The apostles and brothers all over Judea heard that the heathen had also accepted God's message, and when Peter returned to Jerusalem, the advocates of circumcision took him to task, charging him with having visited and eaten with men who were not Jews. read more.
Then Peter explained the matter to them from beginning to end. He said, "I was praying in the town of Joppa, and while in a trance I had a vision. Something like a great sheet came down out of the sky, lowered by its four corners. It came right down to me, and when I looked at it, I saw in it quadrupeds, wild animals, reptiles, and wild birds. And I heard a voice say to me, 'Get up, Peter! Kill something and eat it!' But I said, 'Never, sir! For nothing that was not ceremonially cleansed has ever passed my lips.' Then the voice from heaven answered again, 'Do not call what God has cleansed unclean!' This happened three times; then it was all drawn back again into the sky. Just at that moment three men, who had been sent from Caesarea to find me, reached the house where we were staying, and the Spirit told me not to hesitate to go with them. These six brothers here also went with me, and we went to the man's house. Then he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for a man named Simon who is also called Peter, and he will tell you things that will save you and your whole household.' When I began to speak to them, the holy Spirit fell upon them just as it did upon us at the beginning, and I remembered the saying of the Lord, 'John baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the holy Spirit.' So if God had given them the same gift that we received when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, to be able to interfere with God?" When they heard this, they made no further objection, but they gave honor to God, and said, "Then God has given even the heathen repentance and the hope of life!"

After a long discussion, Peter got up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God chose that of you all I should be the one from whose lips the heathen should hear the message of the good news and believe it. And God who knows men's hearts testified for them by giving them the holy Spirit just as he had done to us, making no difference between us and them, but cleansing their hearts by faith. read more.
Then why do you now try to test God, by putting on the necks of these disciples a yoke that neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear? Why, we believe that it is by the mercy of the Lord Jesus that we are saved just as they are."