Acts 15–16

The Meeting at Jerusalem

15^*Some men came from Judea to Antioch and started teaching the believers, “You cannot be saved unless you are circumcised as the Law of Moses requires.” ²Paul and Barnabas got into a fierce argument with them about this, so it was decided that Paul and Barnabas and some of the others in Antioch should go to Jerusalem and see the apostles and elders about this matter.

³They were sent on their way by the church; and as they went through Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported how the Gentiles had turned to God; this news brought great joy to all the believers. ⁴When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, to whom they told all that God had done through them. ⁵But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and told to obey the Law of Moses.”

⁶The apostles and the elders met together to consider this question. ^7*After a long debate Peter stood up and said, “My brothers and sisters, you know that a long time ago God chose me from among you to preach the Good News to the Gentiles, so that they could hear and believe. ^8*And God, who knows the thoughts of everyone, showed his approval of the Gentiles by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he had to us. ⁹He made no difference between us and them; he forgave their sins because they believed. ¹⁰So then, why do you now want to put God to the test by laying a load on the backs of the believers which neither our ancestors nor we ourselves were able to carry? ¹¹No! We believe and are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”

¹²The whole group was silent as they heard Barnabas and Paul report all the miracles and wonders that God had performed through them among the Gentiles. ¹³When they had finished speaking, James spoke up: “Listen to me, my brothers and sisters! ¹⁴Simon has just explained how God first showed his care for the Gentiles by taking from among them a people to belong to him. ¹⁵The words of the prophets agree completely with this. As the scripture says:

^16*‘After this I will return, says the Lord,

and restore the kingdom of David.

I will rebuild its ruins

and make it strong again.

^17*And so all the rest of the human race will come to me,

all the Gentiles whom I have called to be my own.

^18*So says the Lord, who made this known long ago.’

¹⁹“It is my opinion,” James went on, “that we should not trouble the Gentiles who are turning to God. ^20*Instead, we should write a letter telling them not to eat any food that is ritually unclean because it has been offered to idols; to keep themselves from sexual immorality; and not to eat any animal that has been strangled, or any blood. ²¹For the Law of Moses has been read for a very long time in the synagogues every Sabbath, and his words are preached in every town.”

The Letter to the Gentile Believers

²²Then the apostles and the elders, together with the whole church, decided to choose some men from the group and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose two men who were highly respected by the believers, Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, ²³and they sent the following letter by them:

“We, the apostles and the elders, your brothers, send greetings to all our brothers of Gentile birth who live in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. ²⁴We have heard that some who went from our group have troubled and upset you by what they said; they had not, however, received any instruction from us. ²⁵And so we have met together and have all agreed to choose some messengers and send them to you. They will go with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶who have risked their lives in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷We send you, then, Judas and Silas, who will tell you in person the same things we are writing. ²⁸The Holy Spirit and we have agreed not to put any other burden on you besides these necessary rules: ²⁹eat no food that has been offered to idols; eat no blood; eat no animal that has been strangled; and keep yourselves from sexual immorality. You will do well if you take care not to do these things. With our best wishes.”

³⁰The messengers were sent off and went to Antioch, where they gathered the whole group of believers and gave them the letter. ³¹When the people read it, they were filled with joy by the message of encouragement. ³²Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, spoke a long time with them, giving them courage and strength. ³³After spending some time there, they were sent off in peace by the believers and went back to those who had sent them.^v

³⁵Paul and Barnabas spent some time in Antioch, and together with many others they taught and preached the word of the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas Separate

³⁶Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit our brothers and sisters in every town where we preached the word of the Lord, and let us find out how they are getting on.” ³⁷Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them, ^38*but Paul did not think it was right to take him, because he had not stayed with them to the end of their mission, but had turned back and left them in Pamphylia. ³⁹There was a sharp argument, and they separated: Barnabas took Mark and sailed off for Cyprus, ⁴⁰while Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the care of the Lord’s grace. ⁴¹He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Timothy Goes with Paul and Silas

16Paul travelled on to Derbe and Lystra, where a Christian named Timothy lived. His mother, who was also a Christian, was Jewish, but his father was a Greek. ²All the believers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy. ³Paul wanted to take Timothy along with him, so he circumcised him. He did so because all the Jews who lived in those places knew that Timothy’s father was Greek. ⁴As they went through the towns, they delivered to the believers the rules decided upon by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, and told them to obey those rules. ⁵So the churches were made stronger in the faith and grew in numbers every day.

In Troas: Paul’s Vision

⁶They travelled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit did not let them preach the message in the province of Asia. ⁷When they reached the border of Mysia, they tried to go into the province of Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. ⁸So they travelled right on through^w Mysia and went to Troas. ⁹That night Paul had a vision in which he saw a Macedonian standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” ¹⁰As soon as Paul had this vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, because we decided that God had called us to preach the Good News to the people there.

In Philippi: the Conversion of Lydia

¹¹We left by ship from Troas and sailed straight across to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis. ¹²From there we went inland to Philippi, a city of the first district of Macedonia;^x it is also a Roman colony. We spent several days there. ¹³On the Sabbath we went out of the city to the riverside, where we thought there would be a place where Jews gathered for prayer. We sat down and talked to the women who gathered there. ¹⁴One of those who heard us was Lydia from Thyatira, who was a dealer in purple cloth. She was a woman who worshipped God, and the Lord opened her mind to pay attention to what Paul was saying. ¹⁵After she and the people of her house had been baptized, she invited us, “Come and stay in my house if you have decided that I am a true believer in the Lord.” And she persuaded us to go.

In Prison at Philippi

¹⁶One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a young servant woman who had an evil spirit that enabled her to predict the future. She earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes. ¹⁷She followed Paul and us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God! They announce to you how you can be saved!” ¹⁸She did this for many days, until Paul became so upset that he turned round and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her!” The spirit went out of her that very moment.

¹⁹When her owners realized that their chance of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the authorities in the public square. ²⁰They brought them before the Roman officials and said, “These men are Jews, and they are causing trouble in our city. ²¹They are teaching customs that are against our law; we are Roman citizens, and we cannot accept these customs or practice them.” ²²And the crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas.

Then the officials tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be whipped. ²³After a severe beating, they were thrown into jail, and the jailer was ordered to lock them up tight. ²⁴Upon receiving this order, the jailer threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet between heavy blocks of wood.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, which shook the prison to its foundations. At once all the doors opened, and the chains fell off all the prisoners. ²⁷The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he thought that the prisoners had escaped; so he pulled out his sword and was about to kill himself. ²⁸But Paul shouted at the top of his voice, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

²⁹The jailer called for a light, rushed in, and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he led them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your family.” ³²Then they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³At that very hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; and he and all his family were baptized at once. ³⁴Then he took Paul and Silas up into his house and gave them some food to…