And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him,
2. They reasoned with him. Obstinacy doth for the most part accompany error. This was now a fault having in it too gross ignorance, in that they did not quietly receive the Gentiles into their bosom, united to them by the same Spirit of faith. But they do not only leap back, but also contend with Peter contentiously, and blame him for his fact, which deserved great praise.
We Gentiles sit in darkness until the gospel reaches us, and that is cause for joy. Yet here the Jerusalem church hears this news with shock, as though they had not been commanded to preach to every creature. Pride and bigotry hold fast against the clearest discoveries of divine truth.
AI summary
Commenting on Acts 11:1-18
And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem,.... From Caesarea, after he had stayed some certain days in Cornelius's house; so a journey from Caesarea to Jerusalem is called an ascending from the one to the other, Act 25:1 because Jerusalem stood on higher ground, as well as was the metropolis of the country; and this was a journey of six hundred furlongs, or seventy...