Acts 15:22

The Jerusalem leaders chose two witnesses to return to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas to confirm verbally the decision of this council. The custom of sending four persons, representing the people and the council, with an official document has been attested in ancient Greco-Roman literature. [Note: Witherington, p. 467.] Likewise, in many places oral testimony was regarded more highly than written. [Note: Ibid., p. 469.] Judas had a Jewish name so he may have been a Hebraic Jew whereas Silas had a Greek name and probably was a Hellenistic Jew. These men represented both segments of the Jerusalem church.

Judas had the same surname as Joseph Barsabbas, the candidate with Matthias for the vacant apostleship (Acts 1:23). Consequently some interpreters have assumed that Judas and Joseph were brothers. [Note: E.g., Kent, p. 127.] We also know Silas by his Roman name, Silvanus, in Scripture (2 Corinthians 1:19). He was a Hellenistic Jew who had been a leader in the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:22; Acts 15:27). He was a prophet (Acts 15:32), a vocal minister in Antioch (Acts 15:32), a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37), and an effective amanuensis (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 1 Peter 5:12). Silas became Paul’s primary companion on his second missionary journey (Acts 15:40).

"When one considers the situation of the Jerusalem church in A.D. 49, the decision reached by the Jerusalem Christians must be considered one of the boldest and most magnanimous in the annals of church history. While still attempting to minister exclusively to the nation, the council refused to impede the progress of that other branch of the Christian mission whose every success meant further difficulty for them from within their own nation." [Note: Longenecker, p. p. 450.]