When
there had been much discussion, Peter rose up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that a good while ago God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the nations should hear the word of the Good News, and believe. God, who knows the heart, testified about them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just like he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you tempt God, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”
Acts 15:7-11
Acts 15 [5.] But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
Acts 15 [6.] The apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter. When there had been much discussion, Peter rose up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that a good while ago God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the nations should hear the word of the Good News, and believe. God, who knows the heart, testified about them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just like he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you tempt God, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”
Acts 15 [12.] All the multitude kept silence, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul reporting what signs and wonders God had done among the nations through them. After they were silent, James answered, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has reported how God first visited the nations, to take out of them a people for his name. This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,
Meaning:
The apostles and elders met in Jerusalem to consider whether Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses (Acts 15:6). After long debate Peter stood up. This is his last speech recorded in Acts. He does not argue from theory but from what God had already done, and he ends with one of the clearest statements of the Good News in the book.
- “By my mouth the nations should hear the word of the Good News”
Peter reminds the council of Cornelius, the Roman centurion at Caesarea. Peter had gone to his house only after a vision and a direct call from God, and had said, “Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism; but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34). That event was some years earlier, “a good while ago,” and the Jerusalem church had accepted it.
- “God, who knows the heart, testified about them”
People can judge only by outward signs such as circumcision, but “man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). The believers had prayed to the Lord “who know the hearts of all men” (Acts 1:24). God showed that he accepted the Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit “just like he did to us.” At Caesarea “the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word,” and the Jewish believers were amazed (Acts 10:44). Peter had already drawn the conclusion: “If then God gave to them the same gift as us… who was I, that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17).
- “He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith”
Circumcision was an outward cleansing and mark. God had given the Gentiles something deeper, a cleansing of the heart, and he had done it through faith, not through ritual. Paul makes the same point: “There is neither Jew nor Greek… for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
- “Why do you tempt God, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the disciples”
To tempt God is to test him by questioning what he has clearly shown, as Israel did at Massah: “You shall not tempt Yahweh your God” (Deuteronomy 6:16). God had already accepted the Gentiles; to demand more would be to challenge his decision. Peter calls the law, taken as the way to be accepted by God, a yoke. Jesus had criticised teachers who “bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne” (Matthew 23:4), and he offered a different yoke: “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Paul would warn, “don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). Peter is not despising the law, which was holy, but admitting that no one had kept it perfectly.
- “We are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are”
One would expect Peter to say that the Gentiles are saved just as the Jews are. He reverses it: we Jews are saved in the same way as they are, by grace. Paul later wrote to the Galatians that “a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16). He wrote, “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
The Significance of Acts 15:7-11
- One way of salvation
There is not one way for insiders and another for outsiders. All people, whatever their background, come to God the same way: through the grace of the Lord Jesus, received by faith.
- Learning from what God has done
Peter’s argument rests on God’s clear action. When God has plainly shown his will, his people should follow it, even when it challenges long-held customs.
Cross-References:
Acts 10:34: "Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism." Peter’s lesson at the house of Cornelius.
1 Samuel 16:7: "For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart." God judges the heart.
Matthew 11:30: "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." The yoke of Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Salvation by grace.
Conclusion: At the Jerusalem council Peter reminded everyone that God had chosen him to bring the Good News to the Gentiles, and that God had given them the Holy Spirit just as he had given it to the Jewish believers. To make them carry the yoke of the law would be to test God. Jews and Gentiles alike are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible