Acts of the Apostles 15

¹ Then some men came down from Judaea[*a] and taught the brothers, ‘Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved’.

² This led to disagreement, and after Paul and Barnabas had had a long argument with these men it was arranged that Paul and Barnabas and others of the church should go up to Jerusalem and discuss the problem with the apostles and elders.

³ All the members of the church saw them off, and as they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria they told how the pagans had been converted, and this news was received with the greatest satisfaction by the brothers.

⁴ When they arrived in Jerusalem they were welcomed by the church and by the apostles and elders, and gave an account of all that God had done with them.

⁵ But certain members of the Pharisees’ party who had become believers objected, insisting that the pagans should be circumcised and instructed to keep the Law of Moses.

⁶ The apostles and elders met to look into the matter,

⁷ and after the discussion had gone on a long time, Peter stood up and addressed them.

⁸ In fact God, who can read everyone’s heart, showed his approval of them by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he had to us.

⁹ God made no distinction between them and us, since he purified their hearts by faith.

¹⁰ It would only provoke God’s anger now, surely, if you imposed on the disciples the very burden that neither we nor our ancestors were strong enough to support?

¹¹ Remember, we believe that we are saved in the same way as they are: through the grace of the Lord Jesus.’

¹² This silenced the entire assembly, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had worked through them among the pagans.

¹³ When they had finished it was James who spoke. ‘My brothers,’ he said ‘listen to me.

¹⁴ Simeon[*b] has described how God first arranged to enlist a people for his name out of the pagans.

¹⁵ This is entirely in harmony with the words of the prophets, since the scriptures say:

¹⁶ After that I shall return and rebuild the fallen House of David; I shall rebuild it from its ruins and restore it.

¹⁷ Then the rest of mankind,all the pagans who are consecrated to my name, will look for the Lord, says the Lord who made this

¹⁸ known so long ago.[*c]

¹⁹ ‘I rule, then, that instead of making things more difficult for pagans who turn to God,

²⁰ we send them a letter telling them merely to abstain from anything polluted by idols,[*d] from fornication,[*e] from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.

²¹ For Moses has always had his preachers in every town, and is read aloud in the synagogues every sabbath.’

²² Then the apostles and elders decided to choose delegates to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; the whole church concurred with this. They chose Judas known as Barsabbas and Silas,[*f] both leading men in the brotherhood,

²³ and gave them this letter to take with them: ‘The apostles and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of pagan birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.

²⁴ We hear that some of our members have disturbed you with their demands and have unsettled your minds. They acted without any authority from us;

²⁵ and so we have decided unanimously to elect delegates and to send them to you with Barnabas and Paul, men we highly respect

²⁶ who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷ Accordingly we are sending you Judas and Silas, who will confirm by word of mouth what we have written in this letter.

²⁸ It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials:

²⁹ you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols; from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from fornication. Avoid these, and you will do what is right. Farewell.’

³⁰ The party left and went down to Antioch, where they summoned the whole community and delivered the letter.

³¹ The community read it and were delighted with the encouragement it gave them.

³² Judas and Silas, being themselves prophets, spoke for a long time, encouraging and strengthening the brothers.

³³ These two spent some time there, and then the brothers wished them peace and they went back to those who had sent them.

³⁵ Paul and Barnabas, however, stayed on in Antioch, and there with many others they taught and proclaimed the Good News, the word of the Lord.

³⁶ On a later occasion Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us go back and visit all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord, so that we can see how the brothers are doing’.

³⁷ Barnabas suggested taking John Mark,

³⁸ but Paul was not in favour of taking along the very man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had refused to share in their work.

³⁹ After a violent quarrel they parted company, and Barnabas sailed off with Mark to Cyprus.

⁴⁰ Before Paul left, he chose Silas to accompany him and was commended by the brothers to the grace of God.

⁴¹ He travelled through Syria and Cilicia, consolidating the churches.