Acts 11

A major new step in history of redemption had just taken place, and not everyone was convinced that it was a good thing. People heard about Gentiles receiving the Word of God, but some were concerned that Peter had perhaps done something wrong by eating with uncircumcised men, an action that was against Jewish tradition. It may surprise us after the deep conflicts between Jesus and the Pharisees recorded in all four gospels that these issues that caused such tension in His day had still not been entirely resolved, even in the minds of all those who had identified themselves as followers of the Messiah. Many believed that the only pathway for Gentiles was to first become Jews, so that they could then receive and follow the Jewish Messiah. This issue would not be fully solved for some time as we will see in the chapters to come.

When Peter was challenged concerning his behavior, he gave an orderly account of the events that had taken place as described in Acts 10. He especially focused on the Lord’s revelation to Him, and on God’s sovereign gift of the Spirit to Gentiles apart from the laying on of hands. Peter emphasized how unwilling he had been during his vision to eat unclean foods that came down to him from heaven, but how he learned from God that he was not to call anything unclean that the Lord had made clean. This was why he agreed to go with six other brothers to the house of Cornelius. It was something he would not have done, except by direct revelation from God.

Not only that, God had also insisted on this course of affairs through His special Word to Cornelius, causing that man to send for Peter according to the Lord’s instruction. But it was the baptism of the Holy Spirit that was particularly impressive. This phrase of being baptized by the Holy Spirit is used by John the Baptist as a statement of prophecy concerning what the Messiah would do, and then it is noted as being fulfilled in two places, both as corporate events, and not as private experiences. The first of these was for Jews, described in Acts 2, and the second was for Gentiles, in Acts 10. These two amazing events were divine attestations of the New Covenant Word, inaugurations of something wonderfully fresh and powerful. The point of all this testimony is that these were things that were clearly done by God, and not by men. How could the church say no to this? To do so would be to attempt to stand in the Lord’s way.

This report was apparently persuasive to those who heard it. Luke records that those who were originally concerned “fell silent.” This is often the first step in a major religious paradigm shift. We must be willing to hear something new, and take it in for what it really is. Then we need to see the goodness in this unexpected development, and to recognize the Source. We are told that they glorified God, and that they were able to draw the correct conclusion, that “to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.” The issue would come up again as the ministry of Saul would move forward, and as self-appointed monitors of His missionary activities would incite controversy on the matter of Gentile Christians in the years to come. Yet the church would be able to return to this event of God’s sovereign work among Cornelius and his assembled guests, and they would see again in the Scriptures the plain fact that the Lord had always intended that Gentiles would call upon His Name.

This was apparently the Lord’s appointed time for the mission to the Gentiles to move forward. Something had started with the persecution of Stephen that would never be stopped again. This was a good leaven that would proceed through many people who had come to love Christ and the gospel. While some went forward speaking only to Jews, soon there were many who were speaking to Gentiles. Remembering that in Jerusalem there were both Greek-speaking and Hebrew-speaking Jewish Christians, it should not surprise us that those who were scattered would eventually be sharing their life-changing message with Greek-speaking Gentiles. Once again, we are told that “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.” In particular, the city of Antioch in Syria became a center of a vital Christian movement. The church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas there, and he soon brought Saul of Tarsus to that place.

It was there in Antioch where the believers began to be called Christians, a very good name for us, reminding us of what our life is all about. As the church teaches the Word and cares for one another, as she moves forward throughout the world, and as the message of the Savior is preached and believed in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, everything that we are and do comes back to one Man alone, Jesus of Nazareth. We are persuaded that this Man who died for our sins, and was raised for our justification, has become for us the Source of every blessing. He has won us over to God by His Spirit, and having been found by the love of God, we have been moved to love one another, and to proclaim the truth of forgiveness to all kinds of people throughout the world.