Acts 15:1-21 - The Jerusalem Council

¹ But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." ² And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. ³ So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, reporting the conversion of the Gentiles, and they gave great joy to all the brethren.

⁴ When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. ⁵ But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up, and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the Law of Moses."

⁶ The apostles and the elders came together to consider this matter. ⁷ After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. ⁸ And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us; ⁹ and he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now therefore why do you test God by putting upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? ¹¹ But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are."

¹² All the assembly kept silent; and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. ¹³ After they finished speaking, James replied, "Brethren, listen to me. ¹⁴ Simeon has related how God first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for his name. ¹⁵ With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written,

¹⁶ 'After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, ¹⁷ so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,' ¹⁸ says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.

¹⁹ Therefore it is my judgment that we should not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, ²⁰ but that we should write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. ²¹ For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath."