Acts 15 · a question people ask
Some said, "It is necessary to circumcise them" (15:5). Did the meeting in Jerusalem say the Gentiles who believed must be circumcised?
James gave his judgment: "Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God" (15:19). The letter that was sent says of some who had said it, "Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law,’ to whom we gave no commandment" (15:24). The letter doesn't tell the Gentile brothers to be circumcised. These notes say only what the chapter says, and apply it to no one today. Favor's Genesis 17 asks whether circumcision has anything to do with baptism; this chapter doesn't take that up.
The verses
“But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.””
“Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,”
“They wrote these things by their hand: “The apostles, the elders, and the brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: greetings. Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law,’ to whom we gave no commandment;”