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Bible chapter guide
Acts 15
The council at Jerusalem debates whether Gentile believers must be circumcised. Peter and James speak, and a letter is sent asking only that they avoid idol offerings, blood, strangled meat and sexual immorality. Paul and Barnabas disagree over John Mark and part ways; Paul sets out with Silas.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
What happens in this chapter
Men from Judea tell the believers at Antioch that Gentiles cannot be saved unless they are circumcised, and Paul and Barnabas are sent up to Jerusalem about it. There Peter recalls Cornelius, Barnabas and Paul tell of the signs among the Gentiles, and James, quoting Amos, proposes that Gentile believers be asked only to keep away from a few things. A letter carried by Judas Barsabbas and Silas is read at Antioch to general relief. Later Paul wants to revisit every town of the first journey, but he and Barnabas fall out over Mark: Barnabas sails for Cyprus with Mark, and Paul takes Silas north through Syria and Cilicia.
What the lab shows, and where to look
The chapter sits where two routes of Paul's Roads meet. The first journey ends with the Jerusalem council stop, dated about AD 48/49 as plausible, and a last stop back at Antioch with the letter. Open Barnabas in the People view to see the roads he shared with Paul and where they part. Then switch to the second journey: it begins at Antioch, and the Paul's Second Journey page shows Tarsus standing in for 'Syria and Cilicia', marked plausible, because Acts does not name the city here.
- The Jerusalem council (1st journey) · Paul's Roads
- Antioch: the letter (1st journey) · Paul's Roads
- Barnabas · Paul's Roads
- Antioch (2nd journey) · Paul's Roads
- Tarsus · Paul's Second Journey
Questions people ask
When did the Jerusalem council meet?
Probably about AD 48 or 49. Acts gives no year, but the council falls between the first journey and the second, and the second is anchored by Gallio's year in Corinth, about AD 51–52. Paul's own count of 'fourteen years' to a Jerusalem visit (Galatians 2:1) fits the same range.
Is the council the same as the visit Paul describes in Galatians 2?
Scholars are divided. Many identify them: the same people, the same issue of circumcision, the same outcome. Others note that Paul lists only two visits before writing Galatians and match Galatians 2 with the famine visit of Acts 11:30, which would let Galatians be written before the council. The lab shows both and does not decide.
Why did Paul and Barnabas part company?
Over John Mark. Barnabas wanted to take him again; Paul did not want someone who had left them in Pamphylia, and the disagreement was sharp enough that they separated (15:37–39). Barnabas sailed to Cyprus with Mark. Paul still speaks of Barnabas as a fellow worker in 1 Corinthians 9:6.
See it in the Labs
- Paul's Second JourneyPaul's Second JourneyOpen
- Paul's RoadsAntioch: the letter (1st journey) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsSilas · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsAntioch (2nd journey) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsSyria and Cilicia (2nd journey) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsBarnabas · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsThe Jerusalem council (1st journey) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- The Bible Time MapThe Jerusalem council · The Bible Time MapOpen
- The Bible Time MapAntioch · The Bible Time MapOpen
People in this chapter
Places
Also in this chapter
How sure can we be?
- Textually stated
Paul and Barnabas parted over John Mark before the second journey.
Acts 15:37–39 tells of a sharp disagreement; Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. Paul still names Barnabas as a fellow worker in 1 Corinthians 9:6.
- Strongly supported
Syrian Antioch lies under modern Antakya.
Continuous occupation, excavations and Pleiades 658381.
- Plausible
Paul passed through Tarsus on this journey.
Tarsus lies on the most direct road from Syria to the Cilician Gates, but Acts does not name it here.
- Plausible
Paul passed through Iconium on the way west.
It lay on the Via Sebaste between Lystra and Pisidian Antioch, and he meant to visit 'every city' of the first journey (Acts 15:36).
- Plausible
The council met about AD 48/49.
It falls between the first journey and the second, which the Gallio inscription places around AD 50–52; Galatians 2:1 counts fourteen years to a Jerusalem visit.
- Plausible
The first journey ran from about AD 46 to 48, and the council met about AD 48/49.
Acts gives no years. Counting back from the second journey (anchored by Gallio, AD 51–52) and allowing for the 'long time' at Antioch (14:28) gives these dates.