Acts 15:7-11; Acts 15:13-21

Acts 15:7-11

7 And [after] there was much debate, Peter stood up [and] said to them, "Men [and] brothers, you know that in the early days God chose among you through my mouth [that] the Gentiles should hear the message of the gospel and believe.

8 And God, who knows the heart, testified to them [by] giving [them] the Holy Spirit, just as he also [did] to us.

9 And he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

10 So now why are you putting God to the test [by] placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

11 But we believe [we] will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in {the same} way those also [are]."

Acts 15:13-21

13 And after they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, "Men [and] brothers, listen to me!

14 Simeon has described how God first concerned himself to take from among the Gentiles a people for his name.

15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:

16 'After these [things] I will return and build up again the tent of David that has fallen, and the [parts] of it that had been torn down I will build up again and will restore it,

17 so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles {who are called by my name}, says the Lord, who makes these [things]

18 known from of old.'

19 Therefore I conclude we should not cause difficulty for those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,

20 but we should write a letter to them to abstain from the pollution of idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

21 For Moses has those who proclaim him in every city from ancient generations, [because he] is read aloud in the synagogues on every Sabbath."