Act 10:34, 11:18, 13:46-48 | PNT | STEP | Then Peter opened [his] mouth . The same preacher who, on the day of Pentecost, declared the conditions of salvation to the Jews now declares them for the first time to the Gentiles. To him Christ gave the keys of the kingdom ( ), and with them he opened its doors to both Jew and Gentile. I perceive that God is no respecter of persons . It has just dawned on him that Jew and Gentile are on the same footing in God's sight. Those who fear the Lord in any nation, of any race, will be accepted.

Acts 10:34

Then Peter opened [his] mouth. The same preacher who, on the day of Pentecost, declared the conditions of salvation to the Jews now declares them for the first time to the Gentiles. To him Christ gave the keys of the kingdom (Mt 16:19), and with them he opened its doors to both Jew and Gentile.

I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. It has just dawned on him that Jew and Gentile are on the same footing in God's sight. Those who fear the Lord in any nation, of any race, will be accepted.

Acts 11:18

They held their peace. Gave up the controversy. They were convinced by the account, and assured that

God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life; i.e., had removed the barriers in the way of the Gentiles repenting and finding life through Christ.

Acts 13:46-48

It was necessary. The preachers met this attitude of the Jews by boldly stating their purpose to turn from them to the Gentiles. It was God's will that the Gospel should first be offered to the chosen people. See Ac 1:8 3:26 Ro 1:16. While the chosen people were to have the first opportunity, yet "God had put no difference" (Ac 15:9) between Jew and Greek. As soon as the Jewish audiences manifested a self-willed, contradictory spirit, instead of engaging in idle disputation, the apostles were wont to turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded. It was not only the Lord's will that they should preach first to the Jews, but that they should then turn to the Gentiles. So the Lord had shown in their own prophets. Isa 49:6 is quoted, where Christ is declared to be "a light of the Gentiles", and appointed "for salvation to the ends of the earth"; a world Savior. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. Glad, not only that the gospel was offered to them, but that in sacred writings of the Jews, it was declared that the Gentiles should have the gospel. They, too, had always been embraced in God's plan of redemption.

As many as were ordained to eternal life. This passage has been used as a proof text for the extreme Calvinism that makes God arbitrarily select some for salvation and reject others, Wesley, on the other hand, says: ``The original word rendered "ordained" is not once used in the Scriptures to express eternal predestination of any kind. The sense if that those, and those only, now ordained, now believed. Not that God rejected the rest; it was his will that they also should be saved, but they thrust salvation from them. Nor were those who then believed "forced" to believe. Grace was offered to them and they did not thrust it away.'' It is God's ordination that those of humble, teachable, honest hearts, seeking the truth and life, shall come to life when it is offered, and such accepted the gospel on this occasion.

Believed. As Dean Howson says: "Made a public profession of their faith".