Basic HTML Version
226
The Story of Redemption
with joy. Truth is onward. Truth is upward. On the other hand, those
who claim that their faith alone will save them are trusting to a rope
of sand, for faith is strengthened and made perfect by works only.
The Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit
Peter preached Jesus to that company of attentive hearers; His
life, ministry, miracles, betrayal, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascen-
sion, and His work in heaven, as man’s Representative and Advocate,
to plead in the sinner’s behalf. As the apostle spoke, his heart glowed
with the Spirit of God’s truth which he was presenting to the people.
His hearers were charmed by the doctrine they heard, for their hearts
had been prepared to receive the truth. The apostle was interrupted
by the descent of the Holy Ghost, as was manifested on the day
of Pentecost. “And they of the circumcision which believed were
astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles
also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them
speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can
any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have
received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to
be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry
certain days.”
The descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Gentiles was not an
equivalent for baptism. The requisite steps in conversion, in all
cases, are faith, repentance, and baptism. Thus the true Christian
church are united in one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Diverse
temperaments are modified by sanctifying grace, and the same dis-
tinguishing principles regulate the lives of all. Peter yielded to the
entreaties of the believing Gentiles, and remained with them for a
[290]
time, preaching Jesus to all the Gentiles thereabout.
When the brethren in Judea heard that Peter had preached to the
Gentiles, and had met with them and eaten with them in their houses,
they were surprised and offended by such strange movements on his
part. They feared that such a course, which looked presumptuous
to them, would tend to contradict his own teachings. As soon as
Peter visited them, they met him with severe censure, saying, “Thou
wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.”