[FONT="]Peter Defends His Actions to the Jerusalem Church[/FONT]
[FONT="]11:1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted
1 the word of God.
2 11:2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem,
3 the circumcised believers
4 took issue with
5 him, 11:3 saying, “You went to
6 uncircumcised men and shared a meal with
7 them.” 11:4 But Peter began and explained it to them point by point,
8 saying, 11:5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision,
9 an object something like a large sheet descending,
10 being let down from heaven
11 by its four corners, and it came to me. 11:6 As I stared
12 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles,
13 and wild birds.
14 11:7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; slaughter
15 and eat!’ 11:8 But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord, for nothing defiled or ritually unclean
16 has ever entered my mouth!’ 11:9 But the voice replied a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not consider
17 ritually unclean!’ 11:10 This happened three times, and then everything was pulled up to heaven again. 11:11 At that very moment,
18 three men sent to me from Caesarea
19 approached
20 the house where we were staying.
21 11:12 The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers
22 also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 11:13 He informed us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, 11:14 who will speak a message
23 to you by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ 11:15 Then as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on
24 them just as he did
25 on us at the beginning.
26 11:16 And I remembered the word of the Lord,
27 as he used to say,
28 ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
29 11:17 Therefore if God
30 gave them the same gift
31 as he also gave us after believing
32 in the Lord Jesus Christ,
33 who was I to hinder
34 God?” 11:18 When they heard this,
35 they ceased their objections
36 and praised
37 God, saying, “So then, God has granted the repentance
38 that leads to life even to the Gentiles.”
39
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