According to verse 2, when Peter came to Jerusalem, “the circumcised believers criticized him.” The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God” (1) but to them that was an unthinkable thing. The Gentiles didn’t have the law, they had never been circumcised so the Jewish Christians thought they could not be saved. However, through Peter salvation was spreading among the Gentiles. Therefore, they criticized Peter. Peter answered their criticism by explaining “everything to them precisely as it had happened.” (4) The result is in verse 18, “they had no further objections and praised God saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.’” Today let’s at 3 aspects of how they were changed from being critical to praising God.
- I. The criticism of the Judean brothers. (vs.1-3)
The rumor that the Gentiles had received the word of God spread throughout Judea. This meant that the Jerusalem church too became aware that Gentiles were being saved. They had vague idea that the Gospel would go throughout the world because they had been told so many times. (Matt. 28:19, Acts 1:8) However, they were shocked and surprised because they didn’t expect it.
They heard this was a result of Peter and thus criticized Peter saying, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” (3) This was not fearing the law. The Gentiles did not have the law. Thus they didn’t think about clean and unclean animals when they cooked. Therefore, for the Jews it was dangerous to eat a meal prepared by a Gentile. It was unthinkable that a Jew would go to a Gentile’s house. Therefore, Peter said in 10:28,”You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him.” For the Jews to follow the law is the way to protect their purity and identity as God’s people. Especially it was important to be circumcised and to follow the laws about eating and the Sabbath. Therefore, for a Gentile to accept the Jewish faith required him to be circumcised. The Jewish Christians were all circumcised and then became Christian and so they thought that Gentiles too should be circumcised, follow the law about clean and unclean foods, and observe the Sabbath in order to be saved. However, Peter ate with the Gentiles who had not been circumcised. They thought that this was going against the law and criticized Peter.
This wasn’t just a problem of prejudice or thinking, but of the life and death of the core of faith. In other words, whether a person is saved only by faith or by faith and following the law. At this point the Bible had not been completed and doctrine had not become finalized so this was a very serious problem for the church. Therefore, this problem afflicted the Antioch Church, the Galatian church, and many churches. It was Paul who gave direction to the problem. He received inspiration from God, and explained the meaning of the law in relation to this problem.
Galatians 5:6
Even though the Galatians were set free when they became Christians, they began to think that that wasn’t enough and began returning to the law. The sign of that was circumcision. In other words, they thought that even if they believed in Christ that they had to be circumcised in order to be saved. However, that is going back to the law. It makes Jesus dying on the cross and the resurrection useless. That’s because they were making a test for entering heaven. No one can get 100 percent on the test. That’s why Jesus died on the cross in our place. Therefore, if you’re yelling, “circumcision” “circumcision”, then you are ruining the Gospel. What is important is not whether you have been circumcised or not, but is “faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6)
We need to understand this well. If not, we will become like these people who criticized Peter. Now we have a Bible, and we can study the Gospel so it is important to understand the Gospel correctly.
- II. Explaining precisely as it had happened(vs.4-17)
In response to their criticism, Peter “explained everything to them precisely as it had happened.” (4) From verse 5 on is this explanation. He is especially telling us 2 things. One thing he tells us is about the vision he saw. Secondly he talks about the Holy Spirit coming upon Cornelius and the other Gentiles while he was preaching.
First let’s look at what Peter says about his vision in verses 5-10. What we see here looks like it is dealing with the problem of the laws about clean and unclean food, but in reality it is not. It is teaching that God’s chosen people, the Jews need to accept the Gentiles. This can be seen by both the fact that when Peter was thinking about what the vision met, the 3 men from Joppa appeared and by the fact that “The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.” (12) That means that you mustn’t say that the Gentiles whom God has purified are not clean and you must accept the Gentiles whom God has accepted. In other words, anyone who fears God and lives righteously, God accepts. It has nothing to do with whether he was circumcised or not. Salvation is based on the one way grace of God.
Next let’s look at the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Cornelius and the Gentiles when Peter was preaching in verses 15 and 16. The only thing that required for Cornelius to receive the Holy Spirit was the message. He didn’t need to be circumcised. This can also be seen in the angel’s words in verse 14.”He will bring you a message through which you and your household will be saved.” From the beginning the angel is telling Cornelius what is necessary for salvation. He is telling him to expect to hear the necessary message for salvation. We are saved by believing in the words of salvation. It is not be anything that we do. Also Peter says in verse 21, “So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God.” In other words, the event of Pentecost occurred upon the Gentiles. That was not because they were circumcised. It was not because they were Jewish. It was because they believed in Jesus as their Savior. Faith was all that was needed to have the Holy Spirit come upon them. This is what Peter wanted to say.
This message that any person that repents and believes in the Gospel will be saved isn’t just a message for those outside of the church, but each Christian and the church needs to make this message the base of their life and live and make decisions by it. As well as proclaiming that by believing in Jesus Christ, you can be saved, we need to live by that fact. If we have repented and believed in Christ, then we should be really thankful to Christ. We should love our brother.
Romans 14:1-3
The gospel message that all you have to do is believe Christ and you will be saved is not just telling us the rules for salvation. He is telling us how we should live after being saved, the way we fellowship with others should be controlled by this teaching. We need to follow Christ and love our brothers.
- III. No objections and changed to praise. (vs.18)
Finally let’s look at the result of Peter’s explanation. The same word that is translated as “no objections” is translated as “be quiet” in I Thess. 4:11. In other words, the circumcised Jews were really upset about the Gentiles being saved, but after hearing Peter’s explanation, they understood, and became quiet. They no longer had any complaints. Also they were moved by the great work of the Lord, were filled with joy and praised the Lord. In the church when there is criticism, we need to look to the truth, and the marvelous works of the Lord that the truth points to and be changed to joy, and praise.
By looking at this event we can see that everything was by the leading and control of the Lord. He showed Peter a vision. He gave Cornelius a dream. He amazingly led them to meet each other. Through that event the gospel began to spread to the Gentiles. God also led to the correct explanation of the events.
There are times that we run into things that we can’t understand. We wonder like the Jewish Christians as to what it means and criticize. We don’t understand why we are suffering and complain. However, by listening to God’s word, we are set free from our concerns and sufferings. When we believe and follow God’s word, we are changed from fear and complaints to praises.
Therefore we want to be a church that listens to the Word of God. We want to open our hearts to the Word of God. We want to clean out our ears and listen to the Word of God. Then we want to be moved by the great works of the Lord. Then we will be able to live a life of praising the Lord.