section_path: Biography/Council of Jerusalem
section_name: Council of Jerusalem
paragraph_text: Council of Jerusalem
  
  A vital meeting between Paul and the Jerusalem church took place in the year 49 AD by traditional (and majority) dating, compared to a revisionist (and minority) dating of 47/51 AD. The meeting is described in Acts 15:2 and usually seen as the same event mentioned by Paul in Galatians 2:1. The key question raised was whether Gentile converts needed to be circumcised. At this meeting, Paul states in his letter to the Galatians, Peter, James, and John accepted Paul's mission to the Gentiles.
  
  The Jerusalem meetings are mentioned in Acts, and also in Paul's letters. For example, the Jerusalem visit for famine relief apparently corresponds to the "first visit" (to Peter and James only). F. F. Bruce suggested that the "fourteen years" could be from Paul's conversion rather than from his first visit to Jerusalem.