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Peter Reports at Jerusalem

¹ Now the apostles and ^(C1)the believers who were throughout Judea heard with astonishment that the Gentiles also had received and accepted the word of God the message concerning salvation through Christ.² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, ^(C1)those of the circumcision certain Jewish believers who followed the Law took issue with him for violating Jewish customs,³ saying, "^(C1)You went to uncircumcised men and even ate with them!"⁴ But Peter began at the beginning and explained the events to them ^(C1)step by step, saying,⁵ "^(C1)I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw ^(C2)a vision of an object coming down from heaven, like a huge sheet being lowered by the four corners; and it descended until it came right down to me,⁶ and looking closely at it, I saw all kinds of the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air both clean and unclean according to the Law,⁷ and I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.'⁸ "But I said, 'Not at all, Lord; for nothing common (unholy) or ceremonially unclean has ever entered my mouth.'⁹ "But the voice from heaven answered a second time, '^(C1)What God has cleansed and pronounced clean, no longer consider common (unholy).'¹⁰ "This happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven.¹¹ "And right then the three men who had been sent to me from ^(C1)Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying.¹² "^(C1)The Spirit told me to go with them ^(C2)without the slightest hesitation. So ^(C3)these six brothers also went with me and we went to the man's house.¹³ "And Cornelius told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying, 'Send word to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here;¹⁴ he will bring ^(C1)a message to you by which you will be saved and granted eternal life, you and ^(C2)all your household.'¹⁵ "When I began to speak, ^(C1)the Holy Spirit fell on them just ^(C2)as He did on us at the beginning at Pentecost. ^(VR1)16 "Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, '^(C1)John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'¹⁷ "So, if ^(C1)God gave Gentiles the same gift equally as He gave us after we accepted and believed and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, ^(C2)who was I to interfere or stand in God's way?"¹⁸ When they heard this, they quieted down and ^(C1)glorified and praised God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles ^(C2)repentance that leads to eternal life that is, real life after earthly death."

The Church at Antioch

^19 (C1)So then since they were unaware of these developments those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with the stoning of Stephen traveled as far as ^(C2)Phoenicia and ^(C3)Cyprus and ^(C4)Antioch, without telling the message of salvation through Christ to anyone except Jews.²⁰ But there were some of them, men of ^(C1)Cyprus and ^(C2)Cyrene, who came to ^(C3)Antioch and began speaking to the ^(C4)Greeks as well, ^(C5)proclaiming to them the good news about the Lord Jesus.²¹ And ^(C1)the hand (the power and presence) of the Lord was with them, and ^(C2)a great number who believed turned to the Lord for salvation, accepting and drawing near to Jesus as Messiah and Savior.²² The news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent ^(C1)Barnabas to ^(C2)Antioch.²³ When he arrived and saw ^(C1)the grace of God that was bestowed on them, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with an unwavering heart to stay true and devoted to the Lord.²⁴ For Barnabas was a good man privately and publicly—his godly character benefited both himself and others and he was ^(C1)full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith in Jesus the Messiah, through whom believers have everlasting life. And a ^(C2)great number of people were brought to the Lord.²⁵ And Barnabas left for ^(C1)Tarsus to search for Saul;²⁶ and when he found him, he brought him back to ^(C1)Antioch. For an entire year they met with others in the church and instructed large numbers; and it was in ^(C1)Antioch that ^(C2)the disciples were first called ^(C3)Christians. ^(VR1)

²⁷ Now at this time ^(C1)some prophets came down from Jerusalem to ^(C2)Antioch.²⁸ One of them named ^(C1)Agabus stood up and prophesied through the Holy Spirit that a severe famine would come ^(C2)on the ^(F1)entire world. And this did happen during the reign of ^(F2)(C3)Claudius.²⁹ So ^(C1)the disciples decided to send a contribution, each according to his individual ability, to ^(C2)the believers who lived in Judea.^30 (C1)And this they did, sending the contribution to the ^(C2)elders by ^(C3)Barnabas and Saul.