Acts 11:15-18

It was too small a thing that Lord JESUS came to save the Jews alone. He came to save the world. Anyone who believes in Him will not perish. In Him, with Him and in the power of the HOLY SPIRIT we will be raised from the dead and live eternally with Him. Just believe! All praise and honor to our God…Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

This section begins a bold new step in the mission of the church. The Samaritans were part Jewish; the Ethiopian eunuch and Cornelius were Jewish proselytes. Finally the Jewish Christians that made up the early church understood Jesus’ commission to them: they were to bring the gospel message to the Gentile too. NKJ Bible.

The Jewish Christians of Jerusalem were scandalized to learn of Peter’s sojourn in the house of the Gentile Cornelius. Nonetheless, they had to accept the divine directions given to both Peter and Cornelius. They concluded that the setting aside of the legal barriers between Jew and Gentile was an exceptional ordinance of God to indicate that the apostolic kerygma was also to be directed to the Gentiles. Only in Acts 15 at the “Council” in Jerusalem does the evangelization of the Gentiles become the official position of the church leadership in Jerusalem. Catholic Bible.

Kerygma (from the Greek keryssein, to proclaim, and keryx, herald) refers to the initial and essential proclamation of the gospel message.

Acts 11:15–18 (NKJV)

¹⁵ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”

¹⁸ When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”

Acts 15:8 (NKJV)

⁸ So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us,

Acts 15:9 (NKJV)

⁹ and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Isaiah 42:1 (NKJV)

42 “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,

My Elect One in whom My soul delights!

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.