May 1927
303
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
International Lesson Commentary
HI! Heart of the Lesson—K.L.B. Devotional—Selected Writers Little Folk—Mabel L. Merrill
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Judea, but all nations. Bear in mind that it was Peter, and not Paul, who had the first vision of a church in which Jew and Gentile should be united. Cornelius informed Peter of the vision he had received (vs. 30-33) and Peter, matching it with his own vision, said: “I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, he that fear- eth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him” (vs. 34-35). To Paul, the special apostle :to the Gentiles, this same truth is revealed later—“that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel" (Eph. 3:6). Note carefully that Paul claimed no monopoly on this truth, but recognized that it had already been “revealed unto His holy apostles” . (Eph. 3 :5). It should be observed that Peter preach ed to these Gentiles the identical Gospel he had been preaching to the Jews—- “peace through Jesus Christ" (v. 36). That is the sum of Gospel truth as de fined by Paul. “He is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us” (Eph. 2:14). There- is a false peace of superstition, of ignorance, of sentimental self-religion, but there is only one true and lasting peace—that which has its origin in the love of God and its basis in the blood of Christ. Peter fully unfolds this message of peace; in v. ;38, showing that the life of the divine Son, His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection are all essential tO it. -, “Whosoever believeth in Him shall re ceive remission of sins" (v. 43). This is the first occurrence of the word “who soever" iff this book, although at Pente cost Peter had seen that this Gospel of salvation was not for Jew alone, but for “all” (Cp. Acts 11:18). As Peter preached, the Holy Spirit fell upon the company. It was the Gentile Pentecost, although not accompanied with all the miraculous signs of that occasion. Thus the Spirit sealed the salvation of this first Gentile household. The door was now wide open to the world. Christianity ceased to be a Jewish sect. It never could have attracted the world-as such. The door of the fold had from the first'been marked by our Lord.— “WHOSOEVER” (Jn. 3 :16). —o— P ith and P oint Peter fell asleep a sectarian and woke up a cosmopolitan. • When sincere prayers go up and alms go out, blessings are sure to come down (v. 2). An angel from heaven cannot show the way to heaven (vs. 3, 4). It takes a re deemed man to do that. There would be many more devout sol diers if there were more devout command ers (v. 7). Covet not to eat your spiritual morsels alone. Note what Cornelius did (v. 24).
J une 5, 1927 Peter Preach ing to th e G en tiles L esson T ext —Acts 10:30-48
READING of the entire 10th chapter of Acts is essential to the understand-
•ficulty to the mind of a Jew that the Gen tiles should be admitted at once, without passing through the door of Judaism into the church. God had to put His right hand on Cornelius and His left hand on Peter, and bring the two together. As Cornelius’ servants drew near to Joppa, Peter was on the housetop having his devotions. He fell into a trance (v. 10). -He saw heaven opened and a great sheet descending. In it were all manner of beasts and creeping things and fowls. What a unique symbol of universal hu manity! (Rev. 7:9). A voice bids Peter to kill and eat some of these creatures- (v, 14). Instantly there flashed into mind the Mosaic restrictions which differentiated the Jew from all other nations (Lev. 11:20-25). It was a new idea to Peter and he objected. " Not so. Lord—I have never eaten anything common or unclean”iii(y. 14). We may honor him for not wanting to obey a vis ion that seemed to contradict the written Word. Three times the heavenly speaker had to repeat the message. Peter w.as in the school of Christ, learning the “no differ ence" doctrine. “The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference” (Rom. 3:22). “There is neither Greek nor Jew, cir cumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free” (Col. 3:11). Jew and Gentile had united in rejecting Christ and killing Him. There was no need to be separated after this. All alike were guilty and needed salvation. The Church of Christ is a conglomerate mix ture of clean and unclean, made clean by the blood of the Lamb, united by the Holy Spirit. This is what Peter learned from the great sheet let down from heaven. God always matches a vision with an opportunity. He wisely times our prepar ations. As Peter was pondering the mean ing of it all, in came three men from Cor nelius, an unclean Gentile (vs. 17-19). The Spirit impressed him at once that he was to go with these men (v. 20). The events of our lives are often interesting commentaries on the impressions we have had. The next day Peter, with brethren from Joppa, left for Caesarea (v. 23). The mor row after, he went in to Cornelius (v. 27). That ended the strictly Jewish phase of the Church. The history of the Church began at Pentecost. The materials of it were left on the ground when Jesus, as cended to heaven, but stood out of or ganic relation until the Holy Spirit was outpoured. It had been made clear before the ascension (Acts 1 :8) that the “living stones” of this spiritual temple were to be quarried out, not only in Jerusalem and
ing.of this lesson, chapter 9 shows us
The closing verse of Peter stopping at the home of one Simon, a tanner, at Joppa. This far he had got ten on the road to the Gentiles. G od was leading Peter in :'s t r a n g e ways. To find a stub born J ew stopping
with a tanner is indeed to come down sev eral pegs. The next we know, we’ll find Peter going after the despised heathen. The ancient rabbis said: “It is impossible for the world to do without tanners, but woe to the man who is one.” There was even an ancient law that if a man married without telling that he was a tanner, the wife could get separation. Behold, down to Joppa come three men to bid Peter to come to Caesarea and lead a Gentile centurion, one Cornelius, to Christ. Caesarea, a military stronghold, naval arsenal of the Roman Empire, would seem to be the last place on earth to look for the first Gentile Christian. But that was God’s plan, and an army officer of Roman blood was prepared in heart by the Spirit of God to receive the message. The word of Jesus: “Other sheep have 1 which are not of this fold,” begins to be fulfilled. Cornelius was already more or less re ligious—but unsaved ! He said prayers regularly and was a good giver (v. 2). He was a man who lived up to his light and sought more. More men would have the full truth revealed to them if they -would live up to the simple truths about God that they already know. Cornelius’ yearning after the dimly known God was a stepping stone to Christ and conscious salvation. A vision came to him. God knew what was needed to make his experience com plete. He was strangely impressed to send to Joppa for a Jew to teach him how to get saved (vs. 4-6). A human instru ment there must be in every conversion. Christians have the honor of delivering a message that no angel can deliver. What a test of this great man’s willing ness to be taught ! Could he take a mes sage from a Jew —who was lodging with a'tanner? But there is another considera tion—will the Jew be willing to deliver it to a Gentile and a Roman soldier? Peter at Pentecost had declared under the Spirit’s inspiration that the Gospel was “for all that are afar off.” It seems, however, that the idea that this should take in the heathen who knew nothing of Mosaic law and ritual, had not laid hold of him. We can hardly realize the dif-
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