When the Walls Come Tumbling Down Text: Acts 11:1-18
Introduction: The Scandal of a Global God
We have arrived at a pivotal moment in the history of redemption, a moment that we, as twenty-first-century Gentile believers, take almost entirely for granted. The gospel has broken its banks. The river of God's grace, which for centuries had largely flowed within the channel of the nation of Israel, has now flooded the Gentile world. And for the first-century Jewish believers, this was not an easy or intuitive development. It was a seismic shock. It was a scandal.
The issue at hand was not simply about food menus or dinner guests. It was about the very nature of God's covenant people. For millennia, the boundary markers had been clear: circumcision, Sabbath, and the dietary laws. These were the fences God had erected around His people, separating them from the pagan nations. But now, God Himself was taking a sledgehammer to those fences. The Holy Spirit was being poured out on uncircumcised Gentiles, and Peter, the apostle to the Jews, was right in the middle of it, eating with them no less. This was not a minor infraction. In the minds of the Jerusalem believers, this was a betrayal of their entire history. It was like a soldier fraternizing with the enemy.
We must understand that the objection raised by "those of the circumcision" was not entirely without merit, from their perspective. They were trying to be faithful to the Old Testament. They were zealous for the law. Their mistake was not in their zeal for God's past commands, but in their failure to keep up with God's present work. God was doing a new thing, a thing He had promised all along through the prophets, but it was happening in a way they did not expect. They were suffering from a hardening of the categories. They had mistaken the scaffolding for the building. The ceremonial law was the scaffolding, necessary for a time to construct the house, but the house was Christ, and in Him, a new and global temple was being built, a temple made of living stones from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
This passage is Peter's debriefing. He has returned to headquarters to face a theological court-martial. And his defense is simple: "God did it. Who was I to stand in His way?" This is a lesson we must continually learn. The church is God's project, not ours. He sets the terms of inclusion, and He has a glorious habit of smashing our tidy, respectable, and often ethnocentric little boxes.
The Text
Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” But Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from heaven, and it came right down to me, and when looking closely at it, I was observing it and saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the sky. And I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise up, Peter; slaughter and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing defiled or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider defiled.’ And this happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into heaven. And behold, immediately three men appeared at the house in which we were, having been sent to me from Caesarea. And the Spirit told me to go with them without taking issue at all. These six brothers also went with me and we entered the man’s house. And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is also called Peter; and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could prevent God’s way?” And when they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
(Acts 11:1-18 LSB)
The Indictment (v. 1-3)
The news of Peter's mission travels faster than he does, and a welcoming committee is waiting for him, but not with open arms.
"Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him, saying, 'You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.'" (Acts 11:1-3 LSB)
Notice the two-part report that reaches Jerusalem. First, the good news: "the Gentiles also had received the word of God." This should have been a cause for universal rejoicing. The promises to Abraham were being fulfilled. But the second part of the report eclipses the first. When Peter arrives, the "circumcision party" confronts him. The word for "took issue" is a strong one; it means they contended with him, they brought a charge against him.
And what is the charge? Not that he preached to Gentiles. They seem to have grudgingly accepted that. The charge is, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them." Table fellowship. This was the line in the sand. To eat with someone in that culture was to accept them, to have fellowship with them. To share a table with a Gentile was to become ceremonially unclean. For these men, Peter had not just broken a rule; he had compromised the holiness of the people of God. He had blurred the lines. They were guardians of the old covenant boundaries, and Peter had just dynamited a hole in the wall.
This is a recurring temptation for the people of God: to elevate our traditions and our boundary markers, even biblical ones from a previous era, above the present, living, and active work of the Holy Spirit. They had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They honored the law but failed to see that the Lawgiver was on the move.
Peter's Orderly Defense (v. 4-14)
Peter does not respond with anger or pull apostolic rank. He patiently lays out the evidence. He knows that this is a critical moment, and the unity of the church is at stake. His defense is a simple recitation of the facts, showing that at every step, he was not the initiator, but the one being led, even dragged, by God.
"But Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence..." (Acts 11:4 LSB)
His defense rests on a series of divine interventions. First, the vision (vv. 5-10). While praying, a sheet descends from heaven filled with unclean animals. A voice commands him to kill and eat. Peter's response is reflexive and pious: "By no means, Lord." He has kept kosher his whole life. But the divine rebuke is foundational for the new covenant: "What God has cleansed, no longer consider defiled." This happens three times, for emphasis. The lesson is clear: God is the one who defines clean and unclean, and He is redefining the terms. The dietary laws were a temporary object lesson, pointing to the need for holiness. But now that the reality, Christ, has come, the shadow is no longer necessary. More than that, the vision was not ultimately about shrimp and bacon; it was about people. God was cleansing the Gentiles.
Second, the divine appointment (vv. 11-12). Immediately after the vision, three Gentiles show up at his door. The timing is impeccable. Peter is not left to wonder what the vision meant. And just in case he was tempted to hesitate, the Holy Spirit gives him a direct command: "The Spirit told me to go with them without taking issue at all." The Greek phrase means "making no distinction." Peter is commanded to stop distinguishing between Jew and Gentile. He also wisely takes six Jewish believers with him as witnesses. This was not a solo mission.
Third, the angelic confirmation (vv. 13-14). When they arrive at Cornelius's house, they hear his side of the story. An angel had appeared to him and told him to send for Peter, who would bring a message of salvation for him and his entire household. So, God had been working on both ends of the line simultaneously. This was not Peter's idea, and it was not Cornelius's idea. This was a divine setup from start to finish.
The Unanswerable Climax (v. 15-17)
Peter now comes to the capstone of his argument, the evidence that silences all opposition.
"And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning... Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us... who was I that I could prevent God’s way?" (Acts 11:15, 17 LSB)
This is the master stroke. While Peter was still preaching, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles. This was a Gentile Pentecost. And Peter explicitly links it to the original Pentecost: "just as He did upon us at the beginning." They received the same Spirit, in the same way, with the same evidence of tongues and praise. God had given them the ultimate sign of inclusion in the new covenant people. He had baptized them with the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus had promised.
Peter's final question is a rhetorical checkmate: "Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could prevent God’s way?" To argue with Peter now was to argue with God. To reject these Gentiles was to reject the manifest work of the Holy Spirit. Peter is saying, "I was just following orders. My hands were tied. God authenticated them directly. Are you men going to stand against God?"
The Godly Response (v. 18)
To their immense credit, the circumcision party yields. Their zeal for the law gives way to submission to the Lord of the law.
"And when they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, 'Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.'" (Acts 11:18 LSB)
This is a model for how theological disputes should be handled in the church. Peter presents the evidence from Scripture and from God's clear work in the world. The opposition listens. They see that God is at work. They fall silent, and that silence turns into praise. They change their minds. They repent of their narrow vision and glorify God for His expansive grace.
Their conclusion is magnificent: "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life." They understand that salvation is a gift from start to finish. Even repentance is a grant from God. It is not something we muster up. God gives it. And He was now giving this gift freely to the nations, apart from the works of the Mosaic law.
Conclusion: Keeping Up with God
The implications of this event are world-altering. The middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile has been broken down in Christ (Ephesians 2:14). The one new man is being formed. The olive tree of God's covenant people is now receiving wild branches, grafted in by faith alone.
But the lesson for us is not simply historical. The temptation of the circumcision party is a perennial one. It is the temptation of traditionalism, the temptation to fossilize the faith, to worship our own neat systems and boundaries rather than the living God who is always pushing His kingdom into new territory. We do this when we make our cultural preferences, our political affiliations, or our racial identities the basis of fellowship. We do it when we insist that God can only work through our approved methods and our respectable channels.
The church must always be on guard against a spirit that would hinder God. We must be a people whose first question is not "Is this how we've always done it?" but rather, "Is God in this?" Peter's defense was to point to the undeniable work of the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit of God is giving new life, where repentance is being granted, where men and women are believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must not stand in the way. We must not demand that they become like us first, that they adopt our cultural trappings before we will eat with them.
God's grace is a wild, untamable river. Our job is not to build dams, but to dig channels. The question Peter asked still echoes down to us today. When God is clearly on the move, bringing His salvation to the ends of the earth, who are we to stand in His way? May we, like the believers in Jerusalem, have the grace to quiet down, glorify God, and rejoice that He is a God who grants repentance unto life to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.