Council of Jerusalem

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The Council of Jerusalem was the convening around A.D. 50 of the Apostles and Paul and other Christian leaders to decide which Jewish traditions would be required of Gentiles who converted to Christianity. Specifically, the community in Jerusalem believed that non-Jewish converts to Christianity needed to be circumcised and to accept Jewish law, while Paul argued that that should not be required. Paul was able to convince the rest of the early Christian leaders that his views were correct, and the requirements that converts be circumcised was dropped.

The Council decided to make the burdens as light as possible on converts:[1]

It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and ourselves not to saddle you with any burdens beyond these essentials: you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from the meat of strangled animals and from fornication. Avoid these and you will do what is right.

References

  1. Acts 15:28-29