Acts 15:25-27

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Acts 15:25 tn Grk “having become of one mind, we have decided.” This has been translated “we have unanimously decided” to reduce the awkwardness in English.
2. Acts 15:25 tn BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.b.β lists this verse under the meaning “it seems best to me, I decide, I resolve.”
3. Acts 15:26 tn Grk “men who,” but this can be misleading because in English the referent could be understood to be the men sent along with Barnabas and Paul rather than Barnabas and Paul themselves. This option does not exist in the Greek original, however, since ἀνθρώποις (anthrōpois) is dative and must agree with “Barnabas and Paul,” while ἄνδρας (andras) is accusative. By omitting the word “men” from the translation here, it is clear in English that the phrase refers to the immediately preceding nouns “Barnabas and Paul.”
4. Acts 15:26 tn Grk “who have risked their souls”; the equivalent English idiom is “risk one’s life.” The descriptions commend Barnabas and Paul as thoroughly trustworthy.
5. Acts 15:26 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
6. Acts 15:27 tn This verb has been translated as an epistolary aorist.
7. Acts 15:27 sn Judas and Silas were the “two witnesses” who would vouch for the truth of the recommendation.
8. Acts 15:27 tn Grk “by means of word” (an idiom for a verbal report).