JBF Acts Bible Study                                                                                Lecture 12

God Has Granted even the Gentiles Repentance unto Life

Acts 10:23b-11:30

Key Verse 11:18

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."

Read 10:23b-33. What do Cornelius' actions show about him (see verses 24-25; 33)? What evidence do we find here that Peter had sincerely changed his attitude toward the Gentiles (see verses 26-29)? What role did God play in this meeting (see verses 28b and 30-32)?

Read 10:34-43. What did Peter realize about God? What are the key points of Peter's message? What can we learn here about what it takes to be a witness of Jesus? Read 10:44-48. How did God remove all doubt from the "circumcised believers" about his acceptance of the Gentiles? What does this event show about the work of salvation?

 Read 11:1-18. What was the first response of the circumcised believers in Jerusalem to the news that the Gentiles had received the word of God (see verses 1-3)? How did Peter answer this criticism (verses 4-17)? What happened when the believers in Jerusalem heard the full story of God's work among the Gentiles? What do you think the significance of this event is in Christian history?

Read 11:19-22. How did the good news about Jesus spread to the Greeks (verses 19-20)? How did God support this work (verse 21)? How did the church at Jerusalem respond when they heard this news (verse 22)? How did Cornelius' conversion pave the way for this work?

Read 11:23-30. Why was Barnabas a good choice for strengthening the young Antioch church? How did Saul come into the picture? How did the Gentile churches help the believers in Judea?

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