Acts 11:1-18 - Peter's Explanation To The Church In Jerusalem

¹ Now the apostles and the brothers that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God; ² so, when Peter came up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party disputed with him, ³ saying, "You went into the houses of the uncircumcised and ate with them!"

⁴ Then Peter began and explained the whole matter to them in order, saying. ⁵ "I was in the city of Joppa, praying, and while in a trance I saw a vision; a certain vessel descending, what seemed to be an enormous sail let down to me, ⁶ and while I gazed at it, I examined it carefully, and saw the quadrupeds of the earth and the wild beasts and creeping things and the wild birds. ⁷ I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter, kill and eat.'

⁸ "'Not so, my Lord' said I, 'for nothing common or unclean has ever gone into my mouth.' ⁹ "But for the second time a voice spoke from the sky, 'What God has cleansed, you must not call common.'

¹⁰ "This was said three times, and then everything was drawn up again into the sky. ¹¹ "And lo! at that very moment, three men who had been sent for me from Caesarea stood before the house in which I was. ¹² "And the Spirit bade me accompany them without misgiving. There also accompanied me these six brothers, and we went into the man's house. ¹³ "Then he told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying. "'Send to Joppa and fetch Simon who is also called Peter. ¹⁴ "'He will speak words to you by which you and all your family will be saved.'

¹⁵ "And," said Peter, "as soon as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as he fell upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶ "Then I remembered the words of the Lord, how he used to say, "John indeed baptized in water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.' ¹⁷ "So if God gave them the same gift as he gave to us, when we first believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?"

¹⁸ On hearing this they held their peace and glorified God, saying, "Forsooth then, to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life."