Acts 15:6-29

Amplified Bible

⁶The apostles and the elders came together to consider this matter. ⁷After a long debate, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the message of the gospel and believe. ⁸And God, who knows and understands the heart, testified to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; ⁹and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith [in Jesus]. ¹⁰Now then, why are you testing God by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to endure? ¹¹But we believe that we are saved through the [precious, undeserved] grace of the Lord Jesus [which makes us free of the guilt of sin and grants us eternal life], in just the same way as they are.”

¹²All the people remained silent, and they listened [attentively] to Barnabas and Paul as they described all the signs and wonders (attesting miracles) that God had done through them among the Gentiles.

James’ Judgment

¹³When they had finished speaking, ^[a]James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴^[b]Simeon (Simon Peter) has described how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name [to honor Him and be identified with Him]. ¹⁵The words of the Prophets agree with this, just as it is written [in Scripture],

¹⁶
‘After these things I will return,
And I will rebuild the tent 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 upon whom My name has been invoked,’
¹⁸
Says the Lord,
Who has been making these things known from long ago.^(A)

¹⁹Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble and make it difficult for those who are turning to God among the Gentiles [by putting obstacles in their way], ²⁰but that we write to them that they are to abstain from ^[c]anything that has been contaminated by [being offered to] idols and from sexual impurity and from [eating the meat of] what has been strangled and from [the consumption of] ^[d]blood. ²¹For from ancient generations [the writing of] Moses has been preached in every city, since ^[e]he is read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

²²Then the apostles and the elders, together with the whole church, decided to select some of their men to go to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas—Judas, who was called Barsabbas, and Silas [also called Silvanus, both], leading men among the brothers. ²³With them they sent the following letter:

“The apostles and the brothers who are the elders, to the brothers and sisters who are from the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, Greetings.

²⁴Since we have heard that some of our men have troubled you with their teachings, causing distress and confusion—men to whom we gave no such orders or instructions— ²⁵it has been decided by us, having met together, to select men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷So we have sent Judas and Silas, who will report by word of mouth the same things [that we decided in our meeting]. ²⁸For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place on you any greater burden than these essentials: ²⁹that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from [consuming] blood, and from [eating the meat of] things that have been strangled, and from sexual impurity. If you keep yourselves from these things, you will do well. Farewell.”

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Notas al pie

Acts 15:13 Jesus’ half brother, James, was leader of the church in Jerusalem.
Acts 15:14 This Greek transliteration of Peter’s Hebrew name is also used in 2 Pet 1:1.
Acts 15:20 Lit the pollutions of idols.
Acts 15:20 For the OT prohibition against eating blood, and the reasons for it, see Lev 17:10-14. There, in v 13, hunters are instructed to pour out the blood of an animal before eating it.
Acts 15:21 I.e. the first five books of the OT, Gen through Deut.