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

¹ Now the apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter came up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party fell foul of him. ³ "You went into the houses of the uncircumcised," they said, "and you ate with them!"

⁴ Then Peter proceeded to put the facts before them. ⁵ "I was in the town of Joppa at prayer," he said, "and in a trance I saw a vision ??a vessel coming down like a huge sheet lowered from heaven by the four corners. It came down to me, ⁶ and when I looked steadily at it, I noted the quadrupeds of the earth, the wild beasts, the creeping things and the wild birds. ⁷ Also I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter, kill and eat.'

⁸ I said, 'No, no, my Lord; nothing common or unclean has ever passed my lips.' ⁹ But a voice answered me for the second time out of heaven, 'What God has cleansed, you must not regard as common.'

¹⁰ This happened three times, and then the whole thing was drawn back into heaven. ¹¹ At that very moment three men reached the house where I was living, sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² The Spirit told me to have no hesitation in accompanying them; these six brothers went with me as well, and we entered the man's house. ¹³ He related to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is surnamed Peter; ¹⁴ he will tell you how you and all your household are to be saved.'

¹⁵ Now just as I began to speak, the holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning; ¹⁶ and I remembered the saying of the Lord, that 'John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the holy Spirit.' ¹⁷ Well then, if God has given them exactly the same gift as he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I ??how could I try to thwart God?"

¹⁸ On hearing this they desisted and glorified God, saying, "So God has actually allowed the Gentiles to repent and live!"