Sermon Tone Analysis

ME: ORIENTATION: FIND COMMON GROUND WITH THE AUDIENCE

I would like to ask you to change your seats.

You can sit up on the platform if you like.

WE: IDENTIFICATION (MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU STRUGGLE)

One thing that makes us feel uncomfortable is change of any kind.

In truth everything is changing.

I had this picture taken the other day.

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GOD: ILLUMINATION (THE GOAL IS TO RESOLVE THE TENSION

I.

The call of Jesus in the filling of the spirit.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Rather they are to receive the enablement that God will give in the Spirit.

They will be Jesus’s witnesses from Jerusalem to the end of the earth.

The Spirit is tied to power (δύναμιν, dynamin), which refers here to being empowered to speak boldly by testifying to the message of God’s work through Jesus.

You will receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

This is the “power (dynamis) from on high,” of which Christ spoke in .

49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.

But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

you will be witnesses to me.

This statement sums up the main theme of Acts; the apostles are to give testimony to all peoples about what Jesus “did and taught” (1:1), in effect, about the Word of God that he preached: “In his name repentance for the forgiveness of sins shall be preached to all the nations—beginning from Jerusalem!

You are witnesses of this!”

II.

In trouble deep.

A. Complaint

What bothers those who object the most is that Peter and company have gone in and eaten with uncircumcised men (v.

3).

That such a level of table fellowship has taken place is quite likely, given that Peter and his group stayed with Cornelius for days and would have received the food of their host.

The question that is less than clear is whether Cornelius would have been sensitive enough not to insult his Jewish guests with unclean food

11 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.

Peter is criticized by those who were not there.

He to explain what has happened.

B. Visions 4-14

Table fellowship

Peter explains this in order:

the account here starts with Peter, since it comes from his point of view.

The conversation is also virtually word for word.

In the most direct witness form possible, Peter makes the decisive case for what God has done.

the account here starts with Peter, since it comes from his point of view.

The conversation is also virtually word for word.

In the most direct witness form possible, Peter makes the decisive case for what God has done

In this version, Peter says that nothing common or unclean has ever entered his mouth.

The expression “has come into [my] mouth” (εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ στόμα, eisēlthen eis to stoma) is like (also , ).

In he simply said that he had not eaten anything common or unclean.

It makes the point with emphasis

Peter says that he had this vision three times.

κοινός (koinos).

adj.

impure.

Describes that which is ritually or morally impure.

In , , the term refers to unclean hands before eating.

In Acts, the word is used to describe unclean animals (food) and by extension people (Gentiles; , ; ).

Paul uses the term three times in with reference to food.

Its use in refers to blatant sin that disregards Jesus’ blood.

In , both ritual and moral impurity may be in view, but moral impurity is emphasized by the context.1

1 Snyder, B. J. (2014).

Clean and Unclean.

D. Mangum, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, & R. Hurst (Eds.),

Lexham Theological Wordbook.

Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

9 Has made clean

καθαρίζω (katharizō).

vb. to cleanse, purify.

To cleanse someone from impurity, usually leprosy.

Peter closes his review of the vision by noting that the vision repeated itself three times before being drawn back up into heaven.

The expression “taken up” (ἀνεσπάσθη, anespasthē) appears only here and in in the NT.1

In the nt, this word often refers to the process of making someone or something ritually clean (e.g., ; ; ).

It also very often refers to the act of healing someone from leprosy, a disease which caused ritual uncleanness (e.g., ; ).

In the letters, the biblical authors use the term for spiritual purification (e.g., ; ; ).

In every case, the person is cleansed from impurity and restored to a purified state.

As the vision ended, the three men sent to Caesarea by Cornelius arrived at the home where Peter was staying.

The Spirit had told Peter to go with them, without hesitation, a point also made in with the description of going without doubting.

The expression literally “without discriminating” (μηδὲν διακρίναντα, mēden diakrinanta) means that no partiality should be exercised against them because they are Gentiles (10:34; 15:9).

So with six Jewish Christian brothers Peter went to Cornelius’s home.

As the vision ended, the three men sent to Caesarea by Cornelius arrived at the home where Peter was staying.

The Spirit had told Peter to go with them, without hesitation, a point also made in with the description of going without doubting.

The expression literally “without discriminating” (μηδὲν διακρίναντα, mēden diakrinanta) means that no partiality should be exercised against them because they are Gentiles (10:34; 15:9).

So with six Jewish Christian brothers Peter went to Cornelius’s home.

He does not mention that he hosted the Gentiles overnight.

The six men apparently are present to corroborate what Peter says.

There are seven witnesses in total, far beyond the normal two required.

The number of men Peter took is another detail not supplied in 10:23.

Cornelius saw an angel and sent to Joppa for Peter

13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household

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15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning

Fell: came upon them.

Of the Holy Spirit: comes upon someone

When Peter began to speak, the Spirit came upon (ἐπέπεσεν, epepesen) the group of Gentiles.

Peter is indicating here that the Spirit came before he finished speaking and without any initiative on his part, such as laying on of hands

III.

How will you argue with God

17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”

18 When they heard these things they fell silent.

And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

So the Spirit fell on the group as it had on the believers at Pentecost, what Peter calls “in the beginning”

Of the Holy Spirit: comes upon someone

Peter understood immediately what this meant.

This was part of the call in and fulfillment to the Gentiles.

The church grew and changed the world.

Conclusion