6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “ Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15:6-11, ESV - italics added)
God made a choice ... That by, specifically, Peter's mouth... Gentiles would hear and believe, (not just some people in a general group but,) specifically Cornelius[1] in Acts 10:30-45 as many as 10 years before the council; furthermore, God bore witness through Peter's mouth and poured out His Spirit on them. What we see here is one of the many places in scripture which God ordained to show both His sovereignty in salvific power as well as the means which He uses to do His saving work, namely the mouths/words of men. This awesome interplay leapt out of my bible at me last night. Calvin in his commentary on this passage says:
"You know. He calleth them to bear witness, ... lest any man should think that he is about to speak of some dark and doubtful thing. The history was well known to them all.....God did choose in us. The word choose doth signify to appoint or decree. Though Peter doth comprehend as well the free election of God as the choice whereby God did adopt the Gentiles to be His people; therefore, He chose, that is, as it were, making choice, that He might show a token of His free election in the Gentiles... For his meaning is, that he declareth nothing but that which they knew full well; which was done before their eyes.[2]"
"You know. He calleth them to bear witness, ... lest any man should think that he is about to speak of some dark and doubtful thing. The history was well known to them all.....God did choose in us. The word choose doth signify to appoint or decree. Though Peter doth comprehend as well the free election of God as the choice whereby God did adopt the Gentiles to be His people; therefore, He chose, that is, as it were, making choice, that He might show a token of His free election in the Gentiles... For his meaning is, that he declareth nothing but that which they knew full well; which was done before their eyes.[2]"
There are 5 things which I take away from this:
