{But there rose up} (exanest(8873)an de). Second aorist active
indicative (intransitive). Note both ex and an. These men
rose up out of the crowd at a critical moment. They were
believers in Christ (pepisteukotes, having believed), but were
still members of "the sect of the Pharisees" (	(8873) hairese(9373) t(936e)
Pharisai(936e)). Evidently they still held to the Pharisaic
narrowness shown in the attack on Peter ( 11:2f. ). Note the
dogmatism of their "must" (dei) after the opposition of Paul
and Barnabas to their "except" (ean me) at Antioch ( 15:1 ).
They are unconvinced and expected to carry the elders with them.
Codex Bezae says that they had appealed to the elders ( 15:2,5 ).
At any rate they have made the issue in open meeting at the
height of the jubilation. It is plain from verse  6  that this
meeting was adjourned, for another gathering came together then.
It is here that the private conference of which Paul speaks in
 Ga 2:1-10  took place. It was Paul's chance to see the leaders
in Jerusalem (Peter, James, and John) and he won them over to his
view of Gentile liberty from the Mosaic law so that the next
public conference ( Ac 15:6-29 ) ratified heartily the views of
Paul, Barnabas, Peter, James, and John. It was a diplomatic
triumph of the first order and saved Christianity from the
bondage of Jewish ceremonial sacramentalism. So far as we know
this is the only time that Paul and John met face to face, the
great spirits in Christian history after Jesus our Lord. It is a
bit curious to see men saying today that Paul surrendered about
Titus and had him circumcised for the sake of peace, the very
opposite of what he says in Galatians, "to whom I yielded, no not
for an hour." Titus as a Greek was a red flag to the Judaizers
and to the compromisers, but Paul stood his ground.