Bibelkommentare

Acts 11:2. They that were of the circumcision contended with him,— How good an argument soever this may be against the supremacy of St. Peter, it is none against the inspiration of the apostles; for it only proves that some who did not well understand the principles on which they acted, took upon them, without reason, to arraign their conduct; and consequently didnot, in this respect, pay a becoming deference to them. It plainly shews how little deference was paid to any uncircumcised persons, whatever profession they might make of worshipping the God of Israel.

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Acts 11:3. Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised,— Saying, wherefore— διατι — did you associate and eat with the uncircumcised? See Genesis 44:4.Luke 2:49; Luke 2:49.

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Acts 11:4. But Peter rehearsed the matter, &c.— But Peter beginning, opened to them the matter in order. As it is probable that they were only some of the Jewish converts who questioned St. Peter about what he had done, he might, no doubt, have overborne them by urging his apostolical authority, and referring them tothe miracles by which it was established: but as he could with no great propriety blame them, because he himself, till of late, had been as bigoted to the Jewish nation as any of them, he treats them in the most gentle and condescending manner, laying before them the reason of his conduct, and appealing to their judgments, whether, in such circumstances,hehad not acted according to the divine direction; herein giving a most amiable example of humility and condescension, which it would be the glory and happiness of Christ's ministers to follow in circumstances which bear any resemblance to this.

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Acts 11:5. I saw—a certain vessel descend, &c.— I saw—somewhat descending, in the form of a great sheet. See on ch. Acts 10:11. It is generally supposed, that in this sheet all sorts of creatures, clean and unclean, were represented, promiscuously mixed together; but some expositors are of opinion, that they were only of the sorts prohibited by the law; because, say they, there would have been no room for St. Peter's scrupling to eat, had he seen any creatures there but what he apprehended to be prohibited by the law: but his expression of nothing common or polluted and unclean, may lead us to conclude, that the apostle, according to the Jewish principles, conceived the clean animals to be polluted by their intermixture and communication with the unclean.

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Acts 11:14. Who shall tell thee words,— Who shall teach thee what is necessary for the salvation of thyself and thy family.

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Acts 11:17. Forasmuch then as God gave them, &c.— Since therefore God has granted the same gift to them as to us, &c.

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Acts 11:18. When they heard these things, &c.— When they had heard St. Peter's apology, they were silent, and acquiesced, turning their accusations of theapostle into praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God, who had granted unto the devout Gentiles, through Jesus Christ his Son, all the privileges of the gospel; and had received them into the Christian church equally with the believing Jews, without their being first circumcised and brought into subjection tothe whole law of Moses. But though these particular persons now acquiesced, yet this was the foundation of the grand controversy in the apostolic age; for we shall find, as the history proceeds, that it broke out again with respect to the devout Gentiles, ch. 15: and was afterwards extended to the converts from among the idolatrous Gentiles, as appears from most of St. Paul's epistles: and the attentive reader will there find, how very difficult it was to allay the prejudices of the Jews and Jewish Christians against the admission of the Gentiles, unless they would first, according to the Jewish phrase, become proselytes of righteousness, and of course be circumcised.

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Acts 11:20. And some of them were men of Cyprus— But some of them, &c. St. Peter having opened the door of Christian faith, and laid the foundation of a Christian church among the Gentiles, after God had testified very plainly that it was agreeable to his mind and will,—otherChristians, hearing of this event, took occasion thence to imitate St. Peter's example: particularly, some Jewish Christians of the island of Cyprus and of the country of Cyrene in Africa, travelling in their dispersions to Antioch in Syria, preached the Christian doctrine there, not to the Jews only, but also to the Gentiles; and God blessed and prospered their labours. The Jews frequently called all nations except their own, Greeks, from the time of the Macedonian or Grecian empire, just as the Roman empire was afterwards called the whole world, because it extended over the most considerable part of the then known world. See Romans 10:12. 1 Corinthians 12:13.Galatians 3:28; Galatians 3:28. Colossians 3:11. See also on Acts 11:26.

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