Old Testament

New Testament

Acts 15:3-10 New International Version (NIV)

3. The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad.

4. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

5. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

6. The apostles and elders met to consider this question.

7. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

8. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.

9. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

10. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

Read complete chapter Acts 15