Some men is intentionally given by Luke as a vague and indefinite reference. The Greek text has “came down from Judea,” but the place to which they came is Antioch, and the Good News Translation has made this information explicit, some men came from Judea to Antioch. This mention of Antioch also serves as a transitional device to link the first part of Chapter 15 to the immediately preceding paragraph.

In this context it is not easy to translate satisfactorily the term brothers. These are, of course, the “fellow believers.” In most languages the Christian community does develop a term for relatives which is applicable to the community of believers, but this may be a highly specialized usage and can create a number of problems. In some situations one must employ an expression which is practically equivalent to “believers who formed a family” or “the family of believers,” since the term brothers implies two essential components of meaning: (1) the close relationship which the members of the Christian community felt for one another and (2) their common faith in Jesus Christ.

Started teaching is a verb tense which indicates action in progress, with emphasis upon the initiation of the action (see also New American Bible, New English Bible, Phillips “began to teach”).

In a language which cannot employ a passive expression one must make some adaptation of the phrase cannot be saved. In general this is rendered as “God will not save you unless…” or even “God cannot save you unless….” (See also 16.30.)

As the Law of Moses requires translates “according to the custom of Moses,” but “the custom of Moses” refers to the requirements of the Mosaic Law (cf. New English Bible “in accordance with Mosaic practice”). As noted previously, the expression the Law of Moses must indicate that this is the law that comes through Moses. It is not the law that he possessed. The equivalent of requires may be rendered as “you must be circumcised just like the Law of Moses says you must.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .