Acts 10:34-43 English Standard Version Gentiles Hear the Good News 34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Remember that we said last time that the visions that Cornelius and Peter received were going to open a part of the historical narrative now that covers chapters 10 and 11 and changes everything for the Church that has been centered mostly around Jerusalem and taking the gospel to the Jewish people and others who had already been exposed to the Old Testament or at least the Law.
Peter now understands (though we'll see that he needs to be taught this lesson again later) that God is no respecter of persons--He shows no partiality. Salvation is available to all and all must come by the one and only Way. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Peter also realizes that God has been about redeeming people for Himself from every "nation" (that word is ethnos which is a cultural people-group and not the idea of a country with geographical borders) and God is also in the business of making these people that Peter will later call "the elect." Who are these "elect?" First of all Peter identifies them as those who fear God--while there is component of this that understands the wrath of God and has a good fear of it, the fear of the LORD in the Old Testament speaks also of those who have a relationship with God and show holy reverence for Him by obeying His commandments. That seems to be what Peter is getting at here as he adds that such a person "does what is right and acceptable to Him." Does that mean that somehow we do something to make God choose us? By no means, but this means that God is already doing a work in these people that allows them to be receptive to His Law and to have a desire to know Him and to do what is pleasing to Him, for that desire can only come from God Himself--our natural desire is neither to know God nor to please Him, but it rebel against Him and to try to be our own gods. Then Peter starts talking directly to the audience there. He seems to indicate that all the Gentiles there knew both current events and the history of the Jewish people. God sent prophets to the people of Israel to give the message to the whole world that salvation was coming through His Son, Jesus Christ and then sent His own Son to proclaim that message of salvation to the Jew first, but also to the Gentile. Peter says that they know about the baptism of Jesus and how Jesus went into the wilderness and fasted for forty days and then was tempted by the devil, but that God was with Him and God showed that Jesus really was the one of whom the Father approved by allowing Jesus to do many good things and allowed Him to preform many signs and wonders, especially healings and the casting out of unclean spirits so that everyone knew that Jesus was Lord of all--both in the natural realm and the supernatural realm. The wind and the waves and even the demons were subject to Him! Peter says that all these Gentiles that were gathered together here knew of all these things. That probably seems strange to us, but Peter is confident (and the Holy Spirit is really the one speaking through Peter here) that this news has travelled beyond the borders of Judea and Galilee where Jesus ministered and was not something that only the Jews paid attention to, but the Romans in particular, especially an officer in the Roman military like Cornelius, would have been very interested in Jesus and if He was going to start civil unrest or a revolution. Peter then moves from the things that he knows they know to the things which they may not know, but to which Peter and the others that he brought from Joppa with him had been eyewitnesses. This same Jesus was put to death "on a tree" (He was crucified), and God raised Him on the third day--not just a spiritual resurrection but a physical, bodily resurrection. He then appeared to those whom God had chosen (there's the doctrine of Election again) and they ate and drank with Him after His resurrection to prove to them that He was alive and was not just a disembodied spirit, but that He had a new body that in some ways was like their bodies but in other ways was not like their bodies--for it was a body made for the New Heavens and the New Earth that we read about at the end of the book of Revelation. Some days after the Resurrection, forty days to be exact, Jesus commanded all those who were gathered with Him and were witnesses of these things to go into all the world and make disciples of all "nations" (again, that's "ethnicities" or "people groups")--preach to them and to testify that He is the one appointed by God to be the Judge of the Living and the Dead. He is the one of whom all the prophets of the Old Testament spoke of--all of Scripture has been about Him and has been pointing to Him and all of History from Creation to Apocalypse (the unveiling of what has been hidden) has been and will be about Him. However, Peter doesn't stop there--that is where most of the Jews would have stopped when telling God's plan to the Gentiles for the imagined that all the Gentiles knew God's Law, rebelled against it and would be judged for their rebellion. No, Peter continues by saying, "That everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." This is going to astonishing news to both the Jews that were gathered there as witnesses and to the Gentiles who were gathered together in that place. For what seems like that first time, they are hearing that God's plan extends beyond just the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that we call Israel or the Jews, and it extends beyond the geographical boundaries that we call Judea, Samaria and Galilee. God has always been interested in saving a remnant from all the peoples of the world. This is why in the Abrahamic Covenant He promised, "Through you all the nations of the world will be blessed," and this is why He sent the prophet Jonah to the people of Nineveh, not to condemn them as Jonah wanted to do, but to preach the gospel to them and to offer them the same repentance and salvation that comes by grace through faith that He had offered to the Jews. Those in Nineveh were the worst of the worst--we would probably have called them terrorists in our day and age, and, yet, it was part of God's good plan to save a remnant for Himself from even this people group. He even saved Rahab from among the Canaanites and Ruth from the Moabites--and both were in the lineage of Jesus! Yes, God has been secretly about the work that the Church is now to openly join Him in. We are to take the gospel to all the peoples of the world, but first to those who have had exposure to God's Word and His Law--especially to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles whom it is obvious that God has chosen to be part of His Elect. This is going to set the stage as we mentioned already for Paul's missionary journeys to the "uttermost ends of the earth" and to be "the apostle to the Gentiles." This was part of what God called him to during his conversion on the Road to Damascus, but He also called Paul to be the one to take His gospel before governors and kings and to the wise and the powerful--people that would not listen to those like Peter, James and John who were "simple" fishermen. No, Paul had been a Pharisee and had been educated by one of the best teachers in all of the Roman world. He was a Roman citizen by birth, allowing him to go places that not many other Christians could go. However ,God was also going to call Paul to suffer many things for His sake. He would be beaten and tortured, stoned and left for dead, and would spend much of his time that he was ministering writing letters from various jails and prisons. In the end, he was going to die for the gospel. We'll get to this part of the narrative in a few more chapters, but God is still at work within the Jewish people and will be using Peter, James and John to lead the Church. Next time, we're going to see that the Holy Spirit will come upon these Gentile believers and then we'll see soon how the Church, especially those in Jerusalem, respond to the news that God has saved these Gentiles in the same way that He has saved them and given them the Holy Spirit as well. It is fair to say that at least some of the Jews are not happy about the news, though most will be enthusiastic about what God is doing. Comments are closed.
|
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
January 2025
Categories
All
|