John Stott follows the New English Bible in suggesting that the phrase means the other apostles "accepted Barnabas and myself as partners, and shook hands upon it.
"[1] Herman Ridderbos, however, believes that the "giving of right hands represents more than a reciprocal acknowledgment or testimony of friendship: it suggests rather a covenant.
On this reading, the three Jerusalem apostles assert their superiority over Paul by offering a truce (end to hostilities) since, in that time and place, "extending the right hand" was not a gesture between equals.
Predating New Testament usage, Plato uses the phrase in his dialogue The Republic, Book V [468], suggesting it as something to be offered to "the hero who has distinguished himself".
Among the Congregational clergy of Puritan New England a new minister undergoing ordination, after he was called by the voting members of the church and submitted to the laying on of hands by ministers and sometimes lay elders of neighboring congregations, was often extended the right hand of fellowship by a prominent clergymen to formally seal his acceptance of the ministerial office.