Acts 14

Acts 15 (ESV)

Acts 16

The Jerusalem Council

15

yver. 24 But some men came down from Judea and were teachingzver. 3, 22, 23, 36, 40; See John 21:23 the brothers, “Unless you areaver. 5; Gal. 5:2; [1 Cor. 7:18; Gal. 2:11, 14] circumcisedbch. 6:14; Lev. 12:3 according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. ” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension andcver. 7 debate with them, Paul and Barnabas andd[Gal. 2:1, 2] some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem toever. 4, 6, 22, 23; ch. 16:4; See ch. 5:12; 11:30 the apostles and the elders about this question. So,fch. 21:5; Rom. 15:24; 1 Cor. 16:6, 11; 2 Cor. 1:16; Titus 3:13; 3 John 6; [ch. 17:15] being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria,gSee ch. 14:27 describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, andhch. 11:18 brought great joy to alliver. 1 the brothers. j[ch. 21:17] When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church andkver. 2 the apostles and the elders, andg[See ver. 3 above] they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged tolSee ch. 24:5 the party of the Pharisees rose up and said,mver. 1 “It is necessarynGal. 5:3 to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. ”

o[ver. 12, 25] Thek[See ver. 4 above] apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been muchpver. 2 debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you,qch. 10:20 that by my mouth the Gentiles should hearr[Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5; 1 Thess. 1:5] the word ofsch. 20:24 the gospel and believe. And God,tch. 1:24 who knows the heart,uch. 14:3 bore witness to them,vch. 10:44, 47; 11:15, 17; [ver. 28; Gal. 3:2] by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, andwch. 11:12; Rom. 3:22-24; Eph. 3:6; [ch. 10:28, 34] he made no distinction between us and them,xPs. 51:10; [ch. 26:18; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Pet. 1:22] having cleansed their heartsySee ch. 10:43 by faith. 10 Now, therefore, whyzPs. 106:14; Isa. 7:12 are you putting God to the testaGal. 5:1; [ver. 28] by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciplesb[Matt. 11:28; 23:4; Luke 11:46] that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But wec[ch. 16:31] believe that we will bedEph. 2:5, 8; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 2:11; 3:7; [Rom. 3:24; 1 Thess. 5:9] saved througheRom. 5:15 the grace of the Lord Jesus,w[See ver. 9 above] just as they will. ”

12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paulfver. 4; See ch. 14:27 as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they finished speaking,gSee ch. 12:17 James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 h[ver. 7] Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from themi[ch. 18:10; Deut. 7:6; Isa. 43:21; Rom. 9:24-26] a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,


16 jCited from Amos 9:11, 12; [Jer. 12:15] ‘After this I will return,
and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;
I will rebuild its ruins,
and I will restore it,

17 that the remnant1Or rest of mankindk[ch. 17:27] may seek the Lord,
and all the GentileslIsa. 43:7; Jer. 14:9; Dan. 9:19 who are called by my name,
says the Lord, who makes these things
18 m[Isa. 45:21] known from of old. ’

19 Thereforen[ver. 28] my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles whooSee ch. 14:15 turn to God, 20 but should write to thempch. 21:25 to abstain fromq[ver. 29; Ezek. 4:13, 14; Dan. 1:8; Mal. 1:7, 12] the things polluted by idols, and fromr1 Cor. 10:7, 8; Rev. 2:14, 20; See 1 Cor. 6:18 sexual immorality, and fromsSee Lev. 3:17 what has been strangled, and fromsSee Lev. 3:17 blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him,tch. 13:15; 2 Cor. 3:14, 15; [ch. 13:27] for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues. ”

The Council's Letter to Gentile Believers

22 Then it seemed good touver. 2 the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas calledv[ch. 1:23] Barsabbas, andwSee 1 Pet. 5:12 Silas, leading men amongxver. 1 the brothers, 23 with the following letter:x[See ver. 22 above] “The brothers, bothu[See ver. 22 above] the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia,ych. 23:26; James 1:1; [2 John 10, 11] greetings. 24 Since we have heard thatzver. 1; [Gal. 2:4; 5:12; Titus 1:10] some persons have gone out from us andaGal. 1:7; 5:10 troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25 it has seemed good to us, having comebSee ch. 1:14 to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with ourc[2 Pet. 3:15] beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 dch. 9:23-25; 14:19 men who havee[ch. 20:24; 21:13; 2 Cor. 4:11; 1 John 3:16] risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sentfver. 22, 32 Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it has seemed goodg[ver. 8; ch. 5:32; John 16:13; 1 Cor. 7:40] to the Holy Spirit andh[ver. 19] to usi[ver. 10; Rev. 2:24] to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29 jSee ver. 20 that you abstain fromkch. 21:25; 1 Cor. 8:1, 4, 7, 10; 10:19; Rev. 2:14, 20 what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. ”

30 So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. 31 And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. 32 And Judas and Silas, who were themselveslSee ch. 13:1 prophets, encouraged andmSee ch. 14:22 strengthenednver. 1 the brothers with many words. 33 And after they had spent some time, they were sent offoGen. 26:29; Heb. 11:31; [1 Cor. 16:11] in peace byn[See ver. 32 above] the brothers to those who had sent them. 35 Butpch. 13:1 Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

Paul and Barnabas Separate

36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visitn[See ver. 32 above] the brothersqch. 13:4, 13, 14, 51; 14:6, 24, 25 in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are. ” 37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with themrSee ch. 12:12 John called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them onesch. 13:13 who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there aroset[ch. 17:16 (Gk.)] a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other.u[Col. 4:10] Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed,vch. 14:26 having been commended bywver. 1 the brothers toxver. 11; [ch. 11:23]; See Rom. 16:20 the grace of the Lord. 41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia,yver. 32; ch. 16:5 strengthening the churches.