The Council at Jerusalem
15 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”
6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon[Greek Simeon, a variant of Simon; that is, Peter] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16 “‘After this, I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’[Amos 9:11,12 (see Septuagint)]—
18 things known from long ago.[Some manuscripts things’— / 18 the Lord’s work is known to him from long ago]
19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead, we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from the blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 23 With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:
Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
30 So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. 32 Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. 33 After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. [34] [Some manuscripts include here "But Silas decided to remain there."] 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.
Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas
36 Sometime later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
NOTES:
15:1–35 The Jerusalem “Council” marks the official rejection
of the rigid view that Gentile converts were obliged to observe the Mosaic law
completely. From here to the end of Acts, Paul and the Gentile mission become
the focus of Luke’s writing.
15:1–5 When some of the converted Pharisees of Jerusalem
discover the results of the first missionary journey of Paul, they urge that
the Gentiles be taught to follow the Mosaic law. Recognizing the authority of
the Jerusalem church, Paul and Barnabas go there to settle the question of
whether Gentiles can embrace a form of Christianity that does not include this
obligation.
15:6–12 The gathering is possibly the same as that recalled
by Paul in Gal 2:1–10. Note that in Acts 15:2 it is only the apostles and
presbyters, a small group, with whom Paul and Barnabas are to meet. Here Luke
gives the meeting a public character because he wishes to emphasize its
doctrinal significance (see Acts 15:22).
15:7–11 Paul’s refusal to impose the Mosaic law on the
Gentile Christians is supported by Peter on the ground that within his own
experience God bestowed the holy Spirit upon Cornelius and his household
without preconditions concerning the adoption of the Mosaic law (see Acts
10:44–47).
15:11 In support of Paul, Peter formulates the fundamental
meaning of the gospel: that all are invited to be saved through faith in the
power of Christ.
15:13–35 Some scholars think that this apostolic decree
suggested by James, the immediate leader of the Jerusalem community, derives
from another historical occasion than the meeting in question. This seems to be
the case if the meeting is the same as the one related in Gal 2:1–10. According
to that account, nothing was imposed upon Gentile Christians in respect to
Mosaic law; whereas the decree instructs Gentile Christians of mixed
communities to abstain from meats sacrificed to idols and from blood-meats, and
to avoid marriage within forbidden degrees of consanguinity and affinity (Lv
18), all of which practices were especially abhorrent to Jews. Luke seems to
have telescoped two originally independent incidents here: the first a
Jerusalem “Council” that dealt with the question of circumcision, and the
second a Jerusalem decree dealing mainly with Gentile observance of dietary
laws (see Acts 21:25 where Paul seems to be learning of the decree for the
first time).
15:14 Symeon: elsewhere in Acts he is called either Peter or
Simon. The presence of the name Symeon here suggests that, in the source Luke
is using for this part of the Jerusalem “Council” incident, the name may have
originally referred to someone other than Peter (see Acts 13:1 where the
Antiochene Symeon Niger is mentioned). As the text now stands, however, it is
undoubtedly a reference to Simon Peter (Acts 15:7).
15:34 Some manuscripts add, in various wordings, “But Silas
decided to remain there.”
15:36–18:22 This continuous narrative recounts Paul’s second
missionary journey. On the internal evidence of the Lucan account, it lasted
about three years. Paul first visited the communities he had established on his
first journey (Acts 16:1–5), then pushed on into Macedonia, where he
established communities at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Beroea (Acts 16:7–17:5).
To escape the hostility of the Jews of Thessalonica, he left for Greece and
while resident in Athens attempted, without success, to establish an effective
Christian community there. From Athens, he proceeded to Corinth and, after a
stay of a year and a half, returned to Antioch by way of Ephesus and Jerusalem
(Acts 17:16–18:22). Luke does not concern himself with the structure or
statistics of the communities but aims to show the general progress of the
gospel in the Gentile world as well as its continued failure to take root in
the Jewish community.
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