UTN uW Translation Notes:

Acts 15 Chapter Introduction

Structure and Formatting

Verses 1–35 tell how the church resolved the question of whether Gentiles who believed in Jesus needed to keep the whole law of Moses. Verses 36–41 tell how Paul began a new journey to proclaim the gospel, bringing Silas with him.

Some translations set each line of poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to make it easier to read. The ULT does this with the poetry that is quoted from the Old Testament in 15:16–18.

Even if your language does not customarily put one direct quotation inside another, it would be good to present the quotation from the prophet Amos in verses 16–18 as a direct quotation if possible, since in it God is speaking directly the people of Israel. Since Amos acknowledges in verse 17 that God is speaking by saying “says the Lord,” a third-level quotation actually starts in verse 16. ULT uses second-level and third-level quotation marks within the first-level quotation from James to identify the various speakers. But it may not be necessary to do this in your translation. You could just use second-level quotation marks or some other punctuation or convention available in your language to indicate the beginning and ending of the second-level quotation from Amos. (See: figs-quotemarks)

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Did Gentiles have to obey the law of Moses?

Some believers wanted the Gentiles to be circumcised because God had told Abraham and Moses that everyone who wanted to belong to him had to be circumcised, so this was a law that would always exist. But Paul and Barnabas had seen God give uncircumcised Gentiles the gift of the Holy Spirit, so they did not believe that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised. Both groups went to Jerusalem to have the church leaders decide what they should do. The meeting that the apostles and elders held to decide about this issue is commonly called the “Jerusalem Council.”