Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 11:2

διεκρίνοντο πρὸς αὐτόν, they contended with him. The verb is the same which is used (Acts 10:20), with a negative, μηδὲν διακρινόμενος, nothing doubting, and presently in this chapter (Acts 11:12) μηδὲν διακρίναντα making no difference. The contention of these opponents of Peter’s conduct was that the difference between Jew and Gentile should still be maintained, and that any close fellowship (such as was involved in living at the same board) with those who accepted Christianity otherwise than through the gate of submission to the Mosaic Law should be avoided. As the Jews felt it their duty (Acts 10:28) to behave towards Cornelius and such as he before they became Christians, so would the Judaizing feeling have prompted the Jewish Christians to deal with him still. And when we think on the prejudice which, by generations of ceremonial observance, had grown up among the Jews, we cannot wonder greatly at what they did. A whole nation is not brought to a change of feeling in a day.

οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς, they that were of the circumcision. This must have been the whole Church, at the time when the event occurred, for there were no Christians as yet except Jews and proselytes. But St Luke’s narrative was compiled at a time when ‘they that were of the circumcision’ had become a distinct party, and when their influence had begun to work division in the Christian societies. He therefore employs a name which when he wrote was full of significance, although it had its origin only in the circumstances to which he here applies it. Those who had been born Jews and knew of Jesus as conforming to the Law, and who had not heard of Peter’s vision nor seen the gift of the Holy Ghost to Cornelius and his friends, as those who had been with Peter had done, were to be pardoned, if their scruples caused them to question the conduct of the Apostle at this time; yet when they heard his story they were satisfied (see Acts 11:18), but many Jewish Christians elsewhere continued to make this subject a cause of contention. See Acts 15:1.

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 11:2

Old Testament

New Testament