Acts 15:6-21

The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this problem. After a long debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God chose me from among you to preach the Good News to the nations. They heard the Good News from me, and they believed. God, who knows the thoughts of everyone, accepted them. He showed this to us by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. To God, those people are not different from us. When they believed, he made their hearts pure. So now why are you testing God by putting a heavy load around the necks of the non-Jewish believers? It is a load that neither we nor our ancestors were able to carry. But we believe that we and they too will be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Then the whole group became quiet. They listened to Paul and Barnabas tell about all the miracles and signs that God did through them among the people. After they finished speaking, James said, “Brothers, listen to me. Simon has told us how God showed his love for those people. For the first time he is accepting from among them a people to be his own. The words of the prophets agree with this too: ‘After these things I will return. The kingdom of David is like a fallen tent. But I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up. Then those people who are left alive may ask the Lord for help, and the other nations that belong to me, says the Lord, who will make it happen. And these things have been known for a long time.’ “So I think we should not bother the other people who are turning to God. Instead, we should write a letter to them telling them these things: Stay away from food that has been offered to idols (which makes it unclean), any kind of sexual sin, eating animals that have been strangled, and blood. They should do these things, because for a long time in every city the law of Moses has been taught. And it is still read in the synagogue every Sabbath day.”