Study Desk

Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

“From this man’s descendants, as he promised, God brought to Israel the Savior, Jesus.

“Brothers and sisters, children of Abraham’s race, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the word of this salvation has been sent.

But God raised him from the dead,

God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second Psalm:

but the one God raised up did not decay.

After the synagogue had been dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and urging them to continue in the grace of God.

Paul and Barnabas boldly replied, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles.

But the Jews incited the prominent God-fearing women and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their district.

“People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

From there they sailed back to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them: “Brothers and sisters, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us.

Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples’ necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

The whole assembly became silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul describe all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

Simeon has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for his name.

Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God,