<p>15:4 <em>And when they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all things that God had done through them</em>- This is intentionally similar to the report about their arrival at the Antioch ecclesia in 14:27: &quot;And when they had come and had gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done through them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles&quot;. The careful repetition of event and report in Acts 10 and 11 gives the impression that Peter likewise carefully reported to the elders. They were all under the deep sense that God was working through them; no preacher is to be praised for themselves. We are all instruments and being used by the Father. We are absolutely nothing of ourselves.</p><p>In Acts 15 the representatives of the ecclesias reported to the whole church at Jerusalem, not just the elders. There seems to have been a series of meetings: initially, the group from Antioch who raised the problems being discussed met with the elders, who met together in a second meeting to consider it all, involving &ldquo;the whole assembly&hellip; the whole church&rdquo; (:6,12,22). Then there was perhaps a third meeting where &ldquo;the whole assembly&rdquo; was also present. And this is why &ldquo;the apostles and elders <em>with the whole church</em>&rdquo; (Acts 15:22) agreed a solution. It wasn&rsquo;t a top down decision imposed upon the congregation. They all participated. This parallel between elders and the assembly is even found in the Old Testament- e.g. &ldquo;Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people, And praise him in the assembly of the elders&rdquo; (Ps. 107:32).&nbsp; The &ldquo;assembly of the people&rdquo; and that of the elders is paralleled.</p>