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The Acts of the Apostles 15

15 But then some Jewish believers from the province of Judea arrived in Antioch. They started telling the non-Jewish believers there, “You must receive circumcision to show that you belong to God, as Moses commanded in the laws that he received from God. If you do not do that, God will not save you.” 2 Paul and Barnabas had a big argument with those Jews. They could not settle their disagreement, so the believers at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas and some of the other believers to Jerusalem. That way they could discuss this issue with the apostles and other leaders there.

3 After the believers in Antioch had sent Paul, Barnabas, and the others on their way, they traveled through the provinces of Phoenicia and Samaria. When they stopped at different places along the way, they told the believers in those places that many non-Jews were putting their trust in Jesus. When the believers heard this, they rejoiced greatly. 4 When Paul, Barnabas, and the others arrived in Jerusalem, the apostles, elders, and other believers there welcomed them. Then Paul and Barnabas reported the things that God had enabled them to do among non-Jewish people.

5 But some of the Jewish believers who were Pharisees stood up to get the attention of the other believers. They said to them, “The non-Jews who have believed in Jesus must receive circumcision. We must also tell them to obey the laws that God gave to Moses.”

6 Then the apostles and the elders met together in order to talk about this issue. 7 After they had discussed it for a long time, Peter stood up to get everyone’s attention. He said to them, “Fellow believers, you all know that a long time ago God chose me from among you other apostles for an important task. He wanted me to tell the non-Jewish people the good news about Jesus. God wanted them to believe in him. 8 God knows what every person is truly like. He showed me and others that he had accepted the non-Jews as his people. He did that by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he gave the Holy Spirit to us. 9 God treated them in the same way that he treated us. He forgave their sins because they trusted in Jesus. 10 Listen carefully! God has shown what he wants, so you should not be trying to promote something else. You should not be trying to force non-Jewish believers to obey our Jewish laws! That would be like putting a heavy burden on them. Our ancestors were not able to obey those laws. We Jews today have not been able to obey them either. 11 We are confident that God saves us Jews from our sins because of what the Lord Jesus did for us. And we are confident that God will save in the same way those non-Jews who believe in Jesus.”

12 After Peter had spoken, Barnabas and Paul told about the many great miracles that God had enabled them to do among the non-Jewish people. The miracles showed that God had accepted these non-Jews. The people who heard Barnabas and Paul tell about these miracles were so fascinated that all they did was listen. None of them said anything.

13 When Barnabas and Paul had finished speaking, James, the leader of the group of believers in Jerusalem, spoke to everyone. He said, “Fellow believers, listen to me. 14 Simon Peter has told you how God previously showed that he cared about the non-Jews. God did that by choosing from among them a group of people who would belong to him. 15 What God said long ago, as we can read in the writings of one of the prophets, agrees with that:

16 Later on, I will help the Israelites again. I will restore the kingdom of David that has been conquered and destroyed. I will do that by making one of the descendants of David the king of Israel again. It will be as if I was rebuilding a house after it had been torn down.

17 I will do this so that the rest of the people in the world will want me to be their Lord. This will include even the non-Jewish people whom I have chosen to belong to me. You can be certain that this will happen because I, the Lord God, have said that I will do it.

18 I told my people long ago that I would do this.”

19 James continued to speak. He said, “Therefore I think that we should not tell the non-Jewish people who are becoming disciples of Jesus that they have to obey all of our Jewish laws and rituals. 20 Instead, we should write a letter to them about only a few things. They should not eat meat that people have offered to idols. They should not have sexual relations with someone to whom they are not married. They should not eat meat from animals that people have strangled to kill them for butchering. They should not eat or drink any blood. 21 We should tell the Gentiles not to do these things because they would be very offensive to Jews. The laws that Moses wrote forbid these things. Jews would expect Gentiles to know that God would not want them to do these things because people read those laws aloud in the Jewish meeting places on every Sabbath day. They have done this in cities in many different places for a very long time.”

22 The apostles and the elders, along with all the other believers in Jerusalem, agreed with what James said. So they decided that they should choose men from the church in Jerusalem and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Those men would let the believers there know what the leaders at Jerusalem had decided. So they chose Judas the son of Sabbas and Silas. These were both leaders of the believers at Jerusalem. 23 They wrote the following letter, which they asked Judas and Silas to take to the believers at Antioch:

“We apostles and elders who are your fellow believers send our greetings to you. We are writing this to you non-Jewish believers who live in the city of Antioch and other places in the provinces of Syria and Cilicia.

24 We have heard that some men from our church came to you and taught you things that were different from what you learned when you first believed in Jesus. We have heard that what they told you made you upset. We want you to know that we did not send these men to you.

25 We met together and we all agreed that it would be good to choose some men and ask them to go to you. We are sending them along with Barnabas and Paul, whom we love very much.

26 Those two have put their lives in danger because they serve our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

27 We have also sent Judas and Silas to you. They will tell you the same things that we are writing.

28 We believe that the Holy Spirit has shown us that we should not require you to obey all of the Jewish laws. That would be difficult and unnecessary. Instead, we only require you to obey the following instructions:

29 You should not eat food that people have sacrificed to idols.

You should not eat or drink any blood.

You should not eat meat from animals that people have killed by strangling them.

You should not have sexual relations with someone to whom you are not married.

If you avoid doing these things, you will be doing what is right. We wish you well.”

30 Then the apostles and elders sent Barnabas, Paul, Judas, and Silas on their way. They traveled from the city of Jerusalem to the city of Antioch. They assembled the believers there and read the letter to them. 31 When the believers there read the letter, they were glad, because its message encouraged them. 32 Judas and Silas were prophets. They said many things to encourage the Gentile believers. They helped them to trust in Jesus even more.

33 Judas and Silas stayed in Antioch for a long time. Then, when they were ready to return to Jerusalem, the believers at Antioch wished them well and they left. 34 [fn] [But Silas thought it would be best for them to stay there. So Judas went back to Jerusalem alone.] 35 However, Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch. There they and many others taught the believers and shared the good news about Jesus.

36 After a while Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in every city where we previously proclaimed the good news about Jesus. That way we can find out how well they are continuing to believe in and obey Jesus.” 37 Barnabas agreed that it would be good to go back and visit these believers. But Barnabas said that he wanted to take John, whose other name was Mark, along with them again. 38 However, Paul told Barnabas that he thought it was a bad idea to take Mark with them. Paul said this because Mark had left them when they were previously in the region of Pamphylia. Mark had not continued to work with them. 39 Paul and Barnabas strongly disagreed with each other about whether they should bring John Mark with them. So they separated from each other. Barnabas went on a journey of his own and took Mark with him. They sailed on a ship to the island of Cyprus. 40 Paul decided to travel with Silas. The believers in Antioch asked God graciously to help them. Then Paul and Silas departed from Antioch. 41 Paul traveled with Silas through the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. In those places, they helped the groups of believers to trust in Jesus even more.

Some ancient manuscripts include verse 34 (See: Acts 15:40).

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