|
The
Way To Handle All Controversy
When the apostle Peter arrived back in Jerusalem from his visit to
Cornelius’ house, Jewish Christians took issue with him. Peter had been
shown, both by a vision and a special demonstration of the Holy Spirit,
that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles, but his Jewish
brethren didn’t know this. “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate
with them!” they charged, a thing they felt ought not to have been
done. As far as they knew, the gospel was meant only for the Jews.
Peter began to explain the events “in order from the beginning”
that led him to Cornelius’ house. He spoke about his vision in Joppa of
the “great sheet,” and the voice that came from heaven which
said, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” He told
of the Spirit’s instruction to go with Cornelius’ men to Caesarea. He
also related how “the Holy Spirit fell upon” Cornelius‘ household
“as upon us,” he said, “at the beginning.” Then Peter
concluded, “If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us
when we believed on the Lord Jesus, who was I that I could withstand
God?”
Listen to the words of the next verse: “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 11:1-18).
Beloved, THAT is the way to handle all controversy! Here were
people (Jewish Christians) who since childhood had been taught that the
Gentile races were defiled and unclean, a people with whom there was to
be no social interaction. Yet it appears that with one simple
explanation from Peter, centuries of racial prejudice melted away.
“They became silent; and they glorified God” -- and they accepted
these Gentile converts as their brethren.
“How could this change in attitude toward the Gentiles happen so
quickly?” you ask. I’ll tell you how. It happened because of the
attitude of these disciples toward the truth. This was Peter speaking, a
chosen ambassador of the Christ. They might have questioned Peter’s
actions, but when he revealed what God had clearly shown him about the
matter, they accepted it wholeheartedly as the truth. They “welcomed
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God”
(1 Thessalonians 2:13).
I would to God that we all would have this same disposition
toward the truth. Is there some controversy we’re having with someone
over some spiritual question? Does the New Testament (“the apostles’
doctrine,“ Acts 2:42) speak concerning the issue? If so, would we
argue with what God’s word says? Would we try to reason away what the
text plainly reveals? Or, rather, would we “become silent and glorify
God”?
The Bible, and a humble attitude toward it by all disputants, is
the way to end all controversy.
--Mike Noble
|
