15:20a

Instead: There is contrast here. The contrast is between making the lives of the Gentile believers more difficult (in 15:19) and making their lives less difficult (in 15:20). The apostles would make the Gentile believers’ lives more difficult if they required them to obey all the Old Testament laws including circumcision (in 15:19). They could make their lives less difficult by requiring them to obey only the four rules that James recommended (in 15:20).

In some languages it is more natural to explain the contrast. For example:

Instead ⌊of making it difficult⌋
-or-
Instead ⌊of telling them to obey the laws of Moses⌋

15:20b–d

James listed four rules that Gentile believers should follow. The first two rules agree with Paul’s own rules for Gentile believers. The second two would help Gentile believers to invite Jewish believers for a meal and not offend them.

15:20b

food polluted by idols: The Greek is literally “the pollutions of idols.” This probably refers to all activities connected to idol worship or anything that honored the idols. This would include feasts held at the temple of an idol. Such activities would “pollute” the faith of the believers by mixing honoring idols with honoring God. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

any activity connected to idols because they pollute ⌊a believer’s faith⌋
-or-
things polluted by contact with idols (Revised English Bible)
-or-
any deed that honors idols since that ruins ⌊a pure devotion to God⌋

The apostles and elders used a different Greek word in 15:29 (“food sacrificed to idols”). Probably the Greek word in 15:29 helps define what James meant here. For example:

eating food offered to idols (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
any food that is ritually unclean because it has been offered to idols (Good News Translation)

idols: The idols are statues or other physical representations of a god. People bow down in front of the idol to worship that god.

15:20c

sexual immorality:
This phrase refers to any kind of sexual activities outside of marriage. In your culture, you may use a euphemism for this meaning. For example:

sleep/lie with someone who was not their/his/her spouse
-or-
do wrong with someone who was not their/his/her spouse

The word or phrase you use should be acceptable for reading aloud in public, and not be embarrassing.

15:20d

the meat of strangled animals: At that time Gentiles sometimes strangled the animal and cooked it with the blood still in it. In some languages the implied information about cooking it with the blood still in it may not be clear. If that is true in your language, you may want to include the implied information. For example:

the meat of strangled animals ⌊and cooked without draining the blood⌋

The law of Moses prohibited doing this. This practice offended Jewish believers. In some languages the reason for this rule is not clear. If that is true in your language, you may want to explain it in a footnote. An example footnote is:

Cooking meat with the blood still in it would offend Jewish believers.

from blood: The law of Moses also prohibited drinking blood or eating food made with blood. This practice also offended Jewish believers. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

not to eat…any blood (Good News Translation)
-or-
from consuming blood (New Living Translation (2004))

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.