Here’s the letter they sent with them: From the apostles and elders, your brothers. To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings.
Then the apostles, elders, and the whole church decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas Barsabbas and Silas, who were leaders among the believers.
When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Jerusalem, the church and the apostles and elders welcomed them. Then they reported everything God had done through them.
Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and started teaching the believers, “If you aren’t circumcised the way Moses commanded, you can’t be saved.”
When they arrived in Antioch, they gathered the church together and told everything that God had done through them. They shared how he had opened a way for the Gentiles to believe.
We’ve already written a letter to the believers who aren’t Jews. We’ve told them not to eat food that has been offered to statues of gods, not to drink blood, not to eat meat that still has blood in it, and not to be sexually immoral.”
Paul stayed in Corinth for some time after that. When he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, Priscilla and Aquila went with him. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae, the harbor that served Corinth. He did this because he’d made a vow to God.
When they heard this, they didn’t question or criticize Peter any longer. Instead, they praised God and said, “So then, God has allowed even Gentiles to turn away from their sins and find life!”
News about him spread all over Syria, and they brought him everyone who was ill with any kind of sicknesses. Some were suffering great pain, while others were controlled by demons. Some were shaking wildly, and others couldn’t move at all. Jesus healed every one of them.
But members of a group called the Synagogue of the Freedmen began to oppose him. Some of them were Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria. Others were Jews from Cilicia and Asia. They all began to argue with Stephen.
Paul and Barnabas didn’t agree with this and they argued sharply with them. So the group sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem with some other believers to ask the apostles and elders about this question.