Where Do We Go From Here

58 4. The Spirit’s testimony - Peter then goes on to recount how the Holy Spirit spoke directly to him to go with the men who arrived (v. 12). That this was in fact the Spirit is then confirmed when the man they visit says an angel had told him to expect Peter’s visit and to receive his gospel message (v. 13)! 5. Embodied testimony - Peter shares how the Spirit had “fallen upon” the Gentile believers, “just as it had upon us” (v 15). That is, there was a manifestation in their lives of the Spirit that was just like Peter’s. This manifestation demonstrated the authenticity of their conversion. 6. Scriptural testimony - Peter then remembers the words of Jesus, yet even here, there is a clear sense of evaluation when Peter says, “Who was I that I could hinder God?” (v. 17). What we see here is actually a very sophisticated and intricate story by Luke that captures the dynamic process by which the Jewish Christians came to change their mind. Note how the story is not actually about the abolition of the food laws, but about the inclusion of the Gentiles in the people of God. To agree to this watershed change, this break from tradition and all that was familiar and agreed upon for thousands of years, they took into account a raft of evidence, and evaluated each in turn. It is the combination of these forms of knowing and discerning and their coherence, their “hanging together”, that leads to the massive rethink about the Gentile’s inclusion among the people of God.