Peter didn't quite get this idea of the CHURCH breaking down this middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. The Church in Jerusalem was mainly Jewish with proselytes, as it was birthed in that Pentecostal Experience, which as I have said before, only occurred ONCE. The Jewish influence was strong there until the Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15. Jesus had told them to go into all the world and for the first fourteen years they stayed in Jerusalem and remained predominantly Jewish Christians. BUT GOD was determined to show Peter (not Paul) that the Gentiles were just as accepted by God as the Jewish Christians had been, so He gave a vision to a Gentile named Cornelius and to Peter regarding Cornelius, as recorded in Acts 10.
Here was a devout man to whom the Lord revealed Himself by a vision, and speaking through an angel. He told the man to send for Peter, whom the Lord had also given warning in a vision. Peter resisted at first, was corrected by God, then went. So, picking up at verse 34 Peter says he finally got it -
Acts 10:34-45 (HCSB)
34 Then Peter began to speak: “Now I really understand that God doesn’t show favoritism,
35 but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to Him.
36 He sent the message to the Israelites, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all.
37 You know the events that took place throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John preached:
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the Devil, because God was with Him.
39 We ourselves are witnesses of everything He did in both the Judean country and in Jerusalem, yet they killed Him by hanging Him on a tree.
40 God raised up this man on the third day and permitted Him to be seen,
41 not by all the people, but by us, witnesses appointed beforehand by God, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.
42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to solemnly testify that He is the One appointed by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.
43 All the prophets testify about Him that through His name everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins.”
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came down on all those who heard the message.
45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
There is no indication of the Mighty Rushing Wind, the Cloven Tongues of Fire, or other things that happened with the Jews at Pentecost, BUT there is no doubt in Peter's mind, nor should there be in ours that this is that - the placing of the new believers into the same body - The Body of Christ, of which He is the Head, and which John the Baptist and Jesus had referred to as the "gift of the Father", "the gift of the Holy Spirit", or the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit". But the baptism that followed was the baptism with water and there can be no denial of that.
Acts 10:46-48 (HCSB)
46 For they heard them speaking in
47 “Can anyone withhold water and prevent these people from being baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.
Once again, what they heard was the speaking of the Greatness of God or the Great works of God, not gibberish, ecstatic speech that someone taught them or that them learn from some book. The Lord confirmed to Peter that what had happened with the JEWS had also happened with the GENTILES in that both had received the Holy Spirit and were baptized into the Body of Christ.
With regard to this event nothing is known but what Luke tells us. From his words it is clear (1) that he describes the speakers speaking in languages they did not know before, and the hearers understanding them, vv. 8 and 11, (2) that the event is described as exceptional and accompanied by great excitement, ver. 13, (3) that it is connected not with teaching but with praise and adoration, ver. 11. Compare 10:46–48 where ‘speaking with tongues’ is also spoken of as an exceptional event and connected with ‘glorifying God’, and 19:6 where it is again exceptional and distinguished from ‘Prophesying’ or preaching.
Thomas Ethelbert Page, The Acts of the Apostles (London: Macmillan, 1886), 84.
More to come!
BLESSINGS!
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