When they all recognized this grace operating in my ministry, those who were recognized as influential pillars in the church—Jacob, Peter, and John—extended to Barnabas and me the warmth of Christian fellowship and honored my calling to minister to the gentiles, even as they were to go to the Jews.
Greetings! My name is Jacob, and I’m a love-slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m writing to all the twelve tribes of Israel who have been sown as seeds among the nations.
They sent with them this letter: “Greetings from the apostles and pastors, and from your fellow believers—to our non-Jewish brothers and sisters living in Antioch in Syria and the nearby regions.
This sparked a fierce argument between the false teachers and Paul and Barnabas. So the church appointed a delegation of believers, including Paul and Barnabas, to go to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and elders of the church and resolve this issue.
He signaled for them to be quiet as he shared with them the miraculous way the Lord brought him out of prison. Before he left he said, “Make sure you let Jacob and all of the other believers know what has happened.”
Now, these are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, who is nicknamed Peter, and Andrew, his brother. And then Jacob and John, sons of Zebedee.