Acts 11, Part 22
Notes
Transcript
As we look towards today’s study, this is one of the most important parts of church history. It is a change in the mindset, in the inclusion, and in the focus of who is included in the body of believers and should be studied with this in mind. Until this time, the gospel had focused on the Jews. Now, Peter senses the gospel is meant for everyone - Jew AND Gentile. The problem is, the Messianic Jews were not fully embracing Christianity and were stuck in tradition - the new converts should be circumcised. For ones who were so dead set on following the Old Testament law, you think they would remember Deuteronomy 10:16 “16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.” or Jeremiah 4:4 “4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”” We see later on in Romans 2:25-29 “25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” These verses focus on the spiritual transformation - the circumcision of the heart - not the physical act, and now Peter is coming up on resistance as he ministers to the Gentiles.
1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.
2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying,
11:1–2 Peter had himself been convinced of God’s inclusion of the Gentiles. Now his fellow Jewish-Christians in Jerusalem needed convincing. The strongest reservations seem to have been entertained by a group of especially conservative Jewish Christians whom Luke called “those of the circumcision” (v. 2, NKJV; “circumcised believers,” NIV). These seem to be distinguished from the apostles and wider group of Judean brethren mentioned in v. 1. Evidently they represented a strongly Jewish perspective and felt that any Gentile who became a Christian would have to do so by converting to Judaism and undergoing full Jewish proselyte procedure, which included circumcision. Hence they were known as the circumcision group, since they would require it of all Gentile converts. They may well have been the same group as those believers mentioned in 15:5 who belonged to the Pharisees and required Gentiles to be circumcised and to live by the Mosaic law. Their perspective is understandable, given that at this point Christianity was still seen as a movement within Judaism. It followed that if Gentiles became Christians they also became Jews by so doing and should thus undergo the normal procedure for converts to Judaism. Needless to say, if this line had been adopted, there never would have been an effective Gentile mission. Most Gentiles had real problems with some of the more “external” aspects of the Jewish law, such as circumcision and the food laws. Such factors doubtless had kept many Gentiles like Cornelius, who believed in the God of the Jews, from becoming full proselytes.
3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order:
5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me.
6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air.
7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’
8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’
10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven.
11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea.
12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.
11:3-12 It is interesting that the circumcision group raised a question about Peter’s table fellowship with the Gentiles rather than about their being baptized. As has already been shown in the discussion of 10:9–16, the issues of table fellowship and acceptance of the Gentiles were closely related. Peter’s eating with the Gentiles showed his acceptance of them as fellow Christians, and they were still uncircumcised (v. 3). In any event, Peter’s response quickly led them to the real issue—God’s acceptance of the Gentiles. Luke basically summarized chap. 10, again using the device of repetition to underscore the significance of the event. The account contains only slight differences from the earlier one. It is considerably condensed, and Peter occasionally added a previously unmentioned detail. Naturally, Peter began with his own vision in 11:5–10, which is a detailed retelling of 10:9–16. In fact, that is the most extensive repetition in Peter’s report to Jerusalem. For Peter it was the heart of the matter. There are no unclean people. God accepts the Gentiles. Verses 11–12 summarize the narrative of 10:17–25, relating the arrival of the three messengers from Cornelius and Peter’s accompanying them to Caesarea. The most significant difference from the earlier account is the additional detail that there were six Christians from Joppa who accompanied Peter to Caesarea (v. 12). More than that—it was “these” six whom Peter brought to Jerusalem as witnesses to what transpired in Cornelius’s home (cf. 10:45).
13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter;
14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’
15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.
16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
11:13–16 Verses 13–14 summarize the vision of Cornelius, how the angel instructed him to send to Joppa for Peter. Verse 14 is more specific than any of the accounts of Cornelius’s vision in chap. 10. Peter was to bring a message to Cornelius “through which [he] and all [his] household [would] be saved.” This explanation references Peter’s words in v. 22 and above all explains Cornelius’s eager anticipation of Peter’s message in 10:33. There was no need for Peter to summarize his sermon before the Jerusalem Christians, so he quickly moved to the coming of the Spirit on the Gentiles at Cornelius’s house (v. 15). Peter noted how the event interrupted his sermon. He added that the Spirit came upon them just “as he had come upon us at the beginning.” The comparison is to Pentecost. Peter made explicit here what was implicit in 10:46. He continued to draw the comparison in v. 16, which harks back to Acts 1:5 and Jesus’ prediction of a baptism with the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ prediction was fulfilled for the apostles at Pentecost; for Cornelius and his fellow Gentiles it was fulfilled with the coming of the Spirit at Cornelius’s house. Certainly for Peter it was a Gentile Pentecost. He could hardly make more explicit comparisons!
17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
11:17–18 Peter concluded his report in Jerusalem by reminding his hearers once again that God gave the gift of the Spirit to the Gentiles and added, “Who was I to think that I could oppose God?” Once again he used the verb kōlyō in expressing the idea of opposition to God, just as he employed the same verb in 10:47 to question whether anyone could oppose the baptism of the Gentiles. Opposition to the Gentiles’ baptism would be opposition to God, for God’s leading of Peter and of Cornelius proved beyond doubt his intention to include them in his people. There really was not much the “circumcision group” could say now. God was clearly in it. Who could object? Silence quickly gave way to praise of God in his triumphant advance of the gospel. God had granted “repentance unto life” to the Gentiles.
Not all the problems were solved, however. Not all the Jewish Christians were satisfied with taking in Gentiles without circumcision. As yet there had been no mass influx of Gentiles, and the problems were not altogether evident. Things would change, particularly with the great success of Paul and Barnabas’s mission among the Gentiles. Once again the issue would be raised by the more staunchly Jewish faction—“Shouldn’t Gentiles be circumcised when they become Christians?” “Can we really have table fellowship with uncircumcised Gentiles who do not abide by the food laws?” (author’s paraphrase). These issues would surface once more for a final showdown in the Jerusalem Conference of chap. 15.
Polhill, John B. 1992. Acts. Vol. 26. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
