At an official gathering of the Jerusalem church leaders, apostles and elders, there is much debate (compare 15:2). Finally Peter rises to speak. He begins by stressing the divine initiative in the inauguration of the Gentile mission. He reminds the church, alluding to the Cornelius incident, that some time ago (ten to twelve years) God chose him to be the mouthpiece by which Gentiles would hear the gospel and come to saving faith (10:33, 36, 43; 11:13-14). Next he points to the divine acceptance of the Gentiles: God, who knows the heart (1:24), a person's true spiritual state, gave the Holy Spirit to them as he had to Jewish believers at Pentecost (10:44-48; 11:15, 17). Here Peter strongly challenges the Jewish view that the only acceptable outward evidence of the conversion of Gentiles is their willingness to be circumcised and live as Jews. If God has taken initiative toward the Gentiles and accepted them for salvation, God's lack of prejudice against the Gentiles is obvious.

Peter draws a negative and positive conclusion from his experience with Cornelius and his household. Negatively, to insist on circumcision and living under the Jewish law is actually to put God to the test. Though secondarily this would be to call "into question [God's] power to cleanse the hearts of the uncircumcised by His Spirit" (Williams 1985:253), primarily it means tempting God to inflict punishment, even eternal condemnation, by placing the Gentile convert back in the "law performance" way of trying to relate to God. Taking on the yoke of the law and carrying it was a positive image in Judaism (m. Berakot 2:2; m. 'Abot 3:5). Peter here claims that with respect to obtaining salvation, the responsible keeping of the law is futile (Acts 13:38-39; Gal 3:10-12). Positively, using the Gentiles as the standard, Peter declares that it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that "we believe so as to be saved," just as they [the Gentiles] are (compare 2:21; 4:12; 14:3; 16:30-31).

We must let this simple truth sink deep into our hearts, for as Lloyd Ogilvie observes, "The struggle for faith alone never ends. It's a part of our own inability to accept a gift. And deeper than that: we want to be loved because of what we do for God" (1983:227).