Acts 15:5-12 – Testimonies of Peter, Barnabas and Paul

No information is provided concerning how the meeting was conducted in the Jerusalem Council. Suffice to say that there must have been quite a debate and as the Spirit led, key persons would stand up and speak their mind.

Here we see Peter standing up to share his experience from his ministry among the Gentiles. He was referring to what God did through him at Cornelius’ household. This had taken place possibly some 10 years back. He asserted that God had in the past chosen him among them to minister to the Gentiles. The response of Cornelius’ household to the Gospel was etched in Peter’s heart and mind, vividly and indelibly.

Of course in Acts 11:1-18, Peter had already given his report, so surely that incidence must still be fresh in their minds. Peter’s conclusion from that it was that God looks at the heart of men. He saw the hearts of Cornelius and the Gentiles at his home, and proved His acceptance of them by giving them the Holy Spirit. He was no respecter of persons and He did not made any distinction between Jews or Gentiles, but cleansed and accepted the Gentiles. So in the matter of salvation, both the Gentiles and the Jews were placed on equal footing in God’s plan. Peter showed explicitly that, like them, the Gentiles were also saved by grace through faith.  

Turning to the people who insisted that circumcision was a necessity for salvation, Peter asked the question, why? Why were they resisting God by insisting on their legalistic practice? His point was that they were unnecessarily loading on the new converts, demands that neither their ancestors nor they were able to bear. So he assertively drove home the point in verse 11 that both Jews and Gentiles could only be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus through faith in Him.   

The whole assembly then went into a deep silence. They were probably absorbing what Peter had just recounted. Barnabas and Paul then seized the opportunity and shared their experiences. Fresh from their ministry, they narrated what God had done through their ministry among the mixed Jew-Gentile communities. They merely related all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.

The silence of the people suggested that they were digesting what Peter had said. They had been listening, now they were deep in thoughts. Like them, we need to listen in order to discern what God is saying, regardless of who He uses to speak to us. Have we taken time to deeply reflect on what God is saying to us?

We also need to know that regardless of our status, we are only saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus. And it is by faith that we can receive that grace. God is no respecter of persons. Whether one is a PhD holder or an unschooled person, every one of us becomes a member of God’s family through the generous and forgiving kindness of our great God.