Summary
The church at Jerusalem, with its apostles and elders, received messengers from the church at Antioch to settle whether Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. After hearing Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James, the apostles, the elders, and the whole church agreed that Jews and Gentiles alike are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, and they sent a letter to the churches. Acts 15 records it. Unlike the later councils of bishops called by emperors, this was a local church under the apostles, receiving messengers from another.