Acts 11:2

"And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him"Come up to Jerusalem" With the six brethren that had accompanied him in the first place (Acts 11:12). Nothing in the text suggests that he had been "summoned" to Jerusalem, rather it appears that the above conflict arose when he came back after preaching in Caesarea. "The circumcision" These were Christians of. Jewish background. In view of the fact that these brethren came around to seeing that Peter was right (Acts 11:18), yea, even glorified God for the conversion of these Gentiles (Acts 11:18), it seems reasonable then that these brethren are not the same people who try to force Gentile converts to be circumcised years later (Acts 15:1; Acts 15:5). Those contending with Peter may have included the other apostles (Acts 11:1), because prior to the events of Acts chapter 10, Peter would have had the same serious reservations that these Jewish brethren presently have (Acts 10:14). In these early Chapter s we learn something about how God guided the apostles into all truth (John 16:13). They did not receive the total revelation from God all at once, but they received it as the church needed the instruction. All truth was revealed within their lifetime (Judges 1:3; 2 Peter 1:3; John 14:26 /Acts 16:13), hence no more revelation is being given. "Contended" "Took him to task" (Gspd). "Criticized him" (RSV). "The verb tense implies continuous or repeated argument. It must be remembered that the Christians at Jerusalem who were challenging Peter were going through the same struggle which Peter had gone through and they have not had any visions to help change and mold their attitudes and thinking as he had been granted" (Reese p. 408). "To separate oneself apart, to take sides against, to make. cleavage" (Boles p. 176). Seeing that Peter was so quickly challenged, we must take this as proof that the early disciples did not view Peter as the head of the church on earth. Barnes notes, "This is one of the circumstances which shows conclusively that the apostles and early Christians did not regard Peter as having any particular supremacy over the church, or as being any peculiar sense the 'vicar' of Christ upon earth" (pp. 180-183).