Acts 15:19
Acts 15:1919It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
JWs read James's verdict ("my decision is not to trouble those from the nations who are turning to God") as the apostolic council's ratification of the four-item rule that immediately follows in vv.20 and 29. The "not troubling" is interpreted as freeing Gentile converts from circumcision while still binding them to the four prohibitions — including blood — as perpetual Christian law.
James's verdict frames the decree pastorally from the start. His concern is not to "trouble" Gentile believers — krinō egō mē parenochlein. The whole council was convened because some Jewish believers were demanding circumcision of Gentile converts (), and James's ruling is that the church must not impose such burdens. The four items that follow in v.20 are introduced as a minimum-friction package for mixed Jewish-Gentile fellowship, with v.21 anchoring them in the synagogue context where Moses was read every Sabbath. Paul then applies the idol-food item pastorally in 1 Cor 8 and 10:25, which is how he understood James's verdict. A consistent reading treats all four items the same way — either the whole decree is perpetual absolute law (in which case Paul is wrong about idol-meat) or the whole decree is contextual pastoral guidance (in which case the blood item cannot be singled out as a perpetual transfusion ban).