Gentile Salvation Defended

11 The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. ² When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him,^{(A) 3} saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”^(B)

⁴ Peter began to explain to them step by step, ⁵ “I^(C) was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a trance, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me. ⁶ When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. ⁷ I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸ “‘No, Lord!’ I said. ‘For nothing impure or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹ But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’

¹⁰ “Now this happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven. ¹¹ At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were. ¹² The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house.^{(D) 13} He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. ¹⁴ He will speak a message to you by which you and all your household^(E) will be saved.’

¹⁵ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning.^{(F) 16} I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’^{(G) 17} If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?” ^(H)

¹⁸ When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”^(I)