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Every light opens another layer.
Begin with Jesus. Select any connected record to recenter the constellation, reveal another layer, and inspect the evidence behind every line. Every verse in the Bible is a door into the graph.
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51 records · 78 visible lines
+ 33 more records in the list below
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Every visible record, in words.
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- Event
The church at Antioch
Believers scattered by the persecution after Stephen preached to Greeks in Antioch and many turned to the Lord. Jerusalem sent Barnabas, who brought Saul from Tarsus, and the two taught there for a year. In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians, and from Antioch the church later set apart Barnabas and Saul for their mission.
Focus this layer - Person
Barnabas
Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus named Joseph, whom the apostles called Son of Encouragement. He sold a field for the church, vouched for the newly converted Saul in Jerusalem, was sent to Antioch, brought Saul there to teach, and traveled with him on the first missionary journey.
Focus this layer - Person
James, brother of Jesus
James was a brother of Jesus who did not believe during the ministry, saw the risen Jesus according to Paul, and became a leading figure of the church in Jerusalem. He gave the decisive judgment at the Jerusalem council and is traditionally identified as the author of the letter of James.
Focus this layer - Person
Paul
Paul, first known as Saul of Tarsus, was a Pharisee who persecuted the church until the risen Jesus met him on the road to Damascus. He became the apostle to the Gentiles, planted churches across the Roman world, and wrote the letters that make up much of the New Testament.
Focus this layer - Person
Peter
Peter, originally Simon, was a fisherman from Galilee whom Jesus called to follow Him and renamed Peter. He confessed Jesus as the Christ, denied Him during the trial, was restored after the resurrection, and preached the first sermon at Pentecost.
Focus this layer - Place
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is the city David made his capital and where Solomon built the temple. In the Gospels it is where Jesus taught in the temple, shared the Last Supper, was tried, crucified, and rose, and where the church was born at Pentecost.
Focus this layer - Theme
Covenant
A covenant is a binding relationship God establishes with people by promise. Scripture traces covenants with Noah, Abraham, Israel at Sinai, and David, and the prophets foretell a new covenant that Jesus inaugurates with His blood at the Last Supper.
Focus this layer - Theme
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is God present and active among His people. He hovers over creation, fills prophets and craftsmen in the Old Testament, descends on Jesus at His baptism, is promised by Jesus as the Advocate, and comes on the church at Pentecost, giving power to witness, new birth, gifts, and fruit.
Focus this layer - Passage
Amos 9:11-12
Open this Scripture reference and the relationships connected to it.
Focus this layer - Event
Cornelius and the first Gentile believers
A Roman centurion at Caesarea named Cornelius was told in a vision to send for Peter. Peter, prepared by his own vision at Joppa, went and preached, and the Holy Spirit fell on the whole Gentile household while he spoke. They were baptized, and the Jerusalem church concluded that God had granted repentance to the Gentiles as well.
Focus this layer - Place
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was one of the great cities of the Roman world and the home of the first largely Gentile church. Believers were first called Christians there, Barnabas and Saul taught there for a year, and the church sent them out on the first missionary journey.
Focus this layer - Event
The conversion of Paul
Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who had approved Stephen's death, set out to arrest believers in Damascus. Near the city a light from heaven threw him down and the risen Jesus spoke to him. Blind for three days, he was healed and baptized by a disciple named Ananias and began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues.
Focus this layer - Event
The resurrection of Jesus
On the first day of the week the tomb of Jesus was found empty, and He appeared alive to Mary Magdalene, to the disciples, and, according to Paul, to more than five hundred people at once. The New Testament proclaims that God raised Him bodily from the dead.
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Jesus appears to more than five hundred
Paul passed on a summary he had himself received: Christ died for our sins, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Cephas, to the Twelve, to more than five hundred at once, to James, to all the apostles, and finally to Paul.
Focus this layer - Event
Stephen's martyrdom
Stephen, one of seven men chosen to serve the Jerusalem church, worked wonders and debated in the synagogues until he was accused of speaking against the temple and the law. His defense retold Israel's story from Abraham to Solomon, he saw Jesus standing at God's right hand, and he was stoned while praying for his killers. A young man named Saul approved.
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The calling of the first disciples
Beside the Sea of Galilee Jesus called two pairs of fishermen, Simon and Andrew, then James and John, to follow Him and become fishers of men, and they left their nets and their father's boat at once. John's Gospel records that Andrew and Simon had first met Jesus near the Jordan after John the Baptist pointed Him out.
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The raising of Jairus's daughter
A synagogue leader named Jairus begged Jesus to heal his dying daughter. On the way a woman who had suffered bleeding for twelve years touched His cloak and was healed, and Jesus told her that her faith had made her well. Word came that the girl had died; Jesus took Peter, James, John, and her parents into the house and raised her with a word.
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Jesus walks on the water
The night after the feeding, the disciples were rowing against the wind on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus came to them walking on the water. Matthew records that Peter stepped out toward Him, began to sink, and was caught by Jesus's hand. When Jesus climbed into the boat the wind ceased, and those in the boat worshiped Him as the Son of God.
Focus this layer - Event
Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi
Near Caesarea Philippi Jesus asked His disciples who people said He was, then who they said He was, and Peter answered that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus blessed him, then for the first time told the disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and rise on the third day, and rebuked Peter for resisting it.
Focus this layer - Event
The transfiguration
About a week after Peter's confession Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, where His face and clothing shone, Moses and Elijah appeared talking with Him, and a voice from the cloud called Him the beloved Son and told the disciples to listen to Him. Coming down, Jesus told them that Elijah had already come, and they understood He meant John the Baptist.
Focus this layer - Event
Jesus sets out for Jerusalem
Luke records that as the time for His departure drew near, Jesus resolutely set His face toward Jerusalem. On the way He kept teaching in towns and villages, and He told the Twelve plainly that in Jerusalem He would be handed over, mocked, killed, and raised on the third day. The disciples did not understand.
Focus this layer - Event
The Olivet discourse
After leaving the temple, Jesus told His disciples that not one stone of it would be left on another. Seated on the Mount of Olives, He answered their questions about when this would happen and about His coming, warning of deception and persecution, describing the coming of the Son of Man, and calling them to stay awake and ready.
Focus this layer - Event
Jesus washes the disciples' feet
During the evening meal before Passover, Jesus laid aside His outer garments, wrapped a towel around Himself, and washed His disciples' feet, including the feet of the one who would betray Him. Peter protested and then asked to be washed entirely. Jesus told them He had given an example they should follow.
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The farewell discourse
After Judas left, Jesus spoke at length with the eleven. He gave them a new commandment to love one another, promised the Holy Spirit as another Advocate, described Himself as the true vine, warned of the world's hatred, and prayed to the Father for Himself, for His disciples, and for all who would believe through their word.
Focus this layer - Event
Gethsemane
After the supper Jesus went with His disciples to a garden on the Mount of Olives called Gethsemane. Taking Peter, James, and John further in, He was deeply distressed and prayed that if possible the cup might pass from Him, yet that the Father's will be done. The disciples slept. He woke them as the betrayer arrived.
Focus this layer - Event
The arrest of Jesus
Judas led a crowd with swords and clubs, and in John a band of soldiers, to the garden he knew Jesus frequented, and identified Him with a kiss. One disciple struck the high priest's servant, and Jesus stopped the violence and, in Luke, healed the man. He was bound and led away, and all the disciples fled.
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The trial before the Sanhedrin
Jesus was taken to the high priest, Caiaphas, where the council sought testimony against Him. When Caiaphas put Him under oath to say whether He was the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus answered and spoke of the Son of Man seated at God's right hand and coming with the clouds. The high priest called it blasphemy, and the council judged Him worthy of death.
Focus this layer - Event
Peter denies Jesus
While Jesus was questioned inside, Peter waited in the high priest's courtyard by a fire. Three times he was identified as a follower of Jesus, and three times he denied it, the last time with an oath. A rooster crowed, Peter remembered Jesus' warning, and he went out and wept bitterly.
Focus this layer - Event
The empty tomb is discovered
Early on the first day of the week, women who had followed Jesus came to His tomb and found the stone moved and the body gone. Messengers told them He had risen. Mary Magdalene ran to Peter and John, who found the linen cloths lying where the body had been.
Focus this layer - Event
Jesus appears to the gathered disciples
That same evening Jesus stood among the disciples in a locked room, greeted them with peace, showed them His hands and side, and ate in front of them to prove He was no ghost. He opened their minds to the Scriptures, breathed on them, and told them they would be His witnesses.
Focus this layer - Event
Jesus appears by the Sea of Galilee
Seven disciples fished all night on the Sea of Galilee and caught nothing until a figure on the shore told them to cast on the right side. Recognizing Jesus, Peter swam ashore. After breakfast Jesus asked Peter three times whether he loved Him and three times charged him to care for His sheep.
Focus this layer - Event
Matthias is chosen to replace Judas
Returning from the Mount of Olives after the ascension, about a hundred and twenty believers gathered in Jerusalem. Peter cited the Psalms about the vacancy left by Judas, two men who had been with Jesus from His baptism were proposed, and the lot fell to Matthias, who was added to the eleven.
Focus this layer - Event
Pentecost
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the gathered disciples in Jerusalem with the sound of wind and tongues of fire, and they spoke in other languages. Peter preached that Jesus, crucified and risen, is Lord and Christ, and about three thousand were baptized.
Focus this layer - Event
The healing at the Beautiful Gate
Going up to the temple to pray, Peter and John healed a man lame from birth in the name of Jesus. Peter preached that the God of Abraham had glorified His servant Jesus, the council arrested them, and the church prayed and was filled again with the Spirit and with boldness. The number of believers grew to about five thousand men.
Focus this layer - Event
The covenant with David
When David wanted to build a house for God, God answered that He would build David a house: a descendant whose throne would be established forever, whom God would treat as a son. The promise outlasted David's failures and the fall of his kingdom.
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The exile and the return
Babylon burned the temple and carried Judah into exile, apparently ending the line of David. Jeremiah had promised that after seventy years God would bring the people back, and the decree of Cyrus of Persia opened the way home and the rebuilding of the temple.
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The presentation in the temple
Joseph and Mary brought the infant Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord and offer the sacrifice the law required of a poor family. Simeon, promised he would see the Lord's Christ, took the child in his arms and called Him a light for the nations; the prophetess Anna gave thanks and spoke of Him to all who waited for redemption.
Focus this layer - Event
The visit of the magi
Magi from the east followed a star to Jerusalem asking where the king of the Jews had been born. Herod's scribes pointed them to Bethlehem from Micah's prophecy, and the magi found the child with Mary, worshiped Him, and gave gold, frankincense, and myrrh before slipping home by another road.
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The boy Jesus in the temple
When Jesus was twelve, His family went up to Jerusalem for the Passover. On the way home His parents realized He was missing and found Him three days later in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers. Asked why, He replied that He had to be in His Father's house.
Focus this layer - Event
Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night
Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the council, came to Jesus at night. Jesus told him that no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again, of water and the Spirit, compared His coming lifting up to Moses's bronze serpent, and spoke of God's love in giving His only Son so that whoever believes may have eternal life.
Focus this layer - Event
The triumphal entry
Approaching Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples for a colt and rode into the city while crowds spread cloaks and branches on the road and shouted words from Psalm 118, hailing Him as the Son of David who comes in the name of the Lord. Matthew and John say this fulfilled Zechariah's picture of a humble king on a donkey.
Focus this layer - Event
Jesus weeps over Jerusalem
As the city came into view during the entry, Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He said it had not recognized what would bring it peace, and He foretold a siege in which enemies would surround it and leave no stone standing on another.
Focus this layer - Event
The Last Supper
On the night before His death Jesus shared a final meal with His disciples in Jerusalem, gave them bread and the cup as His body and blood of the new covenant, washed their feet, and foretold His betrayal.
Focus this layer - Event
The trial before Pilate
At daybreak the council delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate questioned Him about being King of the Jews, found no basis for a charge, sent Him to Herod Antipas, who mocked Him and returned Him, and offered the crowd a Passover release. The crowd chose Barabbas. Pilate washed his hands, had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.
Focus this layer - Event
The road to Emmaus
On the day of the resurrection two disciples walked from Jerusalem toward Emmaus, about seven miles away, and a stranger joined them. He explained from Moses and all the Prophets what the Scriptures said about the Christ, and they recognized Him as Jesus when He broke bread at their table.
Focus this layer - Event
The covenant with Abraham
God bound Himself by covenant to Abram: descendants as many as the stars, a land for them, and an everlasting relationship in which God would be their God. Abram believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness. God later gave him the name Abraham and the sign of circumcision.
Focus this layer - Event
The covenant at Sinai
Three months after leaving Egypt, Israel camped before Mount Sinai. God offered to make them His treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, and spoke the ten commandments from the mountain in fire and smoke. Moses sealed the covenant with the blood of sacrifices and the people promised to obey.
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The crucifixion of Jesus
Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem at Golgotha under Pontius Pilate. He died after several hours on the cross and was buried in a nearby tomb before the Sabbath. The Gospels present His death as the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Focus this layer - Person
Noah
Noah was the righteous man whom God chose to preserve life through the flood. He built an ark at God's command, brought his family and the animals inside, and after the waters receded received God's covenant never again to destroy the earth by flood, sealed by the rainbow.
Focus this layer - Person
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth is the center of the Christian faith and of FaithGraph. The Gospels present Him as the promised Messiah of Israel, the eternal Word made flesh, who taught, healed, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, rose bodily on the third day, and commissioned His followers to carry the good news to all nations.
Focus this layer - Passage
Acts 15:16-17
Open this Scripture reference and the relationships connected to it.
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Connections around The council at Jerusalem
The church at Antioch precedes The council at Jerusalem
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceActs narrates these events in this order.
Evidence:Barnabas participates in The council at Jerusalem
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceThe text names Barnabas in this event at the cited verses.
Evidence:James, brother of Jesus participates in The council at Jerusalem
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceThe text names James in this event at the cited verses.
Evidence:Paul participates in The council at Jerusalem
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceThe text names Paul in this event at the cited verses.
Evidence:Peter participates in The council at Jerusalem
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceThe text names Peter in this event at the cited verses.
Evidence:The council at Jerusalem occurs at Jerusalem
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidencePaul and Barnabas go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders.
The council at Jerusalem develops the theme Covenant
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceJames reads the inclusion of the Gentiles as the rebuilding of David's fallen tent promised by Amos.
Evidence:The council at Jerusalem develops the theme The Holy Spirit
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceThe council appeals to the Spirit's gift to the Gentiles and its own guidance.
Evidence:The council at Jerusalem explicitly fulfills Amos 9:11-12
Explicit fulfillmentHigh confidenceJames says the words of the prophets agree with what God has done among the Gentiles and quotes Amos as the proof.
Evidence:Other responsible views
- Hebrew and Greek wording: See the quotation record: the Greek text James cites speaks of the nations seeking the Lord.