Acts 15:1–11

The Council at Jerusalem

^1aSome men came down from Judea and began teaching ^bthe brethren, “Unless you are ^ccircumcised according to ^dthe custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²And when Paul and Barnabas had ¹great dissension and ^adebate with them, ^bthe brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the ^capostles and elders concerning this issue.

³Therefore, being ^asent on their way by the church, they were passing through both ^bPhoenicia and Samaria, ^cdescribing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all ^dthe brethren.

⁴When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and ^athe apostles and the elders, and they ^breported all that God had done with them.

⁵But some of ^athe sect of the ^bPharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to ^ccircumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”

^6aThe apostles and the elders came together to ¹look into this ²matter.

⁷After there had been much ^adebate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that ¹in the early days ^bGod made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of ^cthe gospel and believe.

⁸“And God, ^awho knows the heart, testified to them ^bgiving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;

⁹and ^aHe made no distinction between us and them, ^bcleansing their hearts by faith.

¹⁰“Now therefore why do you ^aput God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which ^bneither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

¹¹“But we believe that we are saved through ^athe grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”