==Decree of the Council of Jerusalem==

[[Image:Noahide Christian.png|right]]

After concluding that circumcision is not required for non-Jews, James, the leader of the [[Council of Jerusalem]] says:

These four (or five) prohibitions are variously interpreted. The prohibition against "things strangled", apparently refers to animals which had been improperly slaughtered according to Jewish law, i.e., without the draining of blood. Some, accordingly, take the prohibition against "blood" as a reference to murder. The two, eating blood and murder, are closely associated in Genesis 9:3-6, in commands given to Noah and his descendents. Compare Jubilees 7:28, which also combines the two as part of the Noachite covenant. Leviticus 17:10-18:30 was also an important text. There the immoral "ways of the nations", particularly eating blood and sexual immorality, are forbidden to the "stranger who resides among you" (the ger toshav) as well as the Israelite. The textual manuscripts vary widely on the precise enumeration of these prohibitions in Acts 15:20, 29. Paul's account of this dispute, reflected in the book of Galatians, does not include this precise listing of prohibitions. However, his letters indicate that he would have generally supported such prohibitions as applicable to all humankind: e.g., sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5-6;1 Thessalonians 4:3-8); idolatry and meat sold in Gentile markets (1 Thessalonians 1:9;1 Corinthians 10:14-22; but compare 8:1-13;10:23-33).<ref>[http://rainbowcovenant.org/pages/articlesGdFearers.htm Rainbow Covenant: The G-d Fearers], note 6</ref>

==Christian Commentary==

According to Bruce Metzger's ''Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament'': "the Apostolic Decree [15.29,15.20,21.25] ... contain many problems concerning text and exegesis"; "it is possible ... (fornication means) marriage within the prohibited Levitical Degrees (Lv 18.6-18), which the rabbis described as "forbidden for porneia," or mixed marriages with pagans (Nu 25.1; also compare 2 Cor 6.14), or participation in pagan worship which had long been described by Old Testament prophets as spiritual adultery and which, in fact, offered opportunity in many temples for religious prostitution"; "An extensive literature exists on the text and exegesis"; NRSV has things polluted by idols, fornication, whatever has been strangled, blood; NIV has food polluted by idols, sexual immorality, meat of strangled animals, blood; Young's Literal Translation has pollutions of the idols, whoredom, strangled thing, blood; Gaus' ''Unvarnished New Testament'' has pollution of idolatrous sacrifices, unchastity, meat of strangled animals, blood; New American Bible has pollution from idols, unlawful marriage, meat of strangled animals, blood.

Karl Josef von Hefele's commentary on canon II of Gangra] notes: "We further see that, at the time of the Synod of Gangra, the rule of the Apostolic Synod with regard to blood and things strangled was still in force. With the Greek Orthodox, indeed, it continued always in force as their Euchologies still show. Theodore Balsamon also, the well-known commentator on the canons of the Middle Ages, in his commentary on the sixty-third Canons of the Apostles, expressly blames the Latins because they had ceased to observe this command.

What the Latin Church, however, thought on this subject about the year 400, is shown by St. Augustine in his work Contra Faustum, where he states that the Apostles had given this command in order to unite the heathens and Jews in the one ark of Noah; but that then, when the barrier between Jewish and heathen converts had fallen, this command concerning things strangled and blood had lost its meaning, and was only observed by few. But still, as late as the eighth century, Pope Gregory the Third, 731 CE, forbade the eating of blood or things strangled under threat of a penance of forty days.

==References==

[[Category:Noahide Christian]]

[[Category:Christian Religion]]

==Possible Correspondence==

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