ACC ~ Acts 11 v13 - 18

OVERVIEW:

Acts 11:13 moves the debate beyond ritual purity to that of salvation, and Acts 11:16 ties in Jesus’ prophetic words about baptism in the Spirit repeated from Acts 1:5 and found in all four Gospels. Luke thus has Peter portray this as an extension of the ministry of Jesus. Luke shows us how the gradual inclusion of the non-Jews (the Samaritans, the Ethiopian) and of a persecutor culminates in this action by which a group of Gentiles share the blessing brought by Christ. This revelation, that God’s salvific will is universal, brought great joy in Jerusalem as had been foretold (AUGUSTINE, BEDE), and the Jerusalem community recognizes this work as leading to life. The inclusion of the Gentiles in the church as they were, apart from observing the Mosaic law, required an action, beyond dispute, that affirmed them as belonging on the basis of upright belief and lives (CHRYSOSTOM). This event, in the midst of life, does not dispense with a future judgment (a baptism by fire) and hence with the need to live out a life in the Spirit (ORIGEN), of which one consequence is a constant openness to being corrected and moved to repentance, a humility that recognizes the temptation to establish one’s holiness by the exclusion of others (CHRYSOSTOM).

11:15 | The Holy Spirit Descends

TO SHOW THAT ALL WAS OF GOD. CHRYSOSTOM: It was out of superabundance that this [sending of the Holy Spirit] takes place, to show that even the beginning did not come from the apostle. For if Peter had set out of his own accord and [the Holy Spirit had not come first], they would have been completely thunder-struck. Consequently, from the start he tries to bring their thoughts around to his side by saying, “who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 24.

11:16 | Remembering God’s Word

THE ESCHATOLOGICAL NATURE OF BAPTISM. ORIGEN: The people received John, who was less than Christ. They reflected and thought, “Perhaps he is the Christ.” But they did not receive him who had come, who was greater than John. Do you want to know the reason? Recognize this: John’s baptism could be seen; the baptism of Christ was invisible. John said, “For I baptize you in water, but he who comes after me is greater than I. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire.” When does Jesus baptize “with the Holy Spirit”? And again, when does he baptize “with fire”? Does he baptize at one and the same time “with Spirit and fire,” or at distinct and different times? He says, “But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.” After his ascension into heaven, the apostles were baptized “with the Holy Spirit.” But Scripture does not record that they were baptized “with fire.”

At the Jordan River, John awaited those who came for baptism. Some he rejected, saying, “generation of vipers,” and so on. But those who confessed their faults and sins he received. In the same way, the Lord Jesus Christ will stand in the river of fire near the “flaming sword.” If anyone desires to pass over to paradise after departing this life and needs cleansing, Christ will baptize him in this river and send him across to the place he longs for. But whoever does not have the sign of earlier baptisms, him Christ will not baptize in the fiery bath. For it is fitting that one should be baptized in “water and the Spirit.” Then, when he comes to the fiery river, he can show that he preserved the bathing in water and the Spirit. Then he will deserve to receive in addition the baptism in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory and power for ages of ages. Amen. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 24.

11:17 | God Gave the Same Gift

DISMANTLING A HOLINESS BASED ON EXCLUSION. CHRYSOSTOM: [Peter] shows that he did nothing himself. “For it was the very thing that we obtained,” he says, “that those men received.” “If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus, who was I that I could withstand God?” To silence them more effectively, he added “the same gift.” Do you see how he does not allow them to have less? “When they believed,” he says, “God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus.” He makes them clean, and he does not say “to you” but “to us.” That is, why do you feel aggrieved when we call them partners? “When they heard this they were silenced. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance to life.’” Do you see how it all came about through the oratory of Peter, who did well to report the events? They glorified God because he had given them repentance. They were humbled by these words. From this point on the door of faith was open to the Gentiles. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 24.

11:18 | Glorifying God

THEIR PRAISE WAS FORETOLD. AUGUSTINE: “Zion heard and was glad.” What did Zion hear? That all God’s angels worship him? Yes, to be sure; but what else did Zion hear? This is what it heard: “The heavens have proclaimed his justice, and all nations have seen his glory. Let all who worship graven images be put to shame, those who boast of their idols.” The church had not yet extended to the Gentiles, you see. Some of the Jews in Judea had come to believe, but these Jews imagined that they alone belonged to Christ. Then the apostles were sent to the Gentiles, and the word was preached to Cornelius. He believed and was baptized, and his companions were baptized with him. You know what happened to lead them to baptism. … An angel was sent to Cornelius; the angel sent Cornelius to Peter, and Peter came to Cornelius’s house. But Cornelius was from the Gentiles, so he and his friends were uncircumcised. In order, therefore, that Peter and his companions might have no hesitation about delivering the gospel to uncircumcised persons, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and the others even before they were baptized; the Spirit filled them, and they began to speak in tongues. Until this time the Holy Spirit had never fallen upon any unbaptized person; but he fell on these before their baptism. Peter might well have hesitated over whether to baptize the uncircumcised, but the Holy Spirit came, and they began to speak in tongues. The invisible gift was conferred and removed any doubt about the visible sacrament, so they were all baptized.

Now you find it recorded in Scripture that “the apostles and the brothers in Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God, and they glorified God.” It is this thanksgiving on their part that is mentioned in our psalm: “Zion heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judea leaped for joy.” EXPLANATIONS OF THE PSALMS 96.13.

AND THEY GLORIFIED GOD. BEDE: Here is what we read in the book of the blessed Job: “Gold will come from the north, and fearful praise to God,” since the splendor of faith first sprang to life in the cold heart of the Gentile world, and in virtue of this same unexpected faith, the Jewish world, trembling with fear, glorified God. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 11.18.