Acts 15:1–15:5, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Acts 15:1–15:5
Circumcision teaching brings the church to deliberation
Gentile belonging is argued among Jewish believers, not against Judaism
Teachers from Judea tell Gentile believers at Antioch they cannot be saved unless they are circumcised after Moses' manner. Paul and Barnabas dispute them at length. Antioch does not settle the fight by volume. It sends Paul, Barnabas, and others to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. There the church receives them and hears what God has done among the nations. Then some of the Pharisees who have believed stand up and repeat the demand: circumcise the Gentiles and command them to keep the law of Moses.
The speakers are insiders, not a cartoon of hypocrisy. Circumcision remains Jewish covenant practice. The question is how Gentiles belong in the people of Jesus without being turned into Jews first. Nothing in this opening empties Israel, cancels Torah for Jews, or treats Jewish identity as a problem to be solved.
How this should shape us
When someone attaches a bodily or ethnic requirement to salvation, take the dispute into open communal deliberation with the people actually affected. Do not mock Jewish circumcision, and do not let a faction make one identity marker a condition God has not required.
Teach it back
Explain Acts 15:1–15:5 in your own words, naming its movement, speaker or narrator role, one source-controlled detail, one uncertainty, one affected person, and one conclusion the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Acts 15:1–15:5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
SBLGNT official text, Acts 15:1-15:5
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 15:1-15:5
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 15:1–15:5
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'Holding the Church Together,' Acts 13-15 study guide
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 15:1–15:5
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 15:1–15:5, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 15:1–15:5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 15:1-15:5
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 15:1-15:5
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 15:1–15:5
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'Holding the Church Together,' Acts 13-15 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 15:1–15:5
Open source ↗peer reviewed article abstract and metadata
The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish
Joshua Paul Smith
The Journal of Theological Studies 72.2, 2021
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 15:1–15:5, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Exact location: Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Open source ↗