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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 11:16 - 11:18
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The conclusion of Peter:
v. 16. Then remembered I the word of the Lord how that He said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
v. 17. Forasmuch, then, as God gave them the like gift as He did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God?
v. 18. When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Peter himself, as he here reminds his critics, had had serious scruples about the entire matter; but the succession of events could not have been the result of chance happening. And his last doubts were removed as he, at the great climax, beheld the working of the Holy Ghost in just the same way as he himself had experienced it on the great Pentecost. He had remembered the word of the Lord, the saying in which He had given the promise: John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, chap. 1:5. Peter does not selfishly limit this promise to the inner circle of the disciples, nor to the Jews alone, but wants it applied now wherever the evidence shows it as finding its application. Since God now gave the very same gift to them as He had given to the apostles, not on the basis of circumcision or uncircumcision, but on the basis of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was Peter and how could he have summoned power to hinder God? How would he have been able to withstand God, even if he had persisted in his scruples and doubts? It is the living God that directs and governs His Christian Church, showing the way in which His servants should walk. He Himself makes a pathway for His Word, that it may grow and bear fruit in abundance. And this fact the Christians at Jerusalem were now obliged to acknowledge. They held their peace, they were quiet and satisfied; they had no more objections to offer. They were rather constrained to give continuous glory and praise to God in confessing: So, then, also to the Gentiles God has granted repentance unto life. So the critics not only tacitly withdrew all that they had said in reproach of Peter, but also proclaimed the praises of God with enthusiasm. They were satisfied at once, and they continued their thanks and praises to God. Repentance, followed by faith in Christ, is the way to eternal life, God's free gift. And all Christians will properly rejoice if God grants many sinners repentance unto life. It is unfortunate that this happy state of affairs did not continue, Act_15:5.