Acts 15

New King James Version

Conflict over Circumcision

15 And ^(A)certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, ^(B)“Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” ²Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that ^(C)Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.

³So, ^(D)being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, ^(E)describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren. ⁴And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them. ⁵But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”

The Jerusalem Council

⁶Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. ⁷And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: ^(F)“Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. ⁸So God, ^(G)who knows the heart, ^[a]acknowledged them by ^(H)giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, ⁹^(I)and made no distinction between us and them, ^(J)purifying their hearts by faith. ¹⁰Now therefore, why do you test God ^(K)by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? ¹¹But ^(L)we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus ^[b]Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”

¹²Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had ^(M)worked through them among the Gentiles. ¹³And after they had ^[c]become silent, ^(N)James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me: ¹⁴^(O)Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. ¹⁵And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:

¹⁶‘After^(P) this I will return
And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down;
I will rebuild its ruins,
And I will set it up;
¹⁷So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,
Says the ^[d]Lord who does all these things.’

¹⁸^[e]“Known to God from eternity are all His works. ¹⁹Therefore ^(Q)I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who ^(R)are turning to God, ²⁰but that we ^(S)write to them to abstain ^(T)from things polluted by idols, ^(U)from ^[f]sexual immorality, ^(V)from things strangled, and from blood. ²¹For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, ^(W)being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

The Jerusalem Decree

²²Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named ^(X)Barsabas,^[g] and Silas, leading men among the brethren.

²³They wrote this letter by them:

The apostles, the elders, and the brethren,

To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:

Greetings.

²⁴Since we have heard that ^(Y)some who went out from us have troubled you with words, ^(Z)unsettling your souls, ^[h]saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment— ²⁵it seemed good to us, being assembled with one ^[i]accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶^(AA)men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. ²⁸For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: ²⁹^(AB)that you abstain from things offered to idols, ^(AC)from blood, from things strangled, and from ^(AD)sexual^[j] immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.

Farewell.

Continuing Ministry in Syria

³⁰So when they were sent off, they came to Antioch; and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter. ³¹When they had read it, they rejoiced over its encouragement. ³²Now Judas and Silas, themselves being ^(AE)prophets also, ^(AF)exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words. ³³And after they had stayed there for a time, they were ^(AG)sent back with greetings from the brethren to ^[k]the apostles.

³⁴^[l]However, it seemed good to Silas to remain there. ³⁵^(AH)Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

Division over John Mark

³⁶Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” ³⁷Now Barnabas ^[m]was determined to take with them ^(AI)John called Mark. ³⁸But Paul insisted that they should not take with them ^(AJ)the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. ³⁹Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to ^(AK)Cyprus; ⁴⁰but Paul chose Silas and departed, ^(AL)being ^[n]commended by the brethren to the grace of God. ⁴¹And he went through Syria and Cilicia, ^(AM)strengthening the churches.

Footnotes

Acts 15:8 bore witness to
Acts 15:11 NU, M omit Christ
Acts 15:13 stopped speaking
Acts 15:17 NU Lord, who makes these things
Acts 15:18 NU (continuing v. 17) known from eternity (of old).’
Acts 15:20 Or fornication
Acts 15:22 NU, M Barsabbas
Acts 15:24 NU omits saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”
Acts 15:25 purpose or mind
Acts 15:29 Or fornication
Acts 15:33 NU those who had sent them
Acts 15:34 NU, M omit v. 34.
Acts 15:37 resolved
Acts 15:40 committed

Romans 9

New King James Version

Israel’s Rejection of Christ

9 I ^(A)tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, ²^(B)that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. ³For ^(C)I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my ^[a]countrymen according to the flesh, ⁴who are Israelites, ^(D)to whom pertain the adoption, ^(E)the glory, ^(F)the covenants, ^(G)the giving of the law, ^(H)the service of God, and ^(I)the promises; ⁵^(J)of whom are the fathers and from ^(K)whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, ^(L)who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Purpose^(M)

⁶^(N)But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For ^(O)they are not all Israel who are of Israel, ⁷^(P)nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ^(Q)“In Isaac your seed shall be called.” ⁸That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but ^(R)the children of the promise are counted as the seed. ⁹For this is the word of promise: ^(S)“At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁰And not only this, but when ^(T)Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac ¹¹(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of ^(U)Him who calls), ¹²it was said to her, ^(V)“The older shall serve the younger.” ¹³As it is written, ^(W)“Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice

¹⁴What shall we say then? ^(X)Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! ¹⁵For He says to Moses, ^(Y)“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” ¹⁶So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. ¹⁷For ^(Z)the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ^(AA)“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” ¹⁸Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He ^(AB)hardens.

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For ^(AC)who has resisted His will?” ²⁰But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? ^(AD)Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹Does not the ^(AE)potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make ^(AF)one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

²²What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering ^(AG)the vessels of wrath ^(AH)prepared for destruction, ²³and that He might make known ^(AI)the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had ^(AJ)prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴even us whom He ^(AK)called, ^(AL)not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

²⁵As He says also in Hosea:

^(AM)“I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
²⁶“And^(AN) it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

²⁷Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:

^(AO)“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
^(AP)The remnant will be saved.
²⁸For ^[b]He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
^(AQ)Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”

²⁹And as Isaiah said before:

^(AR)“Unless the Lord of ^[c]Sabaoth had left us a seed,
^(AS)We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

Present Condition of Israel

³⁰What shall we say then? ^(AT)That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, ^(AU)even the righteousness of faith; ³¹but Israel, ^(AV)pursuing the law of righteousness, ^(AW)has not attained to the law ^[d]of righteousness. ³²Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, ^[e]by the works of the law. For ^(AX)they stumbled at that stumbling stone. ³³As it is written: