Acts 15:6–15:21, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Acts 15:6–15:21
The Jerusalem assembly hears testimony and Scripture
Apostles and elders deliberate; Peter recalls the Spirit's gift, Barnabas and Paul report signs, and James cites Amos before proposing that Gentiles not be burdened beyond four requirements linked to communal holiness and table fellowship.
What helps us understand it
What prompted this passage
Acts 15:6Acts 15:6–15:21 opens “The Jerusalem assembly hears testimony and Scripture” by naming the speaker, setting, action, question, or conflict that starts this movement. That opening controls what the complete scene or speech answers.
The pinned KJV begins the unit, “And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.”
Earlier material that actually helps
Acts 15:1–15:5Acts 15:1–15:5 materially prepares this movement: Visitors from Judea teach that Gentile believers cannot be saved without Mosaic circumcision, Paul and Barnabas dispute them, and the Antioch church sends a delegation to Jerusalem where Pharisaic believers restate the demand.
Later material that clarifies it
Acts 15:22–15:35Acts 15:22–15:35 carries this movement forward: The whole church selects Judas and Silas to carry a letter repudiating unauthorized troublers, commending Barnabas and Paul, stating the four requirements, and encouraging Antioch; prophets strengthen the community.
How the passage moves
The unit distinguishes narrated event, participant speech, the narrator's framing, material uncertainty, and the ethical boundary: The decision does not declare Torah evil, make Jewish practice obsolete, erase sexual ethics, or turn a council into unquestionable centralized power.
Why this reading fits
Narrator and speech control
Acts presents this speech as a selected literary account inside its narrative. Speaker, audience, scriptural reasoning, interruption, and narrator framing remain distinct; the package does not claim a verbatim transcript.
Material limit
Readers disagree over the decree's relation to Noahide traditions, Leviticus, idolatry, table fellowship, and enduring ethics; the process combines debate, experience, Scripture, and judgment.
How this should shape us
What accountable response follows?
Hear testimony, Scripture, affected communities, and trusted leaders together; reject salvation burdens God has not imposed while explaining shared practices carefully.
Teach it back
Explain Acts 15:6–15:21 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.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Narrative or speech movement
Apostles and elders deliberate; Peter recalls the Spirit's gift, Barnabas and Paul report signs, and James cites Amos before proposing that Gentiles not be burdened beyond four requirements linked to communal holiness and table fellowship.
Interpretive control
Acts presents this speech as a selected literary account inside its narrative. Speaker, audience, scriptural reasoning, interruption, and narrator framing remain distinct; the package does not claim a verbatim transcript.
Ethical boundary
The decision does not declare Torah evil, make Jewish practice obsolete, erase sexual ethics, or turn a council into unquestionable centralized power.
What the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Setting and recoverable limits
Readers disagree over the decree's relation to Noahide traditions, Leviticus, idolatry, table fellowship, and enduring ethics; the process combines debate, experience, Scripture, and judgment. Geography, chronology, social practice, Roman procedure, and institutional reconstruction are claimed only to the degree supported by the cited sources.
How certain? probableEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Israel's Scriptures and Jewish setting
Acts continues Israel's scriptural story through Jewish witnesses, synagogues, temple worship, Torah practice, diaspora communities, and contested interpretations. Apostles and elders deliberate; Peter recalls the Spirit's gift, Barnabas and Paul report signs, and James cites Amos before proposing that Gentiles not be burdened beyond four requirements linked to communal holiness and table fellowship.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Luke-Acts and responsible canonical reading
Luke's first volume is the immediate literary horizon. Later canonical connections must preserve Acts 15:6–15:21's own sequence, Jewish setting, speakers, and unresolved questions.
How certain? strongWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible interpreters differ?
Best judgment: Readers disagree over the decree's relation to Noahide traditions, Leviticus, idolatry, table fellowship, and enduring ethics; the process combines debate, experience, Scripture, and judgment.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
Acts joins divine initiative, the Spirit, human witness, communal discernment, and accountable action in this movement: Apostles and elders deliberate; Peter recalls the Spirit's gift, Barnabas and Paul report signs, and James cites Amos before proposing that Gentiles not be burdened beyond four requirements linked to communal holiness and table fellowship.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
God's action in Acts 15:6–15:21 is narrated as particular gift, judgment, guidance, or preservation; it is not a technique readers can control or a warrant for the misuse explicitly rejected here.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The decision does not declare Torah evil, make Jewish practice obsolete, erase sexual ethics, or turn a council into unquestionable centralized power.
A vivid event or line in Acts 15:6–15:21 can be detached from its narrator, speaker, first audience, ancient institutions, literary placement, and later Acts parallels.
Apostles and elders deliberate; Peter recalls the Spirit's gift, Barnabas and Paul report signs, and James cites Amos before proposing that Gentiles not be burdened beyond four requirements linked to communal holiness and table fellowship. Acts presents this speech as a selected literary account inside its narrative. Speaker, audience, scriptural reasoning, interruption, and narrator framing remain distinct; the package does not claim a verbatim transcript.
Keep description distinct from command, actor interpretation distinct from authorial evaluation, and original setting distinct from faithful application.
Apostles and elders deliberate; Peter recalls the Spirit's gift, Barnabas and Paul report signs, and James cites Amos before proposing that Gentiles not be burdened beyond four requirements linked to communal holiness and table fellowship.
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 15:6–15:21, 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 15:6-15:21
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 15:6-15:21
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 15:6–15:21
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 15:6–15:21
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 15:6–15:21, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Supports: Direct manuscript evidence only where a material Western reading is named; Bezae is not treated as the Western text as a whole.
IGNTP Codex Bezae Acts transcription, verse-addressable witness at 15:6–15:21, checked with SBLGNT and the NET tc note
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 15:6–15:21, 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 15:6-15:21
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 15:6-15:21
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 15:6–15:21
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 15:6–15:21
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 15:6–15:21, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Exact location: Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Open source ↗primary manuscript transcription
Codex Bezae: Electronic Transcription of Acts
International Greek New Testament Project
Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing, University of Birmingham, 2012 transcription; current online edition
Supports: Direct manuscript evidence only where a material Western reading is named; Bezae is not treated as the Western text as a whole.
Exact location: IGNTP Codex Bezae Acts transcription, verse-addressable witness at 15:6–15:21, checked with SBLGNT and the NET tc note
Open source ↗