What did the believing Pharisees say at the Jerusalem council was required of Gentile believers?
At the Jerusalem council, believing Pharisees declared that Gentile believers had to be circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses. They argued it was needful to require circumcision of the Gentiles and demand adherence to Moses' Law, insisting Gentiles must embrace Judaism.
Les explains that Acts 15 records the big controversy between Peter and the eleven at Jerusalem and Paul and Barnabas, who came up from Antioch because Gentiles were having salvation apart from Judaism, without circumcision, and without being commanded to keep the Law. In verse 5, certain of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, being part and parcel of a Jewish congregation at Jerusalem, rose up and said it was needful to circumcise the Gentile believers and to keep the Law of Moses. Paul rejected that, saying there was no way it would be part of his message. A great confrontation and argument followed, and Peter eventually defended Paul, remembering Cornelius about fourteen years earlier, where God saved a Gentile without ascribing to Judaism, without repentance and water baptism; they were saved even before Peter got that far.
But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
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What did the believing Pharisees at Jerusalem require of the Gentile converts?
These believing Pharisees in Jerusalem said it was needful to circumcise the Gentile converts and command them to keep the Law of Moses.