⁶ The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. ⁷ After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers,^[a] you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers.^{(A) 8} And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us,^{(B) 9} and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us.^{(C) 10} Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?^{(D) 11} On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”^(E)