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Acts 15

The Council at Jerusalem

1

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

2

And 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.

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Therefore, 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.

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When 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.

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But 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."

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

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After 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.

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

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

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"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?

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

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All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were  arelating what  bsigns and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

James's Judgment

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After they had stopped speaking,  1 aJames answered, saying, "Brethren, listen to me.

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aSimeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.

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"With this the words of  athe Prophets agree, just as it is written,

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aAFTER THESE THINGS  bI will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE  1TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT,

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 aSO THAT THE REST OF  1MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES  2 bWHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME,'

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 aSAYS THE LORD, WHO  1 bMAKES THESE THINGS KNOWN FROM LONG AGO.

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"Therefore it is  amy judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles,

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but that we write to them that they abstain from  1 athings contaminated by idols and from  bfornication and from  cwhat is strangled and from blood.

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"For  aMoses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since  1he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath."

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Then it seemed good to  athe apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to  bAntioch with Paul and Barnabas--Judas called Barsabbas, and  cSilas, leading men among  dthe brethren,

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and they  1sent this letter by them, " aThe apostles and the brethren who are elders, to  bthe brethren in  cAntioch and  dSyria and  eCilicia who are from the Gentiles,  fgreetings.

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"Since we have heard that  asome  1of our number to whom we gave no instruction have  bdisturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls,

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 ait seemed good to us, having  1become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

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men who have  1 arisked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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"Therefore we have sent  aJudas and  bSilas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth.

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"For  ait seemed good to  bthe Holy Spirit and to  cus to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials:

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that you abstain from  athings sacrificed to idols and from  ablood and from  athings strangled and from  afornication;  1if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell."

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So when they were sent away,  athey went down to Antioch; and having gathered the  1congregation together, they delivered the letter.

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When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its  1encouragement.

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 aJudas and  bSilas, also being  cprophets themselves,  1encouraged and strengthened  dthe brethren with a lengthy message.

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After they had spent time there, they were sent away from the brethren  ain peace to those who had  bsent them out.

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1But it seemed good to Silas to remain there.]

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But  aPaul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and  bpreaching with many others also,  cthe word of the Lord.

Second Missionary Journey

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After some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brethren in  aevery city in which we proclaimed  bthe word of the Lord, and see how they are."

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Barnabas wanted to take  aJohn, called Mark, along with them also.

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But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had  adeserted them  1in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

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And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took  aMark with him and sailed away to  bCyprus.

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But Paul chose  aSilas and left, being  bcommitted by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.

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And he was traveling through  aSyria and  bCilicia, strengthening the churches.



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:24:19 2007)

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