend that will eventuate in a decree repudiating the Law-strapped teaching, which would inhibit the evangelism of Gentiles and lead many of those already converted to fall away from the church.”

Robert H. Gundry, Commentary on the New Testament: Verse-by-Verse Explanations with a Literal Translation (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2010), 522.