the 40s AD – c. 49 AD

The acceptance of Gentiles into the church: Cornelius, Antioch, and the Council of Jerusalem

Peter's encounter with the Gentile Cornelius and his conversion led the Jerusalem church to conclude that repentance was given to Gentiles as well. Something similar happened in Antioch, where Barnabas was sent. It was there that the followers of Jesus were first called "Christians".

Cornelius's baptism and Paul's mission provoked a dispute: did Gentile converts have to keep the Jewish law and be circumcised? This dispute led the apostles and elders to gather in Jerusalem. The meeting took place c. 49 AD, after Paul's first missionary journey.

After deliberation it was decided not to burden the Gentiles with the law and not to require circumcision. The requirements were limited to a few: abstaining from food sacrificed to idols, blood, what is strangled, and sexual immorality (Acts 15:28–29).

The decision freed the mission from the Jewish law. It recognized Christ rather than the law as the basis of fellowship. Christianity spread rapidly across the Mediterranean, and Gentile Christians soon outnumbered Jewish Christians. Disputes over keeping the law, however, continued afterward.