In the second meeting of the general Conference James evidently presides and sums up the situation in favor of Paul, after Peter (Acts 15:7-12) has shown how they had already agreed to Gentile liberty in the case of Cornelius and his household. James, with due deliberation (15:13), concludes (15:12-21) with a pointed endorsement of Simon Peter’s speech and acceptance of the work at Caesarea and among the Gentiles generally as a visitation of God. He clinches the whole matter by showing that the prophets (as Amos 9:11 f.) agree with this position that the Gentiles are to be saved. “Wherefore my judgment is,” he says as the president of the Conference, practically offering a resolution for the vote of the Conference, “that we trouble not them that from among the Gentiles turn to God” (Acts 15:19). He has put the matter in a very happy form. Surely Jewish Christians could but rejoice to see Gentiles “turn to God.” James proposes the writing of an epistle to the Gentile Christians to this effect, with the added warning “that they abstain from the pollution of idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood.” It is at least open to question whether “what is strangled” is genuine here, since it is wanting in D (Codex Bezae), Irenæus, Tertullian, and Cyprian, as also in 15:28. If so, the prohibition is against idolatry (idol feasts), murder (blood), and immorality (fornication), the great vices of heathenism. But with the text as it stands, “things strangled,” we seem to have a concession to the Jewish ceremonial law and to Jewish prejudices on that point. James is not uneasy about Moses, for he is read in the synagogues every sabbath (Acts 15:21), a reference to the habit of the Christians still to worship in the Jewish synagogues (cf. James 2:2). The “wisdom” of James is manifest in this masterly address, which held conviction to such an extent that the resolution of James was carried unanimously by the body of “the apostles and the elders, with the whole church” (Acts 15:22), a remarkable outcome when the bitterness of the Judaizers is considered and a distinct tribute to the influence of James. We may assume that the Judaizers were silent, since they saw that they were hopelessly defeated. The epistle which was sent to the church at Antioch (15:23-29) embodies the ideas of James and was probably written by him, since the style is like that of his speech and the epistle that bears his name. The letter expressly disclaims responsibility for the conduct of the Judaizers at Antioch (15:24), pointedly condemns their behavior, commends “our beloved Barnabas and Paul” (vv. 25 f.), refers to the messengers Judas and Silas, claims the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the stand for Gentile freedom (v. 28), and repeats the stipulations in the speech of James about the special Gentile sins (v. 29).