Acts 15; Acts 16; Acts 17; Acts 18:1-22

Acts 15

1 Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

2 And after engaging these men in sharp debate, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

3 Sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers.

4 On their arrival in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and apostles and elders, to whom they reported all that God had done through them.

5 But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”

6 So the apostles and elders met to look into this matter.

7 After much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

8 And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.

9 He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith.

10 Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

11 On the contrary, we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

12 The whole assembly fell silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

13 When they had finished speaking, James declared, “Brothers, listen to me!

14 Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own.

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

16 ‘After this I will return and rebuild the fallen tent of David. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,

17 so that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does these things

18 that have been known for ages.’

19 It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

21 For Moses has been proclaimed in every city from ancient times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to select men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, two leaders among the brothers,

23 and sent them with this letter: The apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

24 It has come to our attention that some went out from us without our authorization and unsettled you, troubling your minds by what they said.

25 So we all agreed to choose men to send to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to tell you in person the same things we are writing.

28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond these essential requirements:

29 You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

30 So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they assembled the congregation and delivered the letter.

31 When the people read it, they rejoiced at its encouraging message.

32 Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers.

33 After spending some time there, they were sent off by the brothers in peace to return to those who had sent them.

35 But Paul and Barnabas remained at Antioch, along with many others, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord.

36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.”

37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark.

38 But Paul thought it best not to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.

39 Their disagreement was so sharp that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,

40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

41 And he traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Acts 16

1 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where he found a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman and a Greek father.

2 The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.

3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, so he took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

4 As they went from town to town, they delivered the decisions handed down by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey.

5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

6 After the Holy Spirit had prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, they traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.

7 And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them.

8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.

9 During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

10 As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

11 We sailed from Troas straight to Samothrace, and the following day on to Neapolis.

12 From there we went to the Roman colony of Philippi, the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river, where it was customary to find a place of prayer. After sitting down, we spoke to the women who had gathered there.

14 Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

16 One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.

17 This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!”

18 She continued this for many days. Eventually Paul grew so aggravated that he turned and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” And the spirit left her at that very moment.

19 When the girl’s owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the marketplace.

20 They brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into turmoil

21 by promoting customs that are unlawful for us Romans to adopt or practice.”

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered that they be stripped and beaten with rods.

23 And after striking them with many blows, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to guard them securely.

24 On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

26 Suddenly a strong earthquake shook the foundations of the prison. At once all the doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose.

27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, presuming that the prisoners had escaped.

28 But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself! We are all here!”

29 Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.

30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”

32 Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.

33 At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized.

34 Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.

35 When daylight came, the magistrates sent their officers with the order: “Release those men.”

36 The jailer informed Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders to release you. Now you may go on your way in peace.”

37 But Paul said to the officers, “They beat us publicly without a trial and threw us into prison, even though we are Roman citizens. And now do they want to send us away secretly? Absolutely not! Let them come themselves and escort us out!”

38 So the officers relayed this message to the magistrates, who were alarmed to hear that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

39 They came to appease them and led them out, requesting that they leave the city.

40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house to see the brothers and encourage them. Then they left the city.

Acts 17

1 When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

3 explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared.

4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women.

5 The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.

6 But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,

7 and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!”

8 On hearing this, the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed.

9 And they collected bond from Jason and the others and then released them.

10 As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

11 Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

12 As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.

13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds.

14 The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.

15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.

17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.

18 Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

19 So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, where they asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

20 For you are bringing some strange notions to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”

21 Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.

22 Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.

23 For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.

24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.

25 Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

26 From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

27 God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

28 ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

29 Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

30 Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.

31 For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.”

33 At that, Paul left the Areopagus.

34 But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.

Acts 18:1-22

1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them,

3 and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was.

4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks alike.

5 And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

6 But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

7 So Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titus Justus, a worshiper of God.

8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his whole household believed in the Lord. And many of the Corinthians who heard the message believed and were baptized.

9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking; do not be silent.

10 For I am with you and no one will lay a hand on you, because I have many people in this city.”

11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching the word of God among the Corinthians.

12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews coordinated an attack on Paul and brought him before the judgment seat.

13 “This man is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law,” they said.

14 But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio told the Jews, “If this matter involved a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to hear your complaint.

15 But since it is a dispute about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”

16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat.

17 At this, the crowd seized Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the judgment seat. But none of this was of concern to Gallio.

18 Paul remained in Corinth for quite some time before saying goodbye to the brothers. He had his head shaved in Cenchrea to keep a vow he had made, and then he sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila.

19 When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue there and reasoned with the Jews.

20 When they asked him to stay for a while longer, he declined.

21 But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you if God is willing.” And he set sail from Ephesus.

22 When Paul had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem. Then he went down to Antioch.