SEV Biblia, Chapter 15:20
sino escribirles que se aparten de las contaminaciones de los ídolos, y de fornicacin, y de lo ahogado, y de sangre.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 15:20
Verse 20. But that we write unto them] Four things are prohibited in this decree: 1. Pollutions of idols; 2. fornication; things strangled; 4. blood. By the first, POLLUTIONS of IDOLS, or, as it is in ver. 25, meats offered to idols, not only all idolatry was forbidden, but eating things offered in sacrifice to idols, knowing that they were thus offered, and joining with idolaters in their sacred feasts, which were always an incentive either to idolatry itself, or to the impure acts generally attendant on such festivals. By the second, FORNICATION, all uncleanness of every kind was prohibited; for porneia not only means fornication, but adultery, incestuous mixtures, and especially the prostitution which was so common at the idol temples, viz. in Cyprus, at the worship of Venus; and the shocking disorders exhibited in the Bacchanalia, Lupercalia, and several others.
By the third, THINGS STRANGLED, we are to understand the flesh of those animals which were strangled for the purpose of keeping the blood in the body, as such animals were esteemed a greater delicacy.
By the fourth, BLOOD, we are to understand, not only the thing itself, for the reasons which I have assigned in the note on Genesis ix. 4, and for others detailed at the end of this chapter; but also all cruelty, manslaughter, murder, &c., as some of the ancient fathers have understood it.
Instead of tou aimartov, blood, some have conjectured that we should read coireiav, swine's flesh; for they cannot see, first, that there can be any harm in eating of blood; and, secondly, that, as the other three things neither have nor can have any moral evil in them, it would seem strange that they should be coupled with a thing which, on all hands, is confessed to have much moral turpitude. Answers to such trifling objections will be found at the end of the chapter. It is only necessary to add that this coireiav, which is the critical emendation of Dr. Bentley, is not supported by one MS. or version in existence.
At the close of this verse, the Codex Bezae, and several others, add a fifth thing, And not to do to others what they would not have done to themselves. Though this is a very ancient reading, it does not appear to be genuine.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 20. But that we write unto them , etc.] Or send an epistle to them, to this effect, concerning the following things: that they abstain from pollutions of idols ; that is, from eating things offered to idols; (see Acts 15:29) for not idolatry, or the worshipping of idols itself, is here spoken of; for that was no indifferent thing; and besides, these converted Gentiles were turned from that, and there was no danger of their returning to it; but eating things sacrificed to idols was an indifferent thing; but yet inasmuch as it had a tendency to lead to idolatry, and gave offence to the Jewish believers in the churches, and was a stumbling block to weak minds, who by the example of stronger Christians, were led to eat them as sacrificed to an idol, and so their weak consciences were defiled, therefore it was very proper to abstain from them; and from fornication ; not spiritual fornication or idolatry, but fornication taken in a literal sense, for the carnal copulation of one single person with another, and which is commonly called simple fornication: the reason why this is put among, things indifferent is, not that it was so in itself, but because it was not thought to be criminal by the Gentiles, and was commonly used by them, and which must be offensive to the believing Jews, who were better acquainted with the will of God; this is omitted in the Ethiopic version: and from things strangled ; that is; from eating them, and design such as die of themselves, or are torn with beasts, or are not killed in a proper way, by letting out their blood; but their blood is stagnated or congealed in the veins: the Jews might not kill with a reapers sickle, nor with a saw, nor with the teeth, or nail; because these yqnwj , strangled f746 : and what was not slain as it should be, was reckoned all one as what dies of itself; and whoever ate of either of these was to be beaten f747 ; the law respecting these things was of the ceremonial kind, and peculiar to the Jews, and was not binding upon the Gentiles; for that which died of itself might be given to a stranger, and he might eat it, or it might be sold to an alien, ( Deuteronomy 14:21) this has been wanting in many copies, and it was not read by several of the ancient fathers: and from blood : which is not to be understood of the blood of men and shedding of that, which is of a moral nature; but of the blood of beasts, and of eating of that. There were several laws about eating of blood, and which are different, and ought to be carefully distinguished. The first is in ( Genesis 9:4) but flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood there of, shall you not eat; which forbids the eating of flesh with the blood; but not the eating of flesh separately, nor the eating of blood separately, provided they were properly prepared and dressed, but the eating of them together without any preparation. As this was the first hint to man that we know of, that he might eat flesh, it was proper that the manner in which he should eat it, should be suggested to him; that he should not take the creature alive and eat it, or tear off any of its members and eat it whilst alive, or eat raw flesh; but should prepare it by roasting or boiling, or some way, in which it might become proper food: and it is the constant sense of the Jewish synagogue f748 , that this law is to be understood of the member of a living creature, torn from it, and eaten whilst alive; six commands, the Jews say, were given to the first man Adam, the first five forbid idolatry, blasphemy, shedding of blood, uncleanness, and theft, or robbery, and the sixth required judgment against offenders; to these were added, for the sons of Noah, a seventh, which forbid the eating of the member of a living creature, as it is said, ( Genesis 9:4) f749 . So that this law has nothing to do with eating of blood, simply considered, and no more forbids eating of it separately, than it does eating of flesh separately: in like manner is the law in ( Deuteronomy 12:23) to be understood, and is so interpreted by the Jewish writers f750 : another law is in ( Leviticus 19:26) ye shall not eat anything with the blood; which according to our version, seems to be the same law with the former, but is not; for it is not said here, as before, b , in, or with, but l[ , upon, over, or by the blood. This is differently understood: some think the sense is, that no one should eat of the sacrifices, before the sprinkling of the blood upon the altar f751 ; or until it stands or is congealed in the basons f752 ; others, that it is a caution to judges, that they do not eat until they have finished judgment; for whoever judges or passes sentence after he has eat and drank, is as if he was guilty of blood f753 : another observes f754 , that next to this clause, it is said, neither shall ye use enchantment; meaning that they should not use enchantment by eating, in the way that murderers do, who eat bread over the slain, that the avengers of the slain may not take vengeance on them; this author smells something superstitious or diabolical in this matter; and indeed this is the case; the truth of the matter is, it refers to a practice among the Heathens, who fancied that blood was the food of the demons, to whom they sacrificed; and therefore when they sacrificed to them, they took the blood of the beast and put it into a vessel, and sat down by it, and round about it, and ate the flesh; imagining that whilst they ate the flesh, the demons eat the blood, and by this means friendship and familiarity were contracted between them; so that they hoped to receive some advantage from them, and be informed of things to come f755 . Hence, this law is placed with others against enchantments and observing times, to which may be added, ( Ezekiel 33:25) ye eat with the blood, or over it, or by it; and lift up your eyes to your idols: which is to be understood in the same light, and with these compare ( 1 Samuel 14:32 Leviticus 17:3-7).
But besides these, there was a third law, which is frequently repeated, ( Leviticus 3:17 7:26,27 17:10-12) which absolutely forbids the eating of blood, as well as fat; the Jews except the blood of fishes, and locusts, and creeping things, and the blood of men, and the blood that is in eggs, and that which is squeezed out of flesh, or drops from it, which a man may eat and not be guilty of the breach of this law the reason of this law was, because the blood, which is the life, was given in sacrifice for the life of men, to be an atonement for them; wherefore, to keep up a just reverence of the sacrifice, and to direct to the blood of the great sacrifice of the Messiah, blood was forbidden to be eaten, till that sacrifice was offered up; and then that blood itself was to be spiritually eaten by faith: and now if eating of blood in general was morally evil in itself, it would be a monstrous shocking thing in the Christian religion, that the blood of Christ is to be drank; though it be to be understood in a spiritual sense: the law against eating blood was very strictly enjoined the Jews, and severely punished; whoever ate of blood, but the quantity of an olive, if he ate it wilfully, was guilty of cutting off; if ignorantly, he was to bring a sin offering f757 : James knew that the breach of this law would give great offence to the Jews, and therefore for the peace of the church he moves that the Gentiles might be wrote to, to abstain from blood; and which was agreed to and done: and this was attended to with much strictness by the primitive Christians, who seemed to have observed this advice in the form of a law, and thought it criminal to eat blood; but in process of time it was neglected; and in Austins time abstinence from blood was derided, as a ridiculous notion; and it is at least now high time that this, and everything else of a ceremonial kind, was dropped by Christians; though where the peace of the brethren is in danger, this, and everything of an indifferent nature should be abstained from: Bezas ancient copy adds, and whatsoever they would not have done to themselves, do not unto others; and so two of Stephenss: the Ethiopic version is, whatsoever they hate should be done to themselves, let them not do to their brethren.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 7-21 - We see from the words "purifying their hearts by faith," and the address of St. Peter, that justification by faith, and sanctificatio 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, an attests by the seal of the Holy Spirit. Then our hearts and conscience 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 Barnaba 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 abou Jewish rites, but that they should abstain from meats offered to idols so that they might show their hatred of idolatry. Also, that the 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 stil offered, it would needlessly grieve the Jewish converts, and furthe 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 warne to avoid all appearances of the evils which they formerly practised, or are likely to be tempted to; and caution them to use Christian libert with moderation and prudence.
Greek Textus Receptus
αλλα 235 CONJ επιστειλαι 1989 5658 V-AAN αυτοις 846 P-DPM του 3588 T-GSM απεχεσθαι 567 5733 V-PMN απο 575 PREP των 3588 T-GPN αλισγηματων 234 N-GPN των 3588 T-GPN ειδωλων 1497 N-GPN και 2532 CONJ της 3588 T-GSF πορνειας 4202 N-GSF και 2532 CONJ του 3588 T-GSN πνικτου 4156 A-GSN και 2532 CONJ του 3588 T-GSN αιματος 129 N-GSN
Vincent's NT Word Studies
20. Write (episteilai). Originally, to send to, as a message; hence, by letter. The kindred noun ejpistolh, whence our epistle, means, originally, anything sent by a messenger. Letter is a secondary meaning.Pollutions (alisghmatwn). A word not found in classical Greek, and only here in the New Testament. The kindred verb ajlisgein, to pollute, occurs in the Septuagint, Dan. i. 8; Mal. i. 7, and both times in the sense of defiling by food. Here the word is defined by things sacrificed to idols (ver. 29); the flesh of idol sacrifices, of which whatever was not eaten by the worshippers at the feasts in the temples, or given to the priests, was sold in the markets and eaten at home. See 1 Cor. x. 25-28; and Exod. xxxiv. 15.
Fornication. In its literal sense. "The association of fornication with three things in themselves indifferent is to be explained from the then moral corruption of heathenism, by which fornication, regarded from of old with indulgence, and even with favor, nay, practiced without shame even by philosophers, and surrounded by poets with all the tinsel of lasciviousness, had become in public opinion a thing really indifferent" (Meyer). See Dollinger, "The Gentile and the Jew," ii., 237 sq.
Strangled. The flesh of animals killed in snares, and whose blood was not poured forth, was forbidden to the Israelites.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
15:20 {But that we write unto them} (alla episteilai autois). By way of contrast (alla). First aorist active infinitive of epistellw, old verb to send to one (message, letter, etc.). Our word epistle (epistole as in verse #30) comes from this verb. In the N.T. only here, #He 13:22, and possibly #Ac 21:25. {That they abstain from} (tou apecesqai). The genitive of the articular infinitive of purpose, present middle (direct) of apecw, old verb, to hold oneself back from. The best old MSS. do not have apo, but the ablative is clear enough in what follows. James agrees with Peter in his support of Paul and Barnabas in their contention for Gentile freedom from the Mosaic ceremonial law. The restrictions named by James affect the moral code that applies to all (idolatry, fornication, murder). Idolatry, fornication and murder were the outstanding sins of paganism qen and now (#Re 22:15). Harnack argues ably against the genuineness of the word pniktou (strangled) which is absent from D Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian. It is a nice point, though the best MSS. have it in accord with #Le 17:10-16. The problem is whether the words were added because "blood" was understood as not "murder," but a reference to the Mosaic regulation or whether it was omitted to remove the ceremonial aspect and make it all moral and ethical. The Western text omits the word also in verse #29. But with the word retained here and in verse #29 the solution of James is not a compromise, though there is a wise concession to Jewish feeling. {Pollutions of idols} (alisgematwn). From alisgew only in the LXX and this substantive nowhere else. The word refers to idolatrous practices (pollutions) and things sacrificed to idols (eidwluqwn) in verse #29, not to sacrificial meat sold in the market (#1Co 10:27), a matter not referred to here. Cf. #Le 17:1-9. All the four items in the position of James (accepting pniktou) are mentioned in #Le 17,18.
