Peter Defends His Actions

11 The apostles and brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. ² When Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who insisted on circumcision criticized him, ³ saying, “You went to visit men who were uncircumcised and ate with them!”

⁴ So Peter began to explain everything to them, point by point. He said, ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision in which an object like a large sheet was let down from heaven by its four corners. It came right to me. ⁶ When I inspected it very carefully, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷ I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!’

⁸ “But I replied, ‘Certainly not, Lord, for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹ “A voice spoke from heaven a second time: ‘What God has made clean, you must not continue to call unclean.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and then everything was pulled up into heaven again.

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 go with them without any hesitation. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he saw an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and call for Simon, the one called Peter. ¹⁴ He will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as he came down on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered how the Lord had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’^{[a] 17} So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to try to stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸ When they heard these things, they had no further objections, and they praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted repentance that results in life also to the Gentiles!”