What did Simeon declare about God and the Gentiles in Acts 15:14?
Scripture records Simeon declaring that God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. This calling out of a Gentile people preceded God's return to rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David, which James cites the prophets as agreeing with.
Les explains that Acts 15:14 comes within James's statement after the dispute over whether Gentiles could be saved without circumcision and law keeping. James and the others became convinced that Paul was on the right track. Simeon declared that God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. After this calling out of a Gentile people, God will return and build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down. Verse 17 adds that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles. Les notes this had never been mooted before, tied to the Gospel that Paul would present to the Gentile world, which had been kept secret.
Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
More Questions
How is God taking a people out of the Gentiles in Acts 15:14?
God's taking 'a people for his name' out of the Gentiles is not a mass conversion; He takes them here and there, one at a time.
What does James mean by 'God at the first did visit the Gentiles' in Acts 15?
When James speaks of God having 'at the first' visited the Gentiles, he means the first approach to Gentiles after Paul's conversion, in the chapter right after Saul's conversion on the road to Damascus.