15:13
“When they finished ..” What we have here is very much a cut-down version of the debate, we can safely assume that it went on for some time! James appears to have been an important apostle, he was probably considered to be “properly Jewish” and to be a solid person, so his views would carry weight. If we look at the apostles we see a great variety of character types, God uses all types to do His work. We should rejoice in the type of person we are, though this, of course, does not mean we should not seek to get rid of the bad aspects of our characters, but we are not meant to be all the same. In fact it is noticeable how many moves in the church seem to try and cast everyone in the same mould, having the same concerns. This is not God’s way.
15:14
James, following Peter’s lead, puts the emphasis on God’s obvious direction in the matter. He intervened directly in the first place to get Cornelius to contact Peter, and to get Peter to respond aright. Then He poured out His Spirit on Cornelius and his family and friends.
“A people chosen for His name from the Gentiles”. We are chosen for His name. Ie to be like Christ, chosen for God’s purposes.
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