Acts 11:17, commentary and pictures

Peter was answering the believers in Judea who blamed him for preaching to uncircumcised Gentiles like Cornelius and his household and eating with them, explaining that when he spoke the Holy Spirit fell on those Gentiles who believed in Jesus just as on Jewish believers at the beginning. The like gift is the same gift of the Holy Spirit with equal power, light and glory given to uncircumcised Gentile believers as to circumcised Jewish believers, so Peter saw that to refuse them fellowship or withhold the gospel would be to oppose God Himself. That equal gift proved God is no respecter of persons but accepts those who fear Him and work righteousness, making no distinction between Jews and Gentiles but cleansing Gentile hearts by faith and granting them repentance unto life and equal membership in the church without circumcision. Its force settled the question of circumcision, opened a new phase for carrying the gospel to the Gentiles, and silenced Jewish prejudice, requiring believers ever after to receive whom God has received, yield their own ideas and plans, and never step between souls and God.

Peter's Defense at Jerusalem

When Peter returned to Judea he was censured by the brethren there for going in to uncircumcised men, preaching to Gentile converts such as Cornelius and his friends, and eating with them. His words are his answer and defense before them for that preaching and fellowship.

In that defense he laid before them his vision and God's command to go to the Gentiles. He told of his journey to Caesarea to Cornelius accompanied by six brethren as witnesses of all he said and did. He told also of Cornelius's vision directing him to send to Joppa for Peter to tell him words whereby he and all his house might be saved.

As Peter began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ even as on the Jewish believers at the beginning. That falling reminded him of the Lord's promise of baptism with the Holy Spirit.

The like gift is the same gift of the Holy Spirit that God gave to Jewish believers who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, now given to Gentile believers in Jesus at the house of Cornelius. Believing Gentiles received the same gift as believing Jews who trusted in Christ. That gift to uncircumcised Gentiles came with equal power and light and glory as upon circumcised Jewish believers.

By his question Peter concluded that he could not refuse them fellowship without withstanding God. He could not withhold the gospel from them or oppose their acceptance without withstanding God. To stand against what God had done for believers in Jesus would be to withstand God Himself.

Jew and Gentile Equal

The equal gift proved that God had accepted the Gentiles, for He is no respecter of persons but accepts those who fear Him and work righteousness, and He had granted the Gentiles repentance unto life. Because God gave Gentile believers at Cornelius's house the same gift of the Holy Spirit He had given Jewish believers who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning, Peter could not withstand God by refusing them or opposing what God had done. The Spirit's coming upon the Gentiles as Peter began to speak showed that God had accepted them, so withholding the gospel or treating them as unclean because they were uncircumcised would have meant resisting God. That shared gift broke down prejudice and opened the way for the gospel to be carried among the Gentiles without further opposition.

God made no distinction between Jews and Gentiles and did not regard Gentiles as inferior, but cleansed their hearts by faith through the blood of Jesus Christ from all uncleanness and gave them equal cleansing and salvation in Christ. The Holy Spirit fell upon uncircumcised Gentile believers in the Lord Jesus Christ with equal power, light and glory as upon circumcised Jewish believers. Their reception of the Spirit demonstrated that Jews and Gentiles were not to be treated as unequal in receiving Christ's cleansing and salvation, and that ceremonial distinctions between Jews and Gentiles could not bar Gentiles from the gospel.

Therefore the ceremonial distinction of circumcision and uncircumcision must no longer be kept up, Gentiles must no longer be looked upon as unclean, and Gentile converts were made equal members of the Christian church without needing to be circumcised. This marked a new phase in the church, in which Gentiles who accepted the gospel were equal to Jewish disciples. Peter's recognition of God's gift meant he could not oppose God's acceptance of them by withholding fellowship or requiring circumcision.

The question of requiring circumcision of Gentile converts was already settled by the Holy Spirit, deciding the prosperity and even the existence of the Christian church. Its force silenced the disciples and convinced them that Peter's preaching to Gentiles and eating with them was in direct fulfillment of God's plan. Old Jewish prejudices and exclusiveness were to be utterly destroyed by the gospel of Christ, the gospel was to end the old exclusion, and they glorified God that He had granted the Gentiles repentance unto life.

Receiving Whom God Receives

When God has plainly acted, believers must not oppose Him but receive whom He has received. Prejudice can be broken down, and those who love and fear Him must be willing to yield their own ideas and follow His direction when He shows He can teach them, as when Gentile believers were made equal members of the church without circumcision. On this principle Peter and James, the only apostles then in Jerusalem, stopped hesitating when Barnabas brought Paul to them. They were convinced by his testimony that Jesus had personally met and spoken with him on the road to Damascus, that his sight was restored in answer to the prayers of Ananias, and that he had then maintained in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. They gave the once fierce, feared and avoided persecutor the right hand of fellowship, holding him as beloved and respected as Peter the earthly companion of Christ, since Paul had met the ascended Jesus face to face and in vision and knew His heavenly work.

God's work cannot be resisted, and the apostles accepted Paul and gave him fellowship, recognizing that God had called him despite his former persecution of the faith. When the evidence that God has sought a person and is schooling that person to trust Him like a child trusts a parent for mission work in the South among the colored people is so plain that doubt is sin, no one must hold that person back. To hold back such a one is to withstand God. The verse requires surrendering personal plans to let the Lord work through whom He will. It condemns stepping between souls and God by trying to guide the arm and hand of God to suit one's own ideas and feelings.