|
About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Section - Chapters 10 ch, 10:1-8 ch. 10:9-23 ch. 10:23-48 Cornelius Calls For Peter (ch. 10:1 - 8) Acts 10 is definitely a turning point in church history. This chapter tells the story of Cornelius, a Gentile and his conversion to Jesus. The events of this chapter open the gospel to the Gentiles which in turn changed the face of the church. What once was a Jewish church will later on become more Gentile than Jewish. This fulfills the Biblical principle, "to the Jew first and then to the Gentile". Paul uses this phrase in his writings. (Romans 1:16) The Jews had the gospel first preached to them, now it is the Gentiles turn. God's plan of salvation was always for all people, not just the Jews. The salvation message is first alluded to in Genesis 3 when God says the head of the serpent would be bruised. This tells me that any children born after Adam and Eve are candidates for salvation.
Acts
10 tells us of what most Bible teachers would say is the conversion of the
first Gentile.
I don't believe we can say this for sure, but what we can say is
that it is the first recorded event of Gentiles being saved.
I find it interesting that the first Gentile conversion took place
in a Roman capital city.
Caesarea was the designated Roman capital of the Roman We
see the city of Also
in verse 1 we see Cornelius mentioned.
Luke says that he was an Italian soldier stationed in
Historians
tell us that there were probably about three thousand army troops in There
appears to be two types of God fearing Gentiles.
One was a Jewish convert. The
other was somewhat of a convert, not necessarily a full convert, but
leaned heavily towards Judaism. These people would still be classified as
Gentile by the Jews. The first group would be classified as Jews, although
not by birth. Cornelius probably belonged to the second group. One
thing that some point out concerning Cornelius being one who fears God is
this. Because he is a lover of
the Jewish God, and therefore a lover of the Jews, he and his family and
friends were blessed by God to receive the Holy Spirit and salvation.
It's all about the Abrahamic Covenant that states, he who blesses
The
story is about Peter being called by the Lord to bring the gospel to this
man’s household and his friends. Why
Peter, you might ask? That is
a good question that we can’t answer for sure.
Why not call Paul to this task, since he became the apostle to the
Gentiles, and Cornelius was a Gentile.
Paul might not yet have been ready at this point.
Remember, Paul spent three years in the desert and ten more years
in local ministry before beginning his ministry.
If Paul gave his life to Jesus in 34 or 35 A D as many suggest, he
might still have been in the desert at this time.
This event most likely took place around 37 or 38 A D.
On the other hand, as some say that it was around this time that
Paul left God
might have called Peter first since it appears that it was God's will for
Peter to first preach the gospel to the Jews, and so it might be fitting
that he first preaches to the Gentiles as well.
This is only true if those Christians who were scattered away from You
might want to ask another question. Why
call Peter, and not Philip? We
learned earlier that Philip lived in Verse
2 clearly shows us that Cornelius was a god fearing man.
He was a real supporter of the Jews and their religion.
In
verse 3 we read that Cornelius had a vision.
Luke says that he "distinctly saw an angel of God".
The use of the word "distinctly" tells us that he really
did see an angel of God, even though he was a Gentile. This angel called
out Cornelius’ name. Luke
calls this encounter with the angel a vision.
This tells us that a vision is more than a dream type thing that
happens when you're awake. This
was a real encounter with and angel. I
could be wrong, but I'm not convinced that Cornelius was in a dream state.
I
need to comment on the time of this vision.
It was three o'clock in the afternoon.
The Jews had three times during the day when they would pray.
They were, nine in the morning, twelve noon, and three in the
afternoon. Obviously,
Cornelius was following a Jewish ritual. Verse
4 tells us that Cornelius was afraid, and who wouldn't fear in this
situation. Cornelius answers
by asking, "What is it, Lord”?
Notice that Cornelius’ and Paul’s response are very similar.
Paul asks, "Who are you, Lord"?
Cornelius asks, "What is it, Lord"?
In both instances the comma is before the word "Lord".
You might remember what I said about that from chapter 9.
The comma and the question mark suggest, at least to me, that
Cornelius was in fact asking two questions here.
One question was, "What is it"?
The other question was "Lord"?
Another way to ask this question would be, "what is it, and,
are you the Lord?" In my
thinking, like Paul in chapter 9, Cornelius needed a bit of confirmation
that this angel represented Yahweh or else was Yahweh in angelic form.
I
do need to point out here, as I did in chapter 9 with Paul, that the Greek
word translated as "Lord" could also be translated as
"sir". So, Cornelius
might well have addressed this angel as sir, as some suggest Paul did in
chapter 9. The
angel replies by telling Cornelius that his prayers and good works had
come up to Heaven as an offering, and as a result God was going to bless
him. Note the word
"prayers". Cornelius
had prayed many prayers before his prayers were answered.
Even though all of the prayers reached heaven, they weren't
answered immediately, something we should think seriously about when we
pray. Note
also that Cornelius' prayers were accompanied by good works.
This tells me that his prayers weren't all selfish prayers as is
often the case with many of us today.
If he was a selfish man, he'd most likely be selfish when he
prayed. He wasn't selfish
because he did many good works. Note
also that his prayers were seen as an offering before the Lord.
The word "offering" is an Old Testament word.
We should see New Testament prayers as replacing Old Testament
offerings.
In
verse 5 the angel tells Cornelius to send men to Joppa to one named Peter
who will come to see him and his family. Cornelius did as he was told. He
sent two of his servants and a devout soldier that was within his ranks to
get Peter. In
verse 6 we see Peter staying in Joppa with a man named Simon.
Simon was a tanner. He
worked with dead animals. This
is significant, especially for Peter.
We're beginning to see hints of Peter's thinking concerning matters
of the Law of Moses changing. A
good Jew would not stay with a man who worked with dead animals.
This would be very offensive, but Peter did just that.
So, even before Peter had the vision in the next section, we see
hints of Peter's progression in New Testament thinking. In
verses 7 and 8 we note that Cornelius does send the men to Joppa after
explaining what he had just seen and with from the angel.
I imagine that Cornelius must have been beside himself at this
point. It is not every day
that he would have an angel visit him with specific instructions.
The men that Cornelius passed these things onto might well have
been quite astonished as well. Since
Cornelius was in charge of at least one hundred soldiers I doubt if he was
the type of guy who would be overly mystical.
Peter’s
Vision (ch. 10:9 - 23) The
day after the angel spoke with Cornelius, and as the 3 men were nearing
Joppa to find Peter, Peter went up on top of the roof to pray.
It was around 12 noon, once again, a Jewish time of prayer.
Remember prayer times were every 3 hours, 9 AM , 12 noon, 3 and 6 P
M. Peter was obviously still
very much a practicing Jew. This
you can see by the time he prays and by his response to the Lord. Concerning
the top of the roof. Houses in
those days had flat roofs with steps going up the side of the house to the
roof. People often used the
roof as we would use a porch or a patio today. Verse
10 tells us that Peter was getting hungry while praying and so someone was
preparing a meal for him. During
this time he falls into a trance. In
this state of trance Peter saw a big sheet come down from the sky, with
all sorts of animals, both clean and unclean, as described in the Law of
Moses. A voice told Peter to
“get up, kill and eat”. Now
Peter being a good Jew said, “Surely not Lord,
I have never eaten anything impure or unclean”. (ch. 10:14)
Once again, you see Peter’s strict adherence
to the Law of Moses. This
issue would be dealt with later by Paul when he teaches on the Law of
Moses. We know Paul’s stand on the subject.
We see Peter’s present position which is in the process of being
challenged by the Lord. This
might actually be the reason why the Lord chose Peter for this job.
We know that Paul would have no difficulty preaching to Gentiles
and seeing them saved. We do
know that Peter did have trouble preaching to Gentiles, and most likely
the rest of the apostles did too. The
Lord had to prepare Peter and the rest for the ministry of Paul.
Paul’s ministry of leading Gentiles to
the Lord would be more easily accepted by the 12 if one of them
actually participated in an event where Gentiles were saved.
If Peter had not experienced this, Paul would have had a much
harder time than it did with the 12. Peter,
in Paul’s defense of his Gentile ministry refers back to this occasion.
So we know that Peter did get the message the Lord is teaching him
here. So concerning the
question I raised earlier, "why did Jesus choose Peter and not Paul
for this particular task"?
It might well be that Peter needed this experience for the health
of the church and also to help defend Paul in Acts 15.
Verse
15 is the reply to what Peter said. It
says, “the voice said to him a second time, ’do not call anything
impure that God has made clean’”.
Verse 16 says that this happened 3 times.
It was quite clear that the Lord was trying to tell Peter
something. It is plain to us
what this all meant, but it wasn’t plain to Peter. While
Peter was wondering about the vision, the men that were sent from
Cornelius found him. Peter
saw that certain animals were unclean as defined by the Law of Moses.
Yet our Lord was in the process of showing Peter what the New
Covenant was all about. It is
clear that these animals that were once unclean, were now clean, something
that would come to Paul’s understanding, and get in much trouble over. This
begins the change, or at the least begins the new understanding of the Law
of Moses. If one part of the
Law had undergone a change, then all the Law had undergone a change, which
it did. Romans 10:4 says that
Christ is the end of the Law. The
Law has a totally different meaning to New Testament Christians than it
had to Old Testament Jews. The
voice says that Peter should not make unclean “what God has made
clean”. When did God make
these once unclean animals clean? It
was when the ultimate sacrifice was made by Jesus on the cross.
The Law, at that moment of time had been fulfilled.
As Paul so clearly puts it in Rom. 10:4, “Christ is the end of
the Law”. The Law of Moses
was for a specific time period only, and its end came at the cross.
The 12 apostles had not understood this point as
yet. For the first
time, one of the 12 was being taught a new lesson in the New Covenant. The
changing of unclean animals to clean animals tells us something of the
purpose of the Law of Moses. We
often think that the Law is simply a bunch of rules, but it is more than
that. Since the Law was
fulfilled in Jesus, that tells us that the Law was just as much a document
of prophecy as it was a list of rules.
So, once the prophecy was fulfilled, the Law would change in its
significance. Peter
was struggling over this new concept.
Yet the vision had another meaning as well.
Yes, God now views all animals clean, but now He views all people
clean. Gentiles, who were once
unclean could now be clean. This
is another issue that Peter did not yet understand, but was being taught
to him at this moment. One
thing I'd like to point out is that Jesus died for people, not animals,
but animals, as well as the rest of creation is, and will be affected by
the death and resurrection of Jesus. As
seen in Romans 8 where Paul says that all creation is groaning, waiting
for the day the believers in Jesus will be liberated from sin and their
decayed bodies. The reason why
creation is now groaning, and waiting eagerly for that day, is that they
will be liberated too. Therefore,
the creation's liberation, which includes animals was made possible by the
cross of Christ. As
these men approached Peter to come to preach to them and Cornelius,
Gentiles, Peter would then realize the secondary meaning of the vision.
To this date the 12 apostles only thought in terms of preaching the
gospel to Jews. We do know
from chapter 9 that Paul was told this from the very beginning.
Our Lord made it perfectly clear to Paul that he would be preaching
to the Gentile world. Paul did
not seem to have any problem with this, that is as far as we know.
Maybe he did have some problems at first that we know nothing
about. Also, Jesus told His
followers back in Acts 1:8 that they would preach the good news to the
ends of the earth. This should
have clued Peter in on the fact that the gospel would go out to the
Gentiles, but it didn't. Verse
19 and 20 tells us that the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter, “Simon, three
men are looking for you. So
get up and go downstairs. Do
not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them”.
Peter
did not question the voice this time but went right down the stairs, met
the 3 men and asked why they had come to see him.
The men answered by telling Peter that a angel had spoken to
Cornelius and told him to have Peter come to them and speak with them. Here
we learn that Cornelius was “a God-fearing man” who was “well
respected by the Jews”. Cornelius
believed in a God, but Peter would come and clarify things for him and
show him what God he was really believing in.
Cornelius was a Gentile, probably not even a Jewish proselyte, even
though the Jews respected him. It
is important in our day, a day when many people speak in terms of God as
being a generic god, that we do as Peter did here.
We should clarify to the world that the Christian God is the God of
the Bible, and He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our God is not the god that people of the world speak so freely of
today. I think in the recent
past Christians have failed to make this clear. Once
the 3 men had explained to Peter the situation, Peter invited them in to a
house that was not his own to be his guests for the night.
Peter At Cornelius’ House (ch. 10:23 - 48) In
verse 23 we see that the next day Peter took other men with him to
Cornelius' house. Acts 11:12
tells us that Peter took six others with him.
This was a new venture for Peter.
He might well have felt that he needed some support, or even
witnesses; those who might come to his defense for going to the house of a
Gentile. The trip took a day
as we see in verse 24. You
see in verse 25 how excited Cornelius was to see Peter.
He calls his family and friends together for Peter’s
arrival and when Peter does finally get there, he falls at Peter’s feet.
In verse 26 Peter tells him to stand up since he is only a man.
You
can understand Cornelius’ feelings here.
He had a vision from the Lord which was pretty dramatic.
He most likely had heard of Peter’s reputation as being a
powerful man of God, being used even in the raising of people from the
dead. So, it is quite
understandable why he would fall at Peter’s feet. We
need to note here that Cornelius had invited a large number of Gentile
friends and family. I don't
know how many people Peter was expecting to see.
He might have only thought that he would be speaking with
Cornelius, but not so. Peter's
old Jewish friends would have been astounded that he was in the midst of
so many Gentiles. It was not
what good Jews should be doing.
Verse
27 says that after Peter talked with Cornelius at the door of his home, he
went inside and found a gathering room full of Gentiles.
Cornelius did not call this meeting after Peter’s arrival,
but before. The room was filled with people waiting to hear what Peter had
to say. In
verse 28 we see that the first thing Peter told these people was the fact
that it was against Jewish Law for him to even be there with them.
Again, you can see how ingrained the Mosaic Law was in Peter’s
life. His explanation for
disobeying the Law was that God Himself had told Peter not to "call
any man unclean". This
tells us that the Lord Jesus is indeed the Lord, even over the Mosaic Law,
which in fact had been replaced by Jesus Himself.
I am not sure that Peter still totally understood this as yet, but
that would soon change. We
should note that even though the vision Peter had concerned animals coming
down from heaven on a sheet, the meaning of the vision concerned people
and not animals. Those
Christians today who maintain that Christians must still obey the Law of
Moses the best they can will point this out.
They say the vision concerns people and not animals, so, the laws
concerning clean and unclean animals are still in effect.
I don't see this being the case.
Even though the meaning of the vision concerned people, the voice
from heaven made it clear that there was no such thing any more as clean
and unclean animals. The Newt
Testament is full of passages similar to this that shows us the Law of
Moses is not what it once was.
In
verse 29 Peter asks, "May I ask why you have sent for me"?
In verse 30 Cornelius proceeded to explain to Peter that four days
earlier at three in the afternoon God spoke to him in answer to his
prayers and good works. God
told him to call for Peter to come. So
we have two men here that the Lord spoke to.
There was Peter and there was Cornelius.
Cornelius only knew that he had to invite Peter into his house.
He did not know why, or what he needed to hear from Peter.
Then we have Peter, who God told to go to Cornelius’ house.
Peter didn’t know why he was to be there, and that is why he
asked Cornelius why he had called for him. There
is clearly a matter of trusting the voice of the Lord here.
There were two pieces of the puzzle and each man had one piece.
It wasn't until the two men got together that the two pieces of the
puzzle were put together. From
verse 30 through 33 Cornelius explains the events leading up to Peter's
arrival. He told Peter how he
saw a man in while telling him to invited Peter to his house.
Verse
30 tells us what hour of the day Peter's arrival took place.
Cornelius says that he was praying at "this hour".
The words "this hour" tell us what time it was at that
moment of time. Acts 10:3
tells us that "this hour" means three in the afternoon, one of
the Jewish times of prayer. In
my thinking this is interesting because what we will see is that coming of
the Holy Spirit to the Gentile world took place at a Jewish time of
prayer. Remember, the coming
of the Holy Spirit to the Jews took place a 9 in the morning as seen in
Acts 2:15. This is
another Jewish time of prayer. It
was also on a special day, that being, the Day of Pentecost.
These are just two of many events that fit into a specific pattern.
God does things at specific moments for specific reasons that fit
into His prophetic time clock and calendar of events.
Many of these events are specifically linked to the Law of Moses
being fulfilled. Many of these
events are linked to what we call types and shadows found in the Old
Testament. In other words,
these times of prayer are in themselves prophetic.
After
hearing Cornelius’ response, in verses 34 and 35, something seems to
dawn on Peter. He says,
"I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but
accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right".
It now appears that what the Lord showed Peter in the vision was
beginning to sink into his understanding, and that is, God is not the God
of the Jew only. We
must note here that God hears the heart of men and women who really want
to seek for Him. Cornelius
knew nothing of the Gospel of Christ, but even in his lack of
understanding, he was seeking out the true God of the universe, and that
God was now rewarding him. We
need to know that whoever seeks for God, the Father of Jesus, will
certainly find him. You can
count on that Peter
says in verse 36,"you know the message God sent to the people of The
gospel message included that peace with God was found in only in Jesus.
It also included the fact that "Jesus was Lord of all".
From the very first words of Peter's message, we see him speaking
about Jesus being both Christ and Lord.
It's
important to note that Cornelius was a high official in the Roman army.
He had at least one hundred men under his authority.
When Cornelius accepted the fact that Jesus was Lord over all, he
was in fact committing treason. Only
Caesar was considered to be Lord over all.
We don't know what became of Cornelius, but he could have easily
lost his job over the proclamation that Jesus was Lord over all.
He could have easily lost his life for this proclamation.
The
Jewish people understood that the God of Abraham was the Lord of all
things, but now the gospel has defined this in more clarity by saying that
Jesus is the Lord of all things. In
fact, Jesus is Yahweh in human form, now in glorified human form.
The gospel is all about Jesus and finding peace with God through
Jesus. The Jews would have
understood peace with God through the Law of Moses and the sacrifices they
were to make, but this had all changed.
In
verses 37 and 38 Peter speaks of John the Baptist.
It was through John’s baptism that "Jesus was anointed with
the Holy Spirit and power". The
word anoint is a word that was seen in Old Testament times.
When one was anointed with oil for instance, the oil was poured on
his head, or placed on his forehead. The
oil then would flow down his face. The
anointing of oil was seen as an inauguration into ministry. Jesus
was anointed with the Holy Spirit when He was water baptized by John.
In John 1:3, John tells the story of Jesus’ baptism.
He said that he saw the Spirit come down from Heaven as a dove and
remained on Jesus. Jesus was
not anointed with oil in this instance, but with the Holy Spirit. One
thing I'd like to point out is that Jesus was "anointed" with
the Holy Spirit. He did not
receive the Holy Spirit at His water baptism as some suggest.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and being God from birth means
that He always had the Holy Spirit in Him.
In fact, in one sense of the word, He was the Holy Spirit in human
form. A number of times in the
New Testament the Holy Spirit is referred to as the "Sprit of
Christ". We
should know that the Holy Spirit is omnipresent.
That means He is not isolated to being in one place at a time.
He is in all places at all times.
For this reason, the Holy Spirit could come upon Jesus at His
baptism and be in Him at the same time.
The same thing is true for the believer post Pentecost.
We see this all the way through the book of Acts.
The Holy Spirit comes to live within the believers, than at many
and various times He comes on the believers for a specific purpose.
Those
who hold to the experience called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as being
a second work of grace say Jesus experienced this baptism.
They say that Jesus was baptized in the Spirit, and if He needed
this experience, so do we. I
just don't see things that way. The
Holy Spirit came on Jesus at His water baptism, as He probably did in
other instances, as was the case with the believers in the book of Acts.
Jesus had the Holy Spirit from birth.
When believers hand their lives over to Jesus, at that point, or
soon after, they receive the Holy Spirit into their lives.
Subsequent to that, both Jesus and the believers in Acts had the
Holy Spirit come on them many times. They
were anointed by the Spirit for specific reasons at specific times.
This
anointing of Jesus was an anointing into His ministry.
Jesus was filled with the Spirit on the occasion of His baptism.
Many in both the Old and New Testament have been filled with the
Spirit, that is, the Spirit comes on them.
Whether they actually have the Spirit within is a different issue,
but when this happens, it is for ministry sake.
There is only one reason why anyone is filled with the Spirit, and
that is to do something for Jesus. In
verse 38 Peter goes on to say that because of this anointing, and because
God was with Him, Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were
under the power of the devil. In
western culture we don't always view people under the power of the devil,
but to one degree or another mankind is under the power of the devil.
Non Christians should be viewed as being under satan's power.
That sure doesn't sound culturally correct today, but it is
Biblically correct. In
verse 39 Peter says that he and others were a witness.
Once again, this confirms Jesus’ prophecy of Acts 1:8 that stated
the disciples would be witnesses of Jesus.
Notice that Peter witnessed everything Jesus did "in the
country of the Jews". You
might remember in John 1:1 through 6, John speaks of Jesus coming to His
own people. The main earthly
ministry of Jesus was to the Jews, not to the Gentiles, although as was
the case, He did not refuse to speak to or heal a Gentile. Note
that Peter pointed out the fact that it was the Jews who hung Jesus.
In reality, it was the Romans who actually did the crucifying, but
it was the Jews who pressured the Romans into doing so. Every
time we see Peter preaching the gospel so far in the book of Acts he has
pointed out that it was the Jews who killed Jesus.
Of course, this drove the Jews crazy.
In
verse 40 Peter states that even though Jews killed Jesus, God raised Him
from the dead. Peter never
fails to neglect this truth in his messages.
The resurrection is one of the fundamental truths of the Christian
gospel. If Jesus didn't rise
from the dead, then our faith, work, and all that is done in His name is
futile. In
verse 41 Peter continues by saying that not everyone saw Jesus after He
rose from the dead; only those who "God had already chosen to be
witnesses". This is
interesting. You might ask,
"Why did Jesus not show Himself to the whole known world at the time,
or to as many people as possible in order for more people to believe in
Him"? This is a very good
question. The answer can be
seen in what Peter says here. God
chose certain people to be witnesses to the resurrection and it was up to
these people to bare witness of this event to the world.
This is what Acts 1:8 is all about.
Those who witnessed Jesus, in life, death, resurrection, and
ascension, were the ones God chose. It
is God’s choice to have man preach the gospel, not Jesus.
As we have seen in Acts 9, Jesus did not preach the gospel to Saul,
Annanias did. Why God would leave such a responsibility on frail human
beings is hard to understand at times. When
Jesus rose from the dead, it was not His job to win the world over for
Himself. His job was to be the
sacrificial lamb. It is our
job to be witnesses to the world to this fact. We all have our parts to
play in the The witnesses that God had already chosen as seen in verse 41, were those disciples that Jesus chose to follow Him prior to His death. In
verse 42 Peter clearly states, "He commanded us to preach to the
people and to testify that He is the one whom God has appointed Judge of
the living and the dead". Peter
says that Jesus commanded him and the others to preach. Once
again, it was not Jesus’ job to preach and prove His resurrection.
We should also note that this is a command from Jesus.
It's not a suggestion. In
our day Christians are told to keep their faith to themselves.
We cannot do that. Our
faith dictates that we speak it to others.
Jesus has not suggested we preach the gospel.
He has commanded us to preach the gospel.
Part of the gospel that we are to preach is what Peter says in this verse. God has appointed Jesus to be the "Judge of both the living and the dead". This part of the gospel is what is culturally incorrect these days. Our world does not tolerate us saying that Jesus is their judge. Nevertheless, we can't concern ourselves what culture says. We must preach the gospel and leave no part out. Prior
to Peter's coming, Cornelius was told that Peter would tell him what he
needed to do next.
What that was, Cornelius didn't know, but, here in verse 42 he
finds out.
He needed to know about the Lord Jesus Christ and that he must
believe in Him.
Of course, believing means handing your life over to Jesus, who is
Lord over all.
In
verse 43 Peter continues by saying that the Old Testament prophets spoke
of Jesus. They said that those
who believe in Jesus will find forgiveness of sins.
This is a departure from what Peter would have learned while
growing up as a Jew. Forgiveness
would have only been found in the sacrifices of the Law of Moses, but that
has all changed. Jesus became
the ultimate sacrifice. He and
He alone can forgive sins. His
sacrifice, and no other sacrifice, forms the basis of forgiveness. Peter
mentions eating and drinking with Jesus after He rose from the dead.
This appears to be important to him.
Often, if not all of the time, when Jesus revealed Himself to His
followers after His resurrection He ate with those He revealed Himself to.
For example, the two men who walked to Emmaus with Jesus, walked a
long way with Jesus and did not recognize that it was indeed Jesus until
they sat down to eat with Him. I
am not sure if there is some type of mystical importance to this or not.
It just seems interesting to note this.
In
verse 44 we se that "while Peter was speaking these words, the Holy
Spirit came on all who heard the message".
Peter did not even get to finish what he was saying.
Why this is so we don't really know.
Maybe these people were so anxious and ready to take the next step
with Jesus that the Holy Spirit simply came to them without further
explanation. Note
the words "the Holy Spirit came on them".
This is yet one of a number of similar phrases used when someone
receives the Holy Spirit. It
is clear that these Gentiles did not have the Holy Spirit prior to this,
so, when the Holy Spirit cam on them, He also came into them to live.
Other such terms found in the book of Acts are, "the Holy
Spirit filled them" and "the Holy Spirit was poured out on
them". This
is now the fourth time in the book of Acts where the Holy Spirit has come
to live in people. The first
is in Acts 2. There the one
hundred and twenty received the Holy Spirit while waiting and praying.
In Acts 8 the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit after they
believed and were baptized by Philip.
It took Peter and John coming from In
verse 45 the circumcised men who came with Peter "were astonished
that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the
Gentiles". Note
here that the Holy Spirit is the gift from God.
The experience that many call the Baptism in the Spirit is not the
gift. Those who claim the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit as being a second work of grace often suggest
that the Baptism in the Spirit is the gift from God.
That's not so. You
can't use this event to prove the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to be a
second work of grace. This is
not logical. There is no
second work here. This is
actually a first work of grace. This
was these people's moment of salvation.
This was their conversion. This
is when they got saved. This
is when they received the Holy Spirit.
This was not a second work. Also
note the phrase "poured out".
As I've said earlier, this phrase is one of a number of like
phrases used for the same event. So,
in this situation, we have one verse saying the Holy Spirit came on these
people and we have another verse saying He was poured out on these people.
We have two phrases for the same experience that shows the Holy
Spirit coming down from above, from heaven.
How
did Peter and his friends know that the Holy Spirit was being poured out
on these people? Verse 46 says
that they knew it because they spoke in tongues and praised God. It is
pretty clear that when someone is filled with the Holy Spirit something
happens that can be seen. We
will see later, when Peter defends this event to the rest of the apostles
that he compares this outpouring on the Gentiles to the outpouring that
happened to the Jews in Acts 2. This
event was the Acts 2 event for Gentiles. This is a great moment in church
history. This event turns a
new page in the church. The
church has been opened up to the rest of the world. The
Jewish church has now become a Jewish/Gentile church, and the farther in
history we go, we see the church being influenced less and less by Jewish
culture. This
movement away from Jewish heritage is a point of debate from time to time.
There are Messianic Christian movements today that would like to
see the church return to what they call the church's Jewish roots.
That means something different to different people.
I would just caution us all in this regard.
What we cannot do is return to the Law of Moses as some are doing
today. We are called unto
Jesus, not Jewish roots. I do
believe that the Jews do have prophetic and historic significance.
By this I mean that God's plans for the Jews as a distinct society
has not changed from the days of Abraham when God promised Israelis that
they would be a great nation. They
will be great at the end of this age when God brings them back to their
homeland and eventually back to Himself. In
verse 47 Peter’s first response to all of this was to get these new
converts water baptized. As we
have seen before, Peter always associates water baptism with the new
birth. I don't believe water
baptism is necessary for salvation, but I do believe it's necessary in the
sense we need to obey Jesus. We
should note that for those who received the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, they
had already been water baptized. The
Samaritans in Acts 8 believed and were water baptized, and then received
the Holy Spirit. Here, these
Gentiles received the Holy Spirit and then were water baptized.
Again, there is no consistency in what happens.
So once again, you cannot build a theological doctrine around these
experiences. Peter
makes an interesting remark in verse 47. He
says, "They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have".
Verse 44 told us that the Holy Spirit "came on" those
people. Here in verse 47,
Peter calls this "coming on" experience a "reception"
of the Spirit into these people’s lives.
That is to say, when the Spirit fell on these people, they received
the Spirit for the first time in their lives. Again, this was not a second
work of grace. These people
received Holy Spirit for the first time here.
If you call this experience the baptism in the Spirit, then you
must realize that it was these people's salvation experience, not a second
work of grace. Verse
48 says that Peter "ordered" that these people be water baptized
since they had received the Holy Spirit into their lives.
So they were baptized in the name of Jesus.
It's important to understand what "in the name of Jesus"
means in this instance. "In
the name of Jesus" is not simply words spoken over those being water
baptized. It's also not a
formula. When Peter and the
others baptized these people in Jesus' name, this means that they
performed the baptism as Jesus' representatives.
Peter and the others represented Jesus in this instance because
Jesus was not there in physical form.
So as His representative, or, in Jesus' name, they performed this
baptism. "In
the name of Jesus" is a phrase associated with Christians who
represent Jesus on earth. If
you worked for Joe's Auto Service, you'd do all your work in the name of
Joe's Auto Service. This is
how it works with Jesus as well. We
work for Jesus and all the work we do for Him is in His name.
This
chapter ends with Peter spending a few days with these Gentiles. Again,
a good Jew would not stay with a Gentile family for a few days, but of
course, Peter is more of a good follower of Jesus rather than a good Jew.
The vision Peter had tells the story.
Gentiles were no longer considered unclean.
They could be accepted into the family of God through faith in
Jesus just like Jews.
|