161030 The Acts of the Apostles Lesson 17 (5) Acts 15-1-35 After There Had Been Much Debate

• LESSON 17 -5- (October 30) • Acts 15:1-35 After There Had Been Much Debate I. Summarize in your own words what Luke is describing in Acts 15:1-2. What's going on? What's the problem? 2. Why would Paul and Barnabas and some of the others be appointed to go up to Jerusalem (15:2)? 3. Who are these people being described in Acts 15:5? How had they come to believe what they believed, and why would Paul and Barnabas have no small dissension and debate with those who believed and taught what was being taught in Jerusalem? 4. Why was it very appropriate that Peter stand up and address the gathering (15:7)? 5. When Peter asserts that God made no distinction between us and them (15:9), what does he mean? 6. These Gentiles, according to Peter, had their hearts cleansed by faith (15:9). What is this cleansing? What role had God played? What did faith have to do with it? 7. How would you rephrase what Peter is saying in Acts 15:10 in your own words? 8. In what way was the testimony of Barnabas and Paul, as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles (15:12), a powerful witness to the truth of what Peter had just proclaimed? 9. What does James add to the discussion (15:13-21), and why is his reasoning important? 10. What do you make of the letter sent from the saints in Jerusalem to Antioch (15:22-29)?