Acts 11:1-3:
11:1But the apostles and the brothers, the (people) being throughout Judea, heard that also the Gentiles had accepted the word of God; .2and when Peter ascended into Jerusalem the (people) out-from circumcision throughly-judged-themselves against him .3saying that he went-into (a house) towards adult-males having uncircumcision and he ate-together with them;
The rest of the apostles and the brothers (the other holy-people who had received holy spirit-life and were of the Judean / Israeli / circumcision background or proselytes), who were throughout Judea, heard that the people from other nations had welcomed (subjectively received, willingly taken) God's Word which was presented to them.
However, when Peter went-up into Jerusalem, following his stay in Joppa and then with Cornelius and the people in his house, these holy-people separated themselves from him judging that they were different from Peter giving the reason that he had gone into a house in which there were uncircumcised men, and as well as that - he ate together with them (eating the same food)! This was definitely against the Judean/Israeli laws and traditions and customs that they were accustomed to observing.
These apostles and brothers were still clinging to their old way of thinking which was partly according to the Law of Moses and partly according to their own traditions and customs. They did not yet recognize that since the day of Pentecost, when God by means of the Lord Jesus Christ made holy spirit-life available, the old covenant of law and circumcision was no longer applicable. It had been superseded by the new covenant of the spirit - holy spirit-life (Romans 8:1-4; II Corinthians 3:6; Galatians 3:13, 5:1).
Verses 4-17:
.4but Peter having begun (speaking) expounded to them successively saying,
.5"I was in (the) city of Joppa praying and I saw a seen-object in a bewilderment - some vessel descending as a great linen-cloth with four corners being left-down out-from heaven and it came continuously-until me, .6into which having gazed-intently I mentally-perceived and saw the quadrupeds of the earth and the wild-animals and the creeping-things and birds of heaven, .7and I heard also a sound saying to me, 'Having stood-up, Peter, you must sacrifice and you must eat,' .8but I said, 'By no means, Lord, because a common-thing or an unclean-thing never went into my mouth,' .9but (the) sound answered for (the) second-time out-from heaven, 'The-things-which God cleaned you must not make-common,' .10and this came-to-pass on three-times and it was pulled-up again all-together into heaven;
.11and look!, from-this three adult-males stood on the house, in which I was, having been apostled2 away-from Caesarea towards me, .12and the spirit said to me to go-together with them, and also these six brothers went together with me and we went into the house of the adult-male, .13and he announced to us how he saw an angel having been caused-to-stand in his house and having said, "You must apostle into Joppa and you must send-after Simon the (person) being called Peter .14who will utter-forth spoken-matters towards you, in which (spoken-matters) you will be saved, you and all your house';
.15and in my beginning to utter-forth the spirit, the holy (spirit), fell on them wholly-as also on us in (the) beginning, .16and I was caused-to-remember the spoken-matter of the Lord as-that he said, 'John indeed baptized with water but you will be baptized in holy spirit';
.17therefore since God gave the equal free-gift to them as also to us having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, was I someone able to hinder God?"
Peter began to speak and expounded (put-out, exposed) the events sequentially for them to help them understand the truth of what God has accomplished by means of the Lord Jesus Christ. See Acts chapter 10.
Peter had gone with the three men apostled by Cornelius, and now we can see how wise it was for Peter to take along the other six men, who were of the Judean / Israeli / circumcision background, with him to Cornelius' house so they too were witnesses of what occurred there!
Peter explained that while he was beginning to speak to the Gentiles (emphasizing the fact that he did not have to teach them for hours and hours), the holy spirit fell on them (as embracing them with its resulting effects in manifestation) wholly-as also on the Judeans in the beginning when the gift of holy spirit was first made available to mankind (Acts chapter 2). These new holy-people (true Christians) had also spoken with tongues and expressed the greatness of God (Acts 2:11 and 10:44-46).
Peter explained to those listening to him in this assembly that he had remembered the spoken-matter of the Lord as-that he said, 'John indeed baptized with water but you will be baptized in holy spirit' – this would also remind the other apostles of what Jesus told them.
He finishes up by asking, “Therefore since God gave the equal free-gift to them as also to us having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, was I (emphatically ‘I’ – was I myself) someone able to hinder God?" Refer to Acts 10:44-48. These Gentiles had also believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore they received the equal (equally proportioned, equality in measure, quantity, quality, amount, etc) free-gift from God as the Judeans did in Acts 2.
Also, we ought to notice on reading these verses that here we have some further information regarding what God via His angel told Cornelius. The angel had also told him that Peter would speak spoken-matters to him in which he would be saved, he himself and all the people in his house. Now we can better appreciate the diligence wherewith Cornelius carried-out the angel's instructions.
[Reference: Genesis 1:24 and 30; Matthew 3:11; Acts 1:4-8, 2:1-11, 8:15-17, chapter 10, 15:6-11. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (2) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]
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