사도행전 15

The question of circumcision

¹Some people came down from Judea and began teaching the brothers and sisters, “Unless you are circumcised as the custom of Moses requires, there is no way for you to be saved.” ²This led to fierce dispute and argument between them and Paul and Barnabas. So it was arranged that Paul and Barnabas and some others from among them should go up to Jerusalem and put this question to the apostles and the elders. ³The church sent them off, and as they went through Phoenicia and Samaria they told in full how the Gentiles were turning to God. The news brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters. ⁴On reaching Jerusalem they were received by the church, the apostles and the elders, and they told them everything God had done in company with them. ⁵Then some from the party of the Pharisees who had believed stood up and insisted, “These Gentiles have to be circumcised, and they must be ordered to keep the law of Moses.”

The apostles and the elders consider the matter

⁶The apostles and the elders came together to consider this matter. ⁷After a long debate, Peter rose and spoke to them: “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made his choice among you: through my mouth the Gentiles were to hear the message of the gospel and come to believe. ⁸God, who knows every heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, as he did for us as well. ⁹He made no difference at all between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts by faith.^{a 10}So why are you now putting God to the test? You would lay on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we ourselves have had the strength to carry. ¹¹No, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, and they are saved in just the same way.”

¹²The whole gathering grew quiet. Everyone listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of the signs and wonders God had worked among the Gentiles through them. ¹³When they had finished, James responded, “Brothers, listen to what I have to say. ¹⁴Simeon has explained how God first looked with favor on the Gentiles, to take from among them a people to bear his name. ¹⁵What the prophets said agrees with this, as it stands written: ¹⁶‘After this I will come back, and I will build again the fallen tent of David. I will build again its ruins and raise it up once more, ¹⁷so that the rest of humankind may seek the Lord, all the nations that are called by my name, says the Lord, who does these things, ¹⁸things made known long ago.’^{bc 19}So my judgment is that we should not make things hard for the Gentiles who are turning to God. ²⁰Instead we should write to them that they keep away from what idols have defiled, from sexual immorality, from what has been strangled, and from blood.^{d 21}For Moses has been preached in every town since generations long past, and he is read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath.”^e

A letter to the Gentile believers

²²Then the apostles and the elders, together with the whole church, decided to pick men from among themselves and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas, known as Barsabbas, and Silas, men who held leading places among the brothers and sisters. ²³They sent with them this letter: “From the apostles and the elders, your brothers, to the brothers and sisters of Gentile birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: greetings.^{f 24}We have heard that some who went out from us have disturbed you with what they said and left you unsettled, though we gave them no such instructions. ²⁵So we have come to one mind and decided to choose men and send them to you with Barnabas and Paul, whom we love, ²⁶men who have given their lives over for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.^{g 27}So we are sending Judas and Silas, who will tell you the same things in person. ²⁸The Holy Spirit and we ourselves have decided to place on you no burden beyond these essentials: ²⁹keep away from food offered to idols, from blood, from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you guard yourselves against these, you will be doing what is right.^h Farewell.”

³⁰So the men were sent on their way and went down to Antioch. There they called the whole community together and handed over the letter. ³¹When they had read it, they were glad for the encouragement it brought. ³²Judas and Silas, who were also prophets, spoke at length to encourage the brothers and sisters and to make them strong. ³³After they had stayed there for some time, the brothers and sisters let them go in peace, back to those who had sent them.^{i 35}Paul and Barnabas, though, stayed on in Antioch. Along with many others, they taught the word of the Lord and proclaimed it as good news.

Paul and Barnabas go separate ways

³⁶Some days later Paul said to Barnabas, “Come, let us go back and look in on the brothers and sisters in every town where we announced the word of the Lord, and find out how they are doing.” ³⁷Barnabas wanted to bring John, also called Mark, with them too. ³⁸But Paul did not think it right to take with them a man who had left them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work. ³⁹The quarrel grew so heated that the two of them parted ways. Barnabas took Mark and sailed off to Cyprus, ⁴⁰while Paul picked Silas and set out, after the brothers and sisters had commended him to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, making the churches strong.