<p>15:13 <i>And after they finished speaking</i>- God seems to have recognized with pleasure the degree to which Paul modelled his life on John, in that Paul's experiences of life were over-ruled to have connections with those of John. These connections simply could not have been engineered by Paul; e.g. the way in which they both died in prison at the behest of a crazy, woman-influenced despot. The Spirit also seems to make connections between John and Paul in the manner in which it describes them (e.g. Lk. 1:14 = Acts 15:13; 13:52; Lk. 1:15 = Acts 9:17; 13:9; Lk. 3:18 = Acts 13:15-19; Jn. 1:7,8,15 = Acts 23:11; 26:22; Jn. 3:27 = 1 Cor. 2:8-16). And the Spirit in Acts 19:18 seems to portray Paul in the language of John: &quot;they came (to Paul) and confessed, and shewed their deeds&quot;- just as men had to John.</p><p><em>James replied, saying</em>- A good case can be made that James was written as a follow up to the Council of Jerusalem- there are some marked similarities James 2:5 = Acts 15:13; James 2:7 = Acts 15:17; James 1:27 = Acts 15:29. See on 15:23 <em>Greeting</em>.</p><p><em>Brothers, listen to me</em>- The AV and some manuscripts add &quot;Men and brethren&quot;. This could refer to the addressing of both the entire church (&quot;men&quot;), and the elders (&quot;brethren&quot;). Throughout Acts 15 we are reminded that the decisions reached were taken by the church congregation <em>and </em>the elders- rather than elders imposing a position upon the congregation.</p>