Book of Common Prayer

Is circumcision necessary?

15 Some people came from Judaea to Antioch and, on arrival, began to teach the Christians that they could not be saved unless they were circumcised according to the custom of Moses. ² This caused considerable uproar and dispute between them and Paul and Barnabas, and the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas, and some others from their fellowship, to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, to try to sort out the problem. ³ So they were sent off by the church. They traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, telling people as they went about the conversion of the Gentiles. They brought great joy to the Christian communities.

⁴ When they arrived in Jerusalem they were welcomed by the church, the apostles and the elders, and they told them all the things that God had done with them. ⁵ But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up.

“They must be circumcised,” they said, “and you must tell them to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶ The apostles and elders gathered together to see what to do about this matter. ⁷ After considerable argument, Peter got up.

“My brothers,” he said, “you know that from our early days together God chose that it should be from my mouth that the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. ⁸ And God, who knows the heart, bore them witness, by giving them the holy spirit just as he did to us. ⁹ He made no distinction between us and them, but he purified their hearts through faith. ¹⁰ So now, why are you putting God to the test, by placing a yoke on the disciples’ neck which neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? ¹¹ Rather, we believe that it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus that we shall be saved, just like them.”

The healing of the demoniac

5 So they came over the sea to the land of the Gerasenes. ² When they got out of the boat, they were suddenly confronted by a man with an unclean spirit. ³ He was emerging from a graveyard, which was where he lived. Nobody had been able to tie him up, not even with a chain; ⁴ he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he used to tear up the chains and snap the shackles. No one had the strength to tame him. ⁵ On and on, night and day, he used to shout out in the graveyard and on the hillside, and slash himself with stones.

⁶ When he saw Jesus a long way away, he ran and threw himself down in front of him.

⁷ “Why you and me, Jesus?” he shouted at the top of his voice. “Why you and me, son of the High God? By God, stop torturing me!”— ⁸ this last, because Jesus was saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of him!”

⁹ “What’s your name?” Jesus asked him.

“Legion,” he replied. “That’s my name—there are lots of us!” ¹⁰ And he implored Jesus not to send them out of the country.

¹¹ It so happened that right there, near the hillside, was a sizable herd of pigs. They were grazing.

¹² “Send us to the pigs,” begged the spirits, “so that we can enter them.”

¹³ So Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd rushed down the steep slope into the sea—about two thousand of them!—and were drowned.

¹⁴ The herdsmen fled. They told it in the town, they told it in the countryside, and people came to see what had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus; and there they saw the man who had been demon-possessed, who had had the “legion,” seated, clothed and stone-cold sober. They were afraid. ¹⁶ The people who had seen it all told them what had happened to the man—and to the pigs. ¹⁷ And they began to beg Jesus to leave their district.

¹⁸ Jesus was getting back into the boat, when the man asked if he could go with him. ¹⁹ Jesus wouldn’t let him.

“Go back home,” he said. “Go to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you. Tell them how he had pity on you.”

²⁰ He went off, and began to announce in the Ten Towns what Jesus had done for him. Everyone was astonished.