Acts 15:31

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.

Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.

This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage,

But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.

For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong!

As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on God’s Israel.

but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ’s bondservant.

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again?

But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

let’s hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

So the assemblies throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,

as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.

Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless Yahweh your God!” All the assembly blessed Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads and prostrated themselves before Yahweh and the king.

Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.

then he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.

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.”

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;

Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.

But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth,

Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If therefore you won’t watch, I will come as a thief, and you won’t know what hour I will come upon you.

In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t tempt Yahweh.”

“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

“Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in Yahweh, your God; for he gives you the early rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the early rain and the latter rain, as before.

You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.

and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

The word of God increased and the number of the disciples greatly multiplied in Jerusalem. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

They, when they heard it, glorified God. They said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.

But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.

What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened.

for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

For you bear with a man if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, or if he strikes you on the face.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.

Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.

As many as desire to make a good impression in the flesh compel you to be circumcised; just so they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.

For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe.

But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”

I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity,

When Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well.

The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound,

Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’ ”

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.”

Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.

For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.

He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the assemblies.

since indeed there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith.

I have therefore my boasting in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God.

that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.

But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned.

These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar.

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love,

Beware of the dogs; beware of the evil workers; beware of the false circumcision.

Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.

Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s chosen ones, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

where your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years.

This is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshiper perfect,

promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.

Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

The thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and the children of Gad lived.

The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.’ ”

Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.”

Now therefore why do you tempt God, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

So the assemblies were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God.

Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh;

As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.