Acts 15:1 - Plain English Version1 At that time, some men came to Antioch from Judea country, and they started to teach the Christian men, “If you don’t have the young man operation that Moses wrote about, God will not save you. That operation is in our law.” Ver CapítuloMás versionesKing James Version (Oxford) 17691 And certain men which came down from Judæa taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. Ver CapítuloAmplified Bible - Classic Edition1 BUT SOME men came down from Judea and were instructing the brethren, Unless you are circumcised in accordance with the Mosaic custom, you cannot be saved. [Gen. 17:9-14.] Ver CapítuloAmerican Standard Version (1901)1 And certain men came down from Judæa and taught the brethren, saying, Except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved. Ver CapítuloCommon English Bible1 Some people came down from Judea teaching the family of believers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom we’ve received from Moses, you can’t be saved.” Ver CapítuloCatholic Public Domain Version1 And certain ones, descending from Judea, were teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." Ver Capítulo |
But some of those Christians in Jerusalem were from the Pharisee mob, that were strong for the Jewish law. They stood up and said, “Those men that are not Jews, they might be Christians, but they have to have that young man operation too, just like Moses said. We have to tell them to do all the things in the law of Moses.”
Some people might try to make you believe some ideas about God that are wrong. Those ideas didn’t come from Jesus Christ, but they came from bad spirits, and from the people of this world. People taught those ideas to their kids, and to their grand-kids. But those ideas are not true. They might sound good, but they are tricky lies. Be careful. Don’t believe them.
Then, 14 years later, God told me to go to Jerusalem again. This time I went with Barnabas, and I took Titus with me too. We had a little meeting there, with just the important church people, and I told them all about the message that I teach to the people that are not Jews. I wanted to see if they agreed with what I was doing. I didn’t want anyone to mess up my work.
So Paul and Barnabas did what the Christians at Antioch said. They left Antioch to go to Jerusalem, and on their way, they went through Fonisha country and Samaria country, and they talked to the Christians in those places and told them everything that God did in the other countries. They said, “A lot of people that are not Jews believe in Jesus now.” The Christians in Fonisha and Samaria were very happy to hear that news.
You know, some people make up laws, and they reckon that if you want to make God happy, you have to follow those laws. But remember what I just said. God is already happy with you. So don’t listen to anyone that says you are wrong if you don’t follow their laws. Don’t take any notice of them. They might have laws about things you can’t eat or drink. Or they might have laws about some ceremonies on special days, or laws about the time of a new moon, or laws about a special day for rest.
So the church leaders wrote a letter for them to take with them. They wrote, “This letter is from Jesus’s special workers, and from the other church leaders in Jerusalem. We are writing to you Christian people that are not Jews, that live in Antioch, and in the rest of Syria country, and in Cilicia country. You are like brothers and sisters to us.
Some Jewish Christians are trying to force you to have that young man operation. They want the other Jews to think that you follow the Jewish law. You see, those other Jews will make trouble for anyone that believes that Jesus died on the cross to save them, and the Jewish Christians don’t want to get that trouble.