'Ac 11:1-18

Back to Acts~

Back to Contents

Reaction of the Jerusalem church (Ac 11:1-18)

Many in the Jerusalem church criticized Peter for what had happened in the house of Cornelius. Their minds were so moulded by Jewish thinking that they could think of Christianity only as an improved form of Judaism.

They were pleased when Gentile proselytes or God-fearers accepted Jewish ways, but they were not pleased when people of any nationality entered the community of God’s people without any thought for the Jewish laws concerning foods, cleansing and circumcision (Ac 11:1-3).

Peter therefore explained to his critics how God had corrected his prejudice against the Gentiles (Ac 11:4-14) and how the Gentiles had received all God’s blessings on the same basis as the Jews (Ac 11:15-17). Although they accepted Peter’s explanation and praised God (Ac 11:18), they were not fully convinced, and soon trouble broke out again (see Ac 15:1,5).