Act 11:1 | KingComments | STEP | In the first part of this chapter, Peter recounts in detail once more what happened in the house of Cornelius and what preceded it. First, in Acts 10, we have Luke’s account of everything that Cornelius and Peter have experienced. Later in that chapter, during the meeting between Petrus and Cornelius, some things from that report are recounted in what Peter tells Cornelius. We have a detailed report twice, with some details even told three times. That is not without reason. It is clear that the Holy Spirit places special emphasis on this history, just like the history of the conversion of Saul, which we also find three times in this book. These are events that play a key role in this book. They are all about God’s great work among the nations. As mentioned before, Peter here uses for the third time the keys that the Lord has given him for the kingdom of heaven. We see in Cornelius that the Gentiles as a group are accepted into the church of God. By placing this acceptance in the hands of the leader of the believers from the circumcision, God makes sure that the unity between the believers from the circumcision and the believers from the Gentiles is preserved and underlined. Peter gives this report before the apostles and the church in Jerusalem. They have heard that the nations have also accepted the Word of God. At first this caused a great shock to these believers, just as Peter did not want to know about it at first. There is still no place in their minds for a separate place for Christians, apart from Judaism. To them, Christendom is a new Jewish movement. To them, everything in Christendom is still connected to Judaism. What happened in Caesarea, however, happened outside of Judaism. But for the time being it is impossible for them to accept that as a matter from God. To explain this new development, Peter comes up to Jerusalem. There he clashes with “those who were circumcised”, who are Christians from Judaism, but who are still imprisoned in their Jewish way of thinking. For example, they believe that a Gentile must be circumcised in order to receive full blessing. We will get more details about this in Acts 15. Instead of rejoicing, they criticize what Peter did. They have heard what he has done and attached their conclusions to it. Peter is judged and condemned because of his going to uncircumcised, i.e. Gentiles, and they assume that he also ate with them. It is a warning for us to beware that we do not just judge someone by appearances. Let us first ask for an explanation. The Lord can send someone and let him act as He sees fit. Still, their reaction is understandable, because we remember how difficult it was for Peter to cross that threshold. He has been just like them. But their remark about eating with Cornelius goes beyond the observation that he went inside. That’s how it goes with rumors. They have heard of him going in and add that he also ate there. They start from what they judge to be certain. To them, it can’t be otherwise than that he also ate with these Gentiles. And that in turn means that he has eaten things that are forbidden for a Jew, or that he has eaten things that have been prepared in a wrong way. It could be, for example, that he ate meat cooked in milk, which is a custom among the Gentiles. The law forbids the cooking of meat in milk in certain cases, such as boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk ( ). To prevent this from happening, there is a complete separation between the preparation of milk and the preparation of meat. Here we have another example of the erection of a fence around the law. It is again that exaggeration to not violate the law, but by which the commandment becomes more burdensome than God purposed. As said, it is also just an assumption here.

‏ Acts 11:1

Peter Accused

In the first part of this chapter, Peter recounts in detail once more what happened in the house of Cornelius and what preceded it. First, in Acts 10, we have Luke’s account of everything that Cornelius and Peter have experienced. Later in that chapter, during the meeting between Petrus and Cornelius, some things from that report are recounted in what Peter tells Cornelius.

We have a detailed report twice, with some details even told three times. That is not without reason. It is clear that the Holy Spirit places special emphasis on this history, just like the history of the conversion of Saul, which we also find three times in this book. These are events that play a key role in this book. They are all about God’s great work among the nations. As mentioned before, Peter here uses for the third time the keys that the Lord has given him for the kingdom of heaven.

We see in Cornelius that the Gentiles as a group are accepted into the church of God. By placing this acceptance in the hands of the leader of the believers from the circumcision, God makes sure that the unity between the believers from the circumcision and the believers from the Gentiles is preserved and underlined. Peter gives this report before the apostles and the church in Jerusalem. They have heard that the nations have also accepted the Word of God.

At first this caused a great shock to these believers, just as Peter did not want to know about it at first. There is still no place in their minds for a separate place for Christians, apart from Judaism. To them, Christendom is a new Jewish movement. To them, everything in Christendom is still connected to Judaism. What happened in Caesarea, however, happened outside of Judaism. But for the time being it is impossible for them to accept that as a matter from God.

To explain this new development, Peter comes up to Jerusalem. There he clashes with “those who were circumcised”, who are Christians from Judaism, but who are still imprisoned in their Jewish way of thinking. For example, they believe that a Gentile must be circumcised in order to receive full blessing. We will get more details about this in Acts 15.

Instead of rejoicing, they criticize what Peter did. They have heard what he has done and attached their conclusions to it. Peter is judged and condemned because of his going to uncircumcised, i.e. Gentiles, and they assume that he also ate with them.

It is a warning for us to beware that we do not just judge someone by appearances. Let us first ask for an explanation. The Lord can send someone and let him act as He sees fit. Still, their reaction is understandable, because we remember how difficult it was for Peter to cross that threshold. He has been just like them.

But their remark about eating with Cornelius goes beyond the observation that he went inside. That’s how it goes with rumors. They have heard of him going in and add that he also ate there. They start from what they judge to be certain. To them, it can’t be otherwise than that he also ate with these Gentiles. And that in turn means that he has eaten things that are forbidden for a Jew, or that he has eaten things that have been prepared in a wrong way.

It could be, for example, that he ate meat cooked in milk, which is a custom among the Gentiles. The law forbids the cooking of meat in milk in certain cases, such as boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk (Deu 14:21b). To prevent this from happening, there is a complete separation between the preparation of milk and the preparation of meat. Here we have another example of the erection of a fence around the law. It is again that exaggeration to not violate the law, but by which the commandment becomes more burdensome than God purposed. As said, it is also just an assumption here.