GOD ACCEPTS JEWS AND GENTILES BY GIVING THEM THE HOLY SPIRIT

Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch. Some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers that unless they adhered to the ancient Jewish custom of circumcision, they could not be saved. Paul and Barnabas argued and discussed this with them at length, and finally the believers sent them to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local men, to talk to the apostles and elders there about this question. After the entire congregation had escorted them out of the city, the delegates went on to Jerusalem, stopping along the way in the cities of Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers, telling them much to everyone’s joy that the Gentiles, too, were being converted. Arriving in Jerusalem, they met with the church leaders all the apostles and elders were present and Paul and Barnabas reported on what God had been doing through their ministry. But then some of the men who had been Pharisees before their conversion stood to their feet and declared that all Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow all the Jewish customs and ceremonies. So the apostles and church elders set a further meeting to decide this question. At the meeting, after long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you long ago to preach the Good News to the Gentiles so that they also could believe. God, who knows men’s hearts, confirmed the fact that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he gave him to us. He made no distinction between them and us, for he cleansed their lives through faith, just as he did ours. Don’t you believe that all are saved the same way, by the free gift of the Lord Jesus?” FRIENDS, WE ARE ACCEPTED BY OUR FAITH IN JESUS WHO WAS THE PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS. 1 John 4:10, In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but his love for us when he sent his Son Jesus to satisfy God’s anger against our sins.