Acts 11

GENTILE SALVATION DEFENDED

11The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. ²When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him,^{v 3}saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”^w

⁴Peter began to explain to them step by step, ⁵“I^x was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a trance, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me. ⁶When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. ⁷I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸“ ‘No, Lord!’ I said. ‘For nothing impure or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’

¹⁰“Now this happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven. ¹¹At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were. ¹²The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house.^{a 13}He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send ^A to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. ¹⁴He will speak a message to you by which you and all your household^b will be saved.’

¹⁵“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning.^{c 16}I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’^{d 17}If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?”^e

¹⁸When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”^f

THE CHURCH IN ANTIOCH

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch,^g speaking the word to no one except Jews. ²⁰But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks^A also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.^{h 21}The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.^{i 22}News about them reached^B the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel^C as far as Antioch. ²³When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts,^{j 24}for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit^k and of faith. And large numbers of people were added^l to the Lord.

²⁵Then he ^E went to Tarsus to search for Saul, ²⁶and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples^m were first called Christians at Antioch.ⁿ

FAMINE RELIEF

²⁷In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.^{o 28}One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world.^D This took place during the reign of Claudius.^{p 29}Each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea.^{q 30}They did this, sending it to the elders^r by means of Barnabas and Saul.