Acts chapter 11

vs 11

Peter continues to tell his story. The immediacy of their arrival to his vision is important to him.

vs 12

So Peter didn't go alone - some from the house he was staying in obviously went with him. So we have a few Christians at Cornelius' place, supporting Peter.

vs 13-14

What was Peter to say to that? How could he deny their request, if an angel spoke to them and named him specifically?

vs 15

You can't argue with this. The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit - it's not like they control it.

vs 16

While I think that it's awesome that Peter is quoting Jesus here, what does it actually mean? Is he saying that one replaces the other? Or that this is now the norm? I don't think so. I think the point he is making that this comes directly from Christ.

vs 17

This is the nub of the argument, really. Peter saw God working - how could he go against that?

vs 18

If only all arguments about changing from one thing to another could be sorted out so easily! But the argument isn't over yet. So far, the apostles and Jerusalem church have accept that gentiles can be Christians - great! But they still believe you've got to live like a Jew.

vs 19

That's pretty far, really. Especially since it's only been a few years. But overall, it sounds like they stuck to Jewish settlements.

vs 20

I think the coolest thing about this is that, although the apostles and muscle men (I'm thinking Philip) are the ones who start the 'reaching gentiles' thing and get it stamped with God's authority, it is just new Christians who decide "Let's do something different and reach these people who obviously need to hear, even though we're not sure if it's against the rules or not."

We can get so stuck in our own traditions, that we forget to innovate. Or we can get so focussed on a target group that we can forget that all groups need to hear the gospel. It's usually the people who are on the crest of the wave that want to innovate. And, in my experience, it is usually 'converts' who have the passion, and even then after being involved in the group for a while, that gets sapped away.