The term for debate should not imply a serious dispute. It simply indicates a long discussion where differences of opinion were expressed.

On my brothers see 1.16. A long time ago is taken by some translators to mean “in the early days (of the Christian faith).” Peter is here referring to the events narrated in Chapter 10, which had taken place some ten years before. God chose me … to preach is obviously the meaning of the Greek expression “God chose through my mouth … for the Gentiles to hear” (see Revised Standard Version “God made choice … that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear”). As in so many instances, it may be necessary to supply some goal to the verb believe, for example, “believe in the Lord.”

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 .