15:6 Evidently a large group of people observed the meeting that the church convened to debate the issue (vv. 12, 22).609
15:7-9 First, spokesmen for each side presented arguments pro and con. Then Peter rose and reminded those assembled that several years earlier God had chosen him as the person from whom Gentiles (i.e., Cornelius and his friends) should hear the gospel. Then God gave them His Spirit as soon as they believed in Jesus Christ. They did nothing but believe and they received the Holy Spirit, the sign of their acceptance by God. This is the same thing that had taken place among the Jews on the day of Pentecost.
15:10 Requiring that Gentiles become Jews before God would save them would test God in that it would question the rightness of His action in giving the Spirit to Cornelius. When a Gentile became a Jewish proselyte, the Jew in charge of the ceremony said the Gentile now took up the yoke of the kingdom of heaven (cf. Matt. 23:4; Gal. 5:1).610Peter said this yoke, the Mosaic Covenant, was a burden that was both unbearable and improper (cf. Matt. 11:29-30).
15:11 By referring to the Jews being saved in the same manner as the Gentiles, instead of vise versa, Peter repudiated any thought of Jewish superiority. Clearly he had recovered from his temporary lapse at Syrian Antioch (Gal. 2:11-14). Salvation is by grace (v. 11) through faith (v. 9) plus nothing.
