{"id":5989,"date":"2009-10-12T12:08:38","date_gmt":"2009-10-12T12:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/10\/acts-and-mission-41.html"},"modified":"2009-10-12T12:08:38","modified_gmt":"2009-10-12T12:08:38","slug":"acts-and-mission-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/10\/acts-and-mission-41.html","title":{"rendered":"Acts and Mission 41"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ApPeter.jpg\"<\/span>Peter was called to explain himself, his behaviors, and what had happened when the Jerusalem church heard that Gentiles were doing these most Jewish of things — believing in Jesus as Messiah, mixing with the messianic movement, accepting the word of God, and receiving the Holy Spirit as the end-time gift of God to renew his covenant with Israel. So, Peter summarizes his previous experience:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

11:1<\/span> Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God. 11:2<\/span> So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him, 11:3<\/span> saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and shared a meal with them.” 11:4<\/span> But Peter began and explained it to them point by point, saying, 11:5<\/span> “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, an object something like a large sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came to me. 11:6<\/span> As I stared I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and wild birds. 11:7<\/span> I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; slaughter and eat!’ 11:8<\/span> But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord, for nothing defiled or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth!’ 11:9<\/span> But the voice replied a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!’ 11:10<\/span> This happened three times, and then everything was pulled up to heaven again. 11:11<\/span> At that very moment, three men sent to me from Caesarea approached the house where we were staying. 11:12<\/span> The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 11:13<\/span> He informed us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, 11:14<\/span> who will speak a message to you by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ 11:15<\/span> Then as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he did on us at the beginning. 11:16<\/span> And I remembered the word of the Lord, as he used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 11:17<\/span> Therefore if God gave them the same gift as he also gave us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?” 11:18<\/span>When they heard this, they ceased their objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted the repentance that leads to life even to the Gentiles.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nNotice that what caused concern for the circumcised believers was that Peter had shared a meal with the Gentiles. The issue was mixing with Gentiles in ways that evidently threatened the integrity and purity of God’s people Israel.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Peter’s response is to rehearse what happened to him: God’s vision and the timing and the preaching and coincidences. More importantly, while speaking to the Gentiles, God’s Spirit descended. Peter’s words are amazing to this day:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Therefore if God gave them the same gift as he also gave us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?”<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
The issue for Peter is hindering God; if God accepts the Gentiles, then he will too. It is so comforting to see the resistances of the circumcised folks to give way to what God was doing.<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
As Beverly Gaventa emphasizes in her commentary (The Acts of the Apostles (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries)<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>), this is the work of God.<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter was called to explain himself, his behaviors, and what had happened when the Jerusalem church heard that Gentiles were doing these most Jewish of things — believing in Jesus as Messiah, mixing with the messianic movement, accepting the word of God, and receiving the Holy Spirit as the end-time gift of God to renew…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acts-of-the-apostles"],"yoast_head":"\nActs and Mission 41 - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/10\/acts-and-mission-41.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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