Acts 11:2

And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, AND WHEN PETER WAS COME UP TO JERUSALEM - probably hastening his return there, in order to report the great revolution which God had worked in his views about the Gentiles, and to meet any difficulties which might be felt on the subject. THEY THAT WERE OF THE CIRCUMCISION - the circumcised believers; but here probably referring to the zealots for circumcision including, not improbably, apostles as well as others....

2._They reasoned with him. _Obstinacy doth for the most part accompany error. This was now a fault having in it too gross ignorance, in that they did not quietly receive the Gentiles into their bosom, united to them by the same Spirit of faith. But they do not only leap back, but also contend with Peter contentiously, and blame him for his fact, which deserved great praise. They hear that the Gentiles have embraced the Word of God; what letteth them then from embracing them, that they may be coupled together (724) under the government of one God? For what more holy bond can there be, than when all men, with one consent, are coupled and joined to God? And why should not those grow together into one body who make the Messiah of God their head? But because they saw the external form of the law broken, they thought that heaven and earth did go together. (725) And note, tha

1-18 The imperfect state of human nature strongly appears, when godly persons are displeased even to hear that the word of God has been received, because their own system has not been attended to. And we are too apt to despair of doing good to those who yet, when tried, prove very teachable. It is the bane and damage of the church, to shut out those from it, and from the benefit of the means of grace, who are not in every thing as we are. Peter stated the whole affair. We should at all times bear with the infirmities of our brethren; and instead of taking offence, or answering with warmth, we should explain our motives, and show the nature of our proceedings. That preaching is certainly right, with which the Holy Ghost is given. While men are very zealous for their own regulations, they should take care that they do not withstand God; and those who love the Lord will glorify him, when m...

Verse Acts 11:2. _CONTENDED WITH HIM_] A manifest proof this that the _primitive_ Church at Jerusalem (and no Church can ever deserve this name but the Jerusalem Church) had no conception of St. Peter's _supremacy_, or of his being _prince of the apostles_. He is now called to account for his conduct, which they judged to be reprehensible; and which they would not have attempted to do had they believed him to be Christ's _vicar_ upon earth, and the infallible Head of the Church. But this absurd dream is every where refuted in the New Testament....

THEY THAT WERE OF THE CIRCUMCISION - Christians who had been converted from among the Jews. CONTENDED WITH HIM - Disputed; reproved him; charged him with being in fault. This is one of the circumstances which show conclusively that the apostles and early Christians did not regard Peter as having any particular supremacy over the church, or as being in any special sense the vicar of Christ upon earth. If he had been regarded as having the authority which the Roman Catholics claim for him, they would have submitted at once to what he had thought proper to do. But the earliest Christians had no such idea of Peter’s so-called authority. This claim for Peter is not only opposed to this place, but to every part of the New Testament....

EXPOSITION ACTS 11:1 _Now_ for _and_, A.V.; _the_ _brethren _for brethren, A.V.; _also had_ for _had also_, A.V, We can imagine how rapidly the news of the great revolution would travel to the metropolis of Jewish Christianity, and what a stir it would maim in that community. It does not appear what view James and the other apostles took. ACTS 11:2 THEY THAT WERE OF THE CIRCUMCISION. At first sight this phrase, which was natural enough in Acts 10:45, seems an unnatural one in the then condition of the Church, when all the members of it were "of the circumcision," and there were no Gentile converts

AND WHEN PETER WAS COME UP TO JERUSALEM,.... From Caesarea, after he had stayed some certain days in Cornelius's house; so a journey from Caesarea to Jerusalem is called an ascending from the one to the other, Acts 25:1 because Jerusalem stood on higher ground, as well as was the metropolis of the country; and this was a journey of six hundred furlongs, or seventy five miles, for so far, according to Josephus t, was Caesarea distant from Jerusalem: THEY THAT WERE OF THE CIRCUMCISION, which phrase designs not only the circumcised Jews that believed in Christ, for such were all they of the church at Jerusalem, or at least proselytes that had been circumcised, for as yet there were no uncircumcised Gentiles among them; but those of them, who were most strenuous for circumcision, and made it not only a bar of church communion, but even of civil conversation: these co

ACTS 11:2 o[te de. … peritomh/j {A} The text of several Western witnesses (D ifd, p vgmss syrh with * copG67) differs widely from that preserved in other witnesses. Codex Bezae reads o` me.n ou=n Pe,troj dia. i`kanou/ cro,nou hvqe,lhse poreuqh/nai eivj VIeroso,luma\ kai. prosfwnh,saj tou.j avdelfou.j kai. evpisthri,xaj auvtou,j( polu.n lo,gon poiou,menoj( dia. tw/n cwrw/n dida,skwn auvtou,j\ o]j kai. kath,nthsen auvtoi/j kai. avph,ggeilen auvtoi/j th.n ca,rin tou/ qeou/) oi` de. evk peritomh/j avdelfoi. diekri,nonto pro.j auvto,n (“Peter, therefore, for a considerable time wished to journey to Jerusalem; and having called to him the brethren and having strengthened them [he departed], speaking much throughout the country [an...

CHAPTER 11 _ 1. Peter's Defense in Jerusalem (Acts 11:1)._ 2. The Beginning of the Church in Antioch (Acts 11:19). 3. Barnabas sent to Antioch (Acts 11:22). 4. The Prophecy of Agabus (Acts 11:27). Peter silenced the objections of his brethren in Jerusalem by a rehearsal of his experience. Acts 11:19 connects with Acts 8:4. Antioch comes now into prominence as the great Gentile center of Christianity. A great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Then B

PETER DEFENDS HIS ACTION AT JERUSALEM. As Philip's action at Samaria (Acts 8:14), so here Peter's doings at Cæ sarea are reported at Jerusalem. The Samaritans were, in many respects, Jews, but Cornelius and his friends were not. Would the Mother Church agree to the offering of the Gospel to Gentiles? A variant in Acts 11:2 puts quite a different colour on the course of events. D, with ancient Syriac and Latin versions, reads: Now Peter wished for a considerable time to go to Jerusalem, and he called the brethren to him and confirmed them, speaking at length and teaching them from district to district, and he met them and announced to them the grace of God (_cf._ Acts 11:23) and the brethren of the circumcision disputed with him, etc. A