Do Gentiles Really Receive the Messiah? (Acts 11:1-18)
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Introduction
We like things to be predictable. It is nice to have a routine. It is nice when our schedule stays the same. It is really nice when a day goes smoothly. Most of our frustration is when things do not go as planned.
We can be set in our ways when we think about church or our Christian convictions. Now, I am not saying that we change for the sake of change. For instance, it is good to have predictability in our worship. But there is a time when the Lord deliberately upsets the predictable, and his people have to decide what they love more: the comfort of the pattern, or the God who corrects it.
That is precisely the scene in Acts 11. It was easy to say that Gentiles were outside the Lord’s people. It was easy to think that the circumcised were the people with exclusive rights to God. Then a few mavericks went and ate with Gentiles. The pure circumcised ones demanded some answers. What follows is one of the most important moments in the life of the early church, and it forces a question on us as well: Do we want to submit to God’s word?
Peter in Trouble: A New Precedent on Trial (vv. 1-3)
Peter has shared food with Gentiles. The men who confront him are part of the circumcision, men who see themselves as pure Jews, and they want to know how Peter can compromise his Jewish identity.
We should not read them as trying to run Peter out of town, but this is not innocent curiosity either. They criticized him. Their criticism is doubting Peter’s credibility. Peter picks up on “doubting” in verse 12, where he recounts the Spirit telling him to go with the men without doubting.
This is a problem because it means that the Jewish people have to reconsider the Gentiles’ status. The Jews order their lives by their oral halakha codes. At the time of Acts, this would be oral tradition, but still pious Jews would know the tradition as to how Israel is to conduct itself (halakha) in this age. Peter is challenging some of this tradition. If there is a new precedent, this means that they have to revise their tradition.
Peter Recalls the Vision: God's Word Over Our Categories (vv. 4-17)
It is likely that Peter never ate anything at Cornelius’ house that would have compromised his dietary laws. A centurion would be savvy and emotionally intelligent. He would desire that Peter and his guests feel welcome, and he would most likely prepare food that would be welcoming for them. So, it is very likely that Peter never ate anything that would compromise his purity.
Peter never calls attention to the meal. In fact, Luke never reports what they ate. Peter recalls that he was in Joppa. He had a vision on the roof. He saw all kinds of animals, and he was commanded, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.” Peter responded by saying that he could not follow this command because he had never compromised his purity. Three times Peter saw the vision and three times the Lord answered: What God has made clean, do not call common. Peter lays out the Lord’s command to fellowship with Gentiles. Peter never takes the easy out by claiming he ate a kosher meal, but makes it clear that Gentiles are part of the kingdom.
Peter recounts the men who arrived from Cornelius’ house. The Spirit told him to go without hesitation, and he took six brothers with him. This is far more than the testimony of the two or three witnesses. He came to the household, heard Cornelius recount the angel’s message, and Peter began to preach. While he was still speaking, the Spirit fell on the Gentiles. This is the Gentile Pentecost. John promised that Christ would baptize with the Spirit (Luke 3:16), and Christ reaffirms John’s words about the Holy Spirit baptism (Acts 1:5). Peter realizes that the vision was not about the food, but about the Gentiles being brought into the kingdom as the new normal. This is not new, as the Lord already promised to Abraham a kingdom of international people. This was not a problem of the Lord’s revelation, but this people’s understanding. Even an Apostle had to have this repeated three times for him to begin to understand.
Peter's Vindication: Repentance unto Life for the Nations (v. 18)
Peter reaches his conclusion and refuses to soften it: If God gave them the same gift he gave us, who was I to stand in God's way? Note how costly that is. He has just handed the room a precedent that contradicts everything they thought they knew about how God orders his people.
The circumcised men were critical, but what is their reaction? Luke tells us their reaction: “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18). The Lord grants repentance to Gentiles. Remember that this is the restoration of life. Think Isaiah 66:2 or Micah 6:8, calling us to submit to the Lord’s word. The Gentiles are empowered to turn to the Lord and order their lives in the Lord’s purpose. The circumcised celebrate this change; they worship God, and they are silent, no longer doubting Peter’s credibility.
Conclusion
Do we want to submit to God’s word? This text reminds us that if we want to change things, then we need a good reason from the Lord’s word. The other side of this is that we should desire to continually bring our thinking under the authority of God’s word. Maybe we do not need to change anything, but submit more consistently to what God’s word has already dictated.
Peter is not discovering something new or radically changing anything. The Lord already declared to Abraham in Genesis 17 that the Lord intends an international community. Our call is to continually submit to the Lord’s word. We see that even Peter, an apostle, had to submit to the Lord’s word.
As Gentiles, we can be assured that the Lord’s promises are for us. Let us not be conceited, thinking that we are worthy. Rather, let us build our lives on the foundation of the prophets and apostles as a people seated in Christ with him as the cornerstone of his building.