Acts 15:1-11

Modern English Version

The Council in Jerusalem

15 Some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised in the tradition of Moses, you cannot be saved.” ² Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain others among them, should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. ³ So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they brought great joy to all the brothers. ⁴ When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared what God had done through them.

⁵ Then some believers of the sect of the Pharisees rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.”

⁶ The apostles and elders assembled to consider this matter. ⁷ After much disputing, Peter rose up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that some time ago God decided among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. ⁸ God, who knows the heart, approved of them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us, ⁹ and made no distinction between them and us, and purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now then, why test God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? ¹¹ But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”