A bracket of Acts 11
Acts 11:1-18
Through Peter’s first message to the Gentiles, the wall between Jew and Gentile has been torn down forever.
#acts
#God
#Peter
Published February 7th, 2021
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Main point summary
Peter reports back to the church that God has made no division between Jew and Gentile regarding salvation, as seen in what happened with Cornelius’ household. This report resulted in great praise in the church.
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Acts 11:1-18
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Now the apostles and r the brothers 1 who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.
Now all the people chosen by Jesus to tell the world about him living in Judea heard that those outside the Old Covenant had been saved (or perhaps they thought it just meant that they heard the gospel, but didn’t connect it to their being saved).
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem,
As a result , when Peter came back to the Jerusalem church,
s the circumcision party 1 criticized him,
the people who still said that circumcision and other OT laws were part of the New Covenant opposed him.
saying,
They said
t “You went to uncircumcised men
“You actually met with those outside of the covenant
and u ate with them.”
and even had a meal, which is akin to fellowship, with them!”
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But Peter began and explained it to them in order:
But Peter on hearing what they said, gave a clear explanation of all that had happened, from the beginning
v “I was in the city of Joppa praying,
“First, let me tell you what I saw. When I was praying, while in the city of Joppa,
and in a trance I saw a vision,
a vision came to me.
something like a great sheet descending,
This is what it was : it was like a big sheet coming from the sky,
being let down from heaven by its four corners,
it was moving down from above,
and it came down to me.
and then landed very close to me.
Looking at it closely,
After that , by examining it,
I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air.
I could see a wide variety of animals in it, full of many animals the Old Testament declared as unclean to eat.
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And I heard a voice saying to me,
But imagine what happened next : I heard a voice
‘Rise, Peter;
which said , “Get up Peter”
kill
and kill the animals.
and eat.’
and then eat them.”
But I said,
However , I didn’t obey at first. Instead, I said:
‘By no means, Lord;
“Absolutely not, Lord”
for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
I won’t because I have never eaten such animals as these. The Old Testament has forbidden it!”
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But the voice answered a second time from heaven,
And yet , despite my rejection, the voice came a second time, saying,
‘What God has made clean,
“ Since God has made all these animals now clean,
do not call common.’
do not any longer call them unclean, as food you cannot eat.”
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This happened three times,
This vision came to me three times,
and all was drawn up again into heaven.
and after that , the sheet went back and it finished.
And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were,
What happened next was amazing: three men immediately arrived at the place I was staying.
sent to me from Caesarea.
These men were ones who had come from Caesarea.
And the Spirit told me to go with them,
When they came and spoke to me, the Spirit actually said I could not only associate with them but go with them.
w making no distinction.
This was a complete change to anything I had ever experienced before!
x These six brothers also accompanied me,
And so, because of what the Holy Spirit said to me, taking six brothers in Christ with me,
and we entered the man’s house.
I ended up going to the man’s house, this Roman.
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And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house
And this men started talking about how an angel had come to visit him.
and say,
This is what he said to me:
‘Send to Joppa
“Send servants to Joppa
and bring Simon who is called Peter;
in order to bring back a man named Simon Peter
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y he will declare to you a message by which z you will be saved,
The reason I say to you to do this is that he will proclaim to you the gospel of salvation,
you and all your household.’
to all the people in your household, family and servants alike.
As I began to speak,
And since Cornelius (this man) said all this to me, I therefore spoke to them the message of salvation.
a the Holy Spirit fell on them
And while I was doing that, the Holy Spirit was given to them. They received the Holy Spirit!
b just as on us at the beginning.
It is just as happened to us, the very same gift from God.
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And I remembered the word of the Lord,
And so I remembered the reason for all, in Jesus’ words to us.
how he said,
Jesus had said:
c ‘John baptized with water,
First , John will baptise you with water,
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
but after that , you will all be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”
If then d God gave e the same gift to them as he gave to us f when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Here is the point of everything I have been saying to you all: If God saved these Gentiles, and even more than that, these Gentiles even received the Holy Spirit, these people the OT called unclean,
g who was I h that I could stand in God’s way?”
Then who am I to say that God is wrong? There’s no way. The plan of salvation, everyone, belongs to both Jew and Gentile. There is no difference.
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When they heard these things
Because of Peter’s amazing report, when all in the church heard these things,
they fell silent.
they were filled with awe.
And they i glorified God,
And then they praised God
saying,
by saying:
j “Then to the Gentiles also God has k granted l repentance that leads to life.”
“ Yes , God then has given salvation to these Gentiles as well. God is truly amazing!”
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Comments
Brent Karding
Brent Karding
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
Brent Karding
These six brothers also accompanied me,
Disclaimer: The opinions and conclusions expressed on this page are those of the author and may or may not accord with the positions of Biblearc or Bethlehem College & Seminary.