15:7
After much discussion. The matter was not treated lightly. Peter also refers to experience, indeed it is the first actual words we hear from him. So experience is considered important. So often we set experience and the word of God against each other, in both ways. Some people will pay no attention to “experience”, whilst others will use “experience” to set aside the word of God. The latter is the more common error today. In the Bible we find that experience and Scripture go together, and that is what we will find in the chapter of Acts. They already knew how Peter had ended up preaching to Cornelius, and this was at God’s instigation, not Peter’s. We can also see how wise God was in using Peter to be the first to preach to gentiles, even though Paul would soon be the primary apostle to the Gentiles. God made a choice!
15:8
There are a few things to note from this. The first is that God is first. The apostles and elders are not principally concerned about what they think, but about what God thinks. This is sadly often not the case in church discussions today. Secondly, God knows the heart of a man or woman. We have to make judgements on people from time to time, but we need to be aware that our judgements are almost always based on imperfect knowledge. God’s decisions are always based on perfect knowledge. Thirdly, the “proof” that God had accepted the Gentiles was the giving of the Holy Spirit. We need to note that this proof was based on short-term effects, ie they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Now the long term work of the Spirit in character formation, and producing the fruit of the Spirit cannot be seen in the short term. Cornelius and his fellows were God-fearers and lived respectable lives, giving to the poor. When someone receives the Spirit it is normal for there to be an outward effect.
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