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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 11:4 - 11:15
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The rehearsal of Peter:
v. 4. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying,
v. 5. I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descend as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me;
v. 6. upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
v. 7. And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter, slay and eat.
v. 8. But I said, Not so, Lord; for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
v. 9. But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
v. 10. And this was done three times; and all were drawn up again in to heaven.
v. 11. And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me.
v. 12. And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered in to the man's house;
v. 13. and he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter,
v. 14. who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
v. 15. And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning.
Instead of launching forth in cleverly worded arguments to defend his action, Peter believes it best to let the facts speak for themselves, for which reason he gives them in the form of a simple recital, presenting them to the critics in order, just as they occurred, and as they have been narrated in Chapter 10. Peter first told them about the peculiar vision which he had had in Joppa, when he had been in a state of ecstasy, when the container in the form of a large sheet, tied together at the four corners, was lowered out of heaven. He emphasizes that he looked very closely, and that there was no question of an illusion. He had surely seen in the container various quadrupeds and animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of heaven. He had plainly heard the voice telling him to arise, to slaughter, and to eat. He had objected very emphatically on the ground of his always having strictly observed the injunction governing unclean foods. But the voice had sounded the second time, bidding him not to regard as common what God Himself had cleansed. Three times the same thing had happened before the container had been drawn up into heaven again. And, behold, at that very moment three men had stood below, having been sent from Caesarea to fetch him, and the Holy Ghost had told him to accompany them without doubt or hesitation. They had then gone with him, and also brethren from Joppa, whose number Peter here states to have been six; these six, having returned with him to Jerusalem, could substantiate his words. They had entered into the house of the man who had sent the messengers, who had given them an account of his having seen an angel standing in his house and speaking to him. The command of this angel he had followed in sending to Joppa and fetching Simon with the surname Peter, who would speak words to him whereby he would be saved and his house. These last words, not found in the other accounts, anticipate a summary of Peter's discourse in showing to the assembly the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and of New Testament preaching in Christ, the Savior of all men. Peter finally tells of the effect which his words had had upon his hearers. Before he had finished his discourse and brought out all that he might have said on that topic, which is inexhaustible, the Holy Ghost had fallen on the Gentiles in the same manner as He had been imparted to themselves in the beginning. The argument of Peter therefore was, that after seeing the vision, hearing the voice, and receiving the order of the Spirit to go with the men, he could not have done otherwise than obey and enter into the house of the Gentile at Caesarea. And the fact that the Holy Ghost had been poured out on these Gentiles was a further proof for the Lord's acceptance of the Gentiles.