The Pharisees comprised one of the major groups within Judaism, and not a “sect” (King James Version). Luke does not state that these believers “formerly” belonged to the party of the Pharisees. His account suggests that for the earliest Christians there was no distinction between being a Jew and a Christian believer; to be a Christian meant that one had accepted the fulfillment of one’s Jewish faith and could thus still maintain his ties with his religious party within Judaism. With them (v. 4) in the same phrase that appears in 14.27. It is important to avoid in a term for party an expression which would imply a political entity. In some languages the appropriate expression would be “belonged to a group called the Pharisees” or “were members of a group called Pharisees.” The term Pharisee is best rendered as a transliterated proper name, but with supplementary information being supplied in a glossary.

The passive expression indicating obligation have to be circumcised may be rendered in some languages as “must undergo circumcision” (the term “undergo” followed by a noun is a kind of substitute passive). One can, however, make an active expression out of this, as “someone must circumcise them.” Similarly, the passive expression told to obey may be made active by saying “you must tell them that they must obey the Law of Moses.”

Though in many languages there is a perfectly satisfactory collective singular which can be used in an expression such as the Law of Moses, in some languages this must be plural since it involves a number of ordinances; therefore “the laws of Moses” or “the laws that came to the people through Moses.”

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 .