Dictionary entry

Council

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Is occasionally taken for any kind of assembly; sometimes for that of the Sanhedrin; at others, for a convention of pastors met to regulate ecclesiastical affairs. Thus the assembly of the apostles, etc., at Jerusalem, Ac 15:1-41, to determine whether the yoke of the law should be imposed on gentile converts, is commonly reputed to be the first council of the Christian church. SeeSANHEDRIN.