Peter Defends Himself Before The Jerusalem Church Series

This was the third gift of the Holy Spirit. The first was to the Jewish church in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Ch. 2); the second was to Samaritan believers (8:17); and now the third was to Gentiles.

17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?

It is interesting that Peter had to go all the way back to Pentecost to find an example of what happened in the home of Cornelius! This suggests that a dramatic “baptism of the Spirit” (v. 16), accompanied by speaking in tongues, was not an everyday occurrence in the early church. The purpose of the tongues, however, was to give evidence to Simon Peter that the Holy Spirit had actually “fallen on them.” How else would he have known they had been baptized by the Holy Spirit which placed them into the body of believers? Peter could not use the experience of the Samaritans as his example, because the Samaritans received the Spirit through the laying on of the apostles hands (8:14-17). Cornelius and his household received the Spirit the moment they trusted Christ. This is the pattern for today.

Peter’s defense did not rest on what he himself had done, but on what God did. God had made no distinction between Jew and Gentile. “What was I, that I could withstand God?” asked Peter; and to this question, the legalists had no answer. From beginning to end, the conversion of the Gentiles was God’s gracious work. He gave them the gift of repentance and the gift of salvation when they believed. In later years, God would use the letters of Paul to explain the “one body,” how believing Jews and believing Gentiles are united in Christ (Eph. 2:11-3:12). But at that time, this “mystery” was still hidden; so we must not be too hard on those saints, who were uneasy about the place of the Gentiles in the church.

18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

The wisdom and graciousness of the Jerusalem brethren were revealed in the fact that when Peter had finished speaking, they held their peace: their opposition to Peter was over. They could not deny the imminent activity of God Himself, by which the Spirit had been poured upon these Gentiles; and therefore, they could no longer argue for difference or distinction or discrimination. “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” is one of the most shocking admissions in Jewish history, but an event that the Old Testament had prophesied (Isa. 49:1, 6{11]). This response had two subsequent and significant results. First, it preserved the unity of the body of Christ, the church. Second, it drove a huge wedge between church-age believers and temple-worshippers in Jerusalem. Before this the common Jewish people looked on Christians with favor (2:47{7]; 5:13, 26), but soon thereafter the Jews opposed the church. This antagonism is attested by Israel’s response to the execution of James (12:2-3, 11{8]). Perhaps this meeting with Gentiles was a starting point of the Jewish opposition.