Texts in Conversation
Acts 15:20 instructs Gentile converts to abstain from fornication and idolatry, echoing the requirements found in Jubilees 7:20, where Noah gives similar commands after the flood. Both reflect a Jewish tradition that outlined expectations for Gentiles who were not expected to follow all of the Torah.
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Jubilees 7:20
Pseudepigrapha
19 Japheth's sons were: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. These were Noah's sons. 20 During the twenty-eighth jubilee [1324-72] Noah began to prescribe for his grandsons the ordinances and the commandments — every statute which he knew. He testified to his sons that they should do what is right, cover the shame of their bodies, bless the one who had created them, honor father and mother, love one another, and keep themselves from fornication, uncleanness, and from all injustice. 21 For it was on account of these three things that the flood was on the earth, since it was due to fornication that the Watchers had illicit intercourse — apart from the mandate of their authority — with women. When they married of them whomever they chose, they committed the first acts of uncleanness.
Date: 150-100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Acts 15:20
New Testament
15 The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written, 16 ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David; I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, 17 so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, namely, all the Gentiles I have called to be my own,’ says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from long ago. 19 “Therefore I conclude that we should not cause extra difficulty for those among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20 but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood. 21 For Moses has had those who proclaim him in every town from ancient times, because he is read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
Date: 75-85 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Jewish texts set forth similar requirements for righteous Gentiles (Jubilees 7.20); the Noachide Laws (an expansion of the covenant with Noah in Genesis 9:1–17, which according to Jewish understanding is thereby incumbent on all human beings) require Gentiles to refrain from idolatry, blasphemy, murder, incest, stealing, and consuming flesh from a living creature, and to establish justice in an orderly legal system (Tosefta Avodah Zara 8.4; b. Sanhedrin 52b; Genesis Rabbah 16:6). Leviticus makes similar declarations regarding strangers dwelling in the land (Leviticus 17–18) ..."
Levine, Amy-Jill & Brettler, Marc Zvi
The Jewish Annotated New Testament
(p. 229) Oxford University Press, 2011
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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