Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



Now the apostles and the brothers all over Judea heard that the heathen too had accepted God's message. So when Peter returned to Jerusalem, the champions of circumcision began to bring charges against him for having visited and eaten with men who were not Jews. read more.
Then Peter explained the whole matter to them from beginning to end. He said, "I was praying in the town of Joppa, and while I was praying I fell in a trance and had a vision. I saw something like a great sheet coming down out of the sky, lowered by the four comers; and it came right down to me. With fixed eyes I kept looking at it and saw all kinds of four-footed animals, wild beasts, reptiles, and wild birds. And I heard a voice say to me, 'Get up, Peter, kill something and eat it!' But I answered, 'Never by any means, sir, for nothing common or not ceremonially cleansed has ever passed my lips.' Then the voice from heaven answered again, 'The things that God has cleansed you must not call unclean.' This took place three times; then all at once the whole thing was drawn back into the sky. Just at that moment three men, who had been sent from Caesarea for me, stopped at the house where we were staying. And the Spirit told me to go with them without any hesitation at all. These six brothers, too, went with me, and we all went into the man's house. Then he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say to him, 'Send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is called Peter, to come over; he will tell you truths through which you and your whole household will be saved.' When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as He 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 He gave us when we believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to try -- and how could I if I tried -- to thwart God?" When they heard this, they had no answer to make, but gave God the glory, saying, "So God has given even the heathen the repentance that leads to life."

After a lengthy discussion Peter got up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God chose among you that through me the heathen should hear the message of the good news and believe it. And God who knows men's hearts testifies for them by giving them the Holy Spirit, as He did us, and in this way He put no difference between us and them, because He cleansed their hearts by faith. read more.
Then why do you now try to test God by putting on these disciples' necks a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we could bear? In fact, we believe that it is through the favor of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."