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When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
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In Iconium
At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.
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But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
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The Council at Jerusalem
Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
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This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
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The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad.
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Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”
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After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.
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No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
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The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers
Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers.
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With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.
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Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers.
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After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them.
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Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”
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but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord.
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Timothy Joins Paul and Silas
Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek.
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The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.
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When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
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They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
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The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
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But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here,
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In Berea
As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
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As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
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The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea.
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Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
