Did God Really Do This? An Exposition Of Acts 11:1-18

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Acts 11:1-18

Acts 11:1–18 NKJV

Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!”

But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying: “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me. When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”

When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”

We have often heard the statement of some madman who commits a heinous act that God made Him do whatever he did. Of this we are most skeptical as we should be. God would never command or condone such a thing. But what do we do when God actually does what seems outlandish? As we will see this morning, Peter had to defend what seemed the most outlandish thing that God could do, that God would incorporate Gentile dogs into the people of Israel. Yet this is what the Scripture says was done. Let us now look further into this passage from Acts 11:1-18.

It took a lot of convincing on the Lord’s part to get Peter to come into the house of the Gentile Cornelius in the first place. While Peter was praying on the roof of Simon the Tanner’s house, he had a very strange vision of numerous unclean animals with the Lord commanding Peter for the hungry Peter to slay and eat. He was already at the house of a Jew who worked in an unclean profession in the sense that he slew animals and tanned their hides. He either slew the animals himself of purchased them from a butcher.. But these were clean animals. Perhaps the smell of the meat from these animals being cooked for lunch could be smelled on the rooftop.. But the idea of slaying and eating unclean animals was simply nauseating to an observant Jew. Three times he had to be told as seems to be the habit with Peter. He was then told to go with three servants of Cornelius to their masters house. The Centurion, Cornelius was a God-fearer which means he was still a Gentile and had not been circumcised. The idea of a Gentile submitting to circumcision was as disgusting to them as a Jew entering into a Gentile house or eating food that was not kosher. How could God reconcile this? He did.

We also remember that Peter presented the gospel to those of Cornelius’ household and that many were converted. The Holy Spirit fell on these Gentiles just like He had fallen on the Jews and proselytes at Pentecost. But instead of Peter calling for these believers to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses which would have been the normal means of bringing Gentiles into the household of Israel, they were baptized instead. Even the idea of bringing them in through circumcision would have been scandalous enough for the Jews as it would take several generations for even their descendants to be incorporated into Israel. But Peter would even have a more difficult task. He would have to explain this to the Christians back at Jerusalem who were all at this time either Jews or proselytes who had submitted to circumcision.