Acts 11:15-18 15As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us in the beginning. 16And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘On the one hand, John baptized with water, but on the other, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17If then God gave the same gift to them as also to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be powerful to hinder God?” 18And when they heard these things, they remained silent, and they glorified God, saying, “Then also to the Gentiles God has granted repentance into life.”
The next part of Peter’s defense draws upon the proof of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Cornelius and his house. Peter made a comparison between what happened in Caesarea and what happened on the day of Pentecost in chapter 2. The articular infinitive of time (arxasthai) at the beginning of verse indicates how Peter’s sermon was interrupted by the unexpected falling of the Spirit upon the group. This coming was a result of the growing faith and expectation of Cornelius and all those gathered with him. The us of verse 15 included the apostles, but it could refer more broadly to the Jewish Christians who met in the upper room in Jerusalem, which may have included some of those listening to Peter’s defense. There used to be a distinction between “us” and “them,” but the Holy Spirit made no such distinction.
Peter added further support to this point by quoting a statement Jesus made, recorded in 1:5, which was a reference to what John the Baptist said in Luke 3:16. The baptism of the Holy Spirit would be a deeper work than the water baptism done by John. The Spirit was God’s gift to Jesus’ followers. Peter’s point in verse 17 is the crux of the matter: he could not stand in God’s way because it was obvious everything about this incident was directed by God. The coming of the Holy Spirit was indisputable proof that the Gentiles were also part of God’s plan. The point of faith in Jesus Christ finally comes out clearly in verse 17. The central paradigm of the books of Acts is repeated: Cornelius and household believed in Jesus, and as a result, were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Peter’s speech was effective with the legalistic believers who did not argue or push their agenda. They accepted the truth of what Peter said and how God wanted all people to be saved (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4). The way to experience life is through repentance (metanoian), which involves a change of mind and behavior. This lesson was extremely significant for the Jewish Christians to realize. This story is about changing one’s mindset in order to follow God’s mission and purpose. Not only did Cornelius and his household change their minds through repentance, the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem also changed their minds about God’s plan of redemption.
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