What made Peter finally break his silence at the Acts 15 council?
God sovereignly reminded him of what he had experienced twelve years earlier at Cornelius's house, where Gentiles were saved. That memory compelled Peter to rise after much disputing and defend Paul's position, insisting the law was an unbearable yoke neither fathers nor they could bear.
Les teaches that Peter had been silent through the first part of the controversy in Acts 15. Then, sovereignly, God reminded him of what he had experienced twelve years earlier at the house of Cornelius. Peter, the law-keeping Jew, had not wanted to go from Jaffa to Caesarea, but God forced it for this situation. Had Peter not seen Gentiles saved in Acts 10, he likely would not have come to Paul's defense, and Christianity might have stopped in its tracks. But God's sovereignty would not allow that. So after much disputing, Peter rose up and recounted how God had chosen that Gentiles should hear the gospel by his mouth and believe. He then asked why they should tempt God by putting on the disciples a yoke—the law—that neither the fathers nor they were able to bear.
And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
More Questions
When did the events of Acts 15 take place?
Acts 15 took place around 52 A.D., about 12 years after Peter's visit to the house of Cornelius and about 15 years after Paul's Damascus road experience.