How did Peter end up defending Paul at the Jerusalem council?
Peter came to Paul’s defense because God had earlier opened his eyes at the house of Cornelius, showing that Gentiles could be saved by simply believing without becoming proselytes of Judaism. At the Jerusalem council, that remembered experience enabled him to affirm God’s work among the Gentiles and support Paul.
Les explains that Paul had been called up to Jerusalem to answer these things. But Peter finally came to Paul’s defense, remembering that a good while earlier God had sent him to the house of Cornelius. There Peter’s eyes were opened to the fact that God could save Gentiles without their becoming proselytes of Judaism. In Acts chapter 15, after Peter shared with these Jews at Jerusalem, the multitude kept silence and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles. There had been an uproar, because the Jews were jealous of their relationship with Jehovah and could not reconcile these things. Les says God does everything sovereignly: had Peter not had that eye-opening experience at Cornelius, Paul would never have gotten off the hook, and Christianity would never have gotten off the ground. God had opened Peter’s eyes twelve years earlier to the fact that Gentiles could be saved by simply believing.
More Questions
Why was Paul called to the Jerusalem council in Acts 15?
Paul's preaching and taking the gospel to the Gentiles while he was at Antioch stirred up the Jerusalem believers, so they summoned him to Jerusalem for the Acts 15 council.
why did the jerusalem believers call paul to the acts 15 council
Because Paul had been ministering at Antioch and taking the gospel to the Gentiles, the Jerusalem believers became upset and called him down for the council of Acts 15.