NOTES for Act 15:36-16:15
What guides us when we consider what a person should or should not do for salvation, or when we discuss questions of church organization, when we ask questions such as: “How and in what should we believe?”, “What decision will please God?”, “What does He expect of me personally?” Usually we recall one passage or another from Scripture, church rules, or other people's experience. At worst, we do whatever we please. But the book of Acts opens before us an astonishing example of apostolic faith, when the Holy Spirit clearly enables them to see how they should act and where they should go. That is why Luke can say so simply: “The Spirit would not let them go there”... Only one question remains. If the Apostles' experience differs greatly from ours, what does this give us—a reason for dejection and despair, or a reason to plead for the Spirit?