Acts 13 Gentile Salvation without Circumcision 9:32-10:48

Hi folks,

It's kinda cold out there, but we'll be warm in Bible class! Tonight we turn to Peter as Luke's report of his ministry starts to close and Paul's takes center stage. This is a fascinating section, especially Acts 10 where Peter goes to the Gentile Centurion's home. Centurion's were military men. They had authority orientation. They were some of the most receptive people to Christ's message in the Gospels, and now we find another one in Acts.

There are some schools of thought that think that this Centurion and his household were already OT believers, and Acts 10 is just showing how they were brought into the church. However, that doesn't fit well with Acts 10:44, 45 compared with Acts 11:14, 17 and 18. These verses show that the words Peter spoke were words by which they would "be saved." At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 when this comes up, Peter reports on his preaching at the Centurion's house saying "that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction betweeen us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith." There is no way that is describing OT believers being brought into the church. That is describing unbelievers being brought into the church.

Another interesting thing in tonight's passage is the description of some at Lydda who "turned" to the Lord. This is obviously a term that is interchangeable with faith or believing. In fact, a few verses later it says of another group that they "believed." There are not a lot of terms that are interchangeable with believe or faith, but there are some; receive (John 1:12-13); repent (Acts 2:38, 44); "believed turned" (Acts 11:21). I usually just say "believe" since the term "repent" is loaded with Latin ideas like "do penance, turn from sin," when all it means is "change of mind or thinking." The idea in "turned" is also something that is inherent to faith. When you have faith you have confidence in someone or something because they are reliable. Before you have faith you didn't have that confidence, now you do, that means you "turned," so it is interchangeable idea with "faith" or inherent in "faith."

Enough to think about for now. We may not get through this entire section, but it's a long one and a great one. It was the day that uncircumcised Gentiles entered the church on equal spiritual footing with Jews. They entered as anyone else today, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it! That's the GOOD NEWS!

Hope to see you tonight. See the attached notes.

Grace to you,
Jeremy

Attachment:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DfxpFdREbhm797RKIvQUCM7X0nXDbKw-/view?usp=share_link