Audio Download

Acts 2:25-47 And Many Wonders and Signs were Done by the Apostles

[Study Aired December 11, 2022]

Act 2:25  For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Act 2:26  Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Act 2:27  Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Act 2:28  Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Act 2:29  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Act 2:30  Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
Act 2:31  He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
Act 2:32  This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Act 2:33  Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Act 2:34  For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
Act 2:35  Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Act 2:37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 2:39  For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Act 2:40  And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Act 2:41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Act 2:42  And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Act 2:43  And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
Act 2:44  And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
Act 2:45  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Act 2:46  And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Act 2:47  Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

We concluded our last study in the middle of Peter’s first sermon on the day of Pentecost, which was the day of the giving of the holy spirit and the day of the birth of the New Testament church. The gift of the holy spirit had been given and was displayed before all the people in Jerusalem by giving unlearned Galileans the ability to speak the wonderful works of God in all the languages of all the people who were present there that day. Peter had just reminded them of all the incredible signs and wonders which had accompanied the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, including the sun being darkened and the moon appearing to turn to blood. He told them that by “the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God [they had] by wicked hands… crucified and [had]slain [their own Lord and Savior]”

Here are the last three verses of our last study:

Act 2:22  Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Act 2:23  Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Act 2:24  Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

This first sermon to the Jews after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ took place on the day of Pentecost, and there were many “devout Jews” there from all over the Roman empire:

Act 2:5  And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

These devout Jews were there because it was required of them to appear at the temple in Jerusalem three times in the year:

Exo 23:14  Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Exo 23:15  Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, [1] in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt [Passover and the days of  unleavened bread]: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exo 23:16  And [2] the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field [Pentecost, 50 days after the waving of the wave sheaf during the days of unleavened bread]: and [3] the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field [The feast of Tabernacles, and The Last Great Day].
Exo 23:17  Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

Even though Christ Himself had “broken the sabbath” (Joh 5:18) and failed to show up on the first day of the feast of Tabernacles, as required by the law of Moses (Joh 7:8), the apostles of Christ were still keeping the “days, months, times and years” which the law of Moses required to be observed. Reforming any system requires time. This is “the time of reformation” in its early stages.

Heb 9:8  The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Knowing there were many Jews in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost who had never seen the “miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by [Christ]” let us note that Peter’s words concerning Christ and all He did are addressed to the “dwellers at Jerusalem [who had seen] the signs and wonders done by [Christ] among them”, and Peter says these words apply specifically to Christ:

Act 2:25  For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Act 2:26  Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Act 2:27  Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Act 2:28  Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

This is the Psalm Peter quoted:

Psa 16:8  I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Psa 16:9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
Psa 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Psa 16:11  Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Peter rightfully attributes this prophecy to the only person in history to whom it could apply. He attributes it to the only person whose body has never seen corruption, and who has been raised from the dead and seen by hundreds of people who simply could not deny what they had witnessed.

1Co 15:3  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4  And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1Co 15:5  And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
1Co 15:6  After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
1Co 15:7  After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
1Co 15:8  And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

Everyone in Jerusalem with any knowledge of current events had heard all of this and had heard that Christ’s apostles were claiming that He had been raised from the dead, and they all knew that there was no cadaver in the grave. All this was such common knowledge at that time that this is what the men on the road to Emmaus had to say to Christ on the day of the resurrection while “their eyes were holden” so they did not know Him:

Luk 24:13  And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. [Over seven miles]
Luk 24:14  And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
Luk 24:15  And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
Luk 24:16  But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
Luk 24:17  And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
Luk 24:18  And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
Luk 24:19  And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
Luk 24:20  And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
Luk 24:21  But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
Luk 24:22  Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
Luk 24:23  And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
Luk 24:24  And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

Peter continues to rebuke these “men of Judea” who had called for Christ’s crucifixion, and he calls them to repentance:

Act 2:29  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Notice, Peter did not say, “David is in heaven, but his body and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.” What he said was “David… is dead and buried…” Later Peter even tells us, “David is not ascended into the heavens” (Vs 34). How could Peter make such a statement if he believed in the fabled doctrine of an ‘immortal soul’? Peter’s whole point is that God did not leave Christ’s ‘soul’ in the grave. If David’s ‘immortal soul’ were in heaven, then Peter’s words “thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” would have no significance and would be a blatant lie, because David’s sepulcher was still with them. The whole point of “his sepulchre is with us unto this day” is that King David’s soul was indeed still in his sepulcher, and therefore this Psalm is “speaking of the resurrection of Christ, that HIS soul was not left in [the grave], neither His flesh did see corruption”:

Act 2:30  Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
Act 2:31  He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell [Greek, ‘hades’, the grave], neither his flesh did see corruption.
Act 2:32  This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Act 2:33  Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Act 2:34  For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
Act 2:35  Until I make thy foes thy footstool.

Peter’s whole point is that since King David is not in heaven, this prophecy must refer to Christ. If indeed Kind David’s fabled ‘immortal soul’ were in heaven, then the words, “Sit thou at my right hand until I make thy enemies thy footstool” could very well apply to King David. Peter emphasizes the fact that “David is not ascended in the heavens” and:

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Act 2:37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Is it not instructive that not one person said, “What do you mean, David is not in heaven? Of course his body is with us , but we all understand that David is in heaven.” The fact is no one could argue with Peter because “David’s… sepulchre [was with them] unto [that] day.”

Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 2:39  For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Act 2:40  And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Act 2:41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

It is very instructive that on the first Pentecost where Israel had made themselves a golden calf to worship, three thousand people physically died under “the letter of the law” while on the first Pentecost in the time of reformation three thousand people spiritually began dying to their old man through being converted and being given spiritual life.

Exo 32:27  And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
Exo 32:28  And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day [the first Pentecost] about three thousand men.

Truly “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life”:

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Act 2:42  And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Act 2:43  And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
Act 2:44  And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
Act 2:45  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Act 2:46  And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Act 2:47  Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Going back to verse 39, rest assured that “all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord God shall call” had nothing to do with Gentiles who were “afar off”. In the mind of Peter or any of the other apostles or disciples, and in the minds of any of the devout Jews who came to keep the feast of Pentecost, that was understood. Going into the home of a Gentile or eating a meal with a Gentile was simply out of the question. To Peter and to all who were there on the day of Pentecost, those words were only meant to apply to ‘All Jews who were afar off.’ At this point Peter, and any of the other apostles, would ever have countenanced “going in unto Gentiles.”  As we see many months later, the church itself accused Peter of eating “with men uncircumcised” when the holy spirit had sent Him to the house of the Gentile Centurion, Cornelius:

Act 11:2  And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision [the church at Jerusalem] contended with him,
Act 11:3  Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.
Act 11:4  But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying,
Act 11:5  I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me:
Act 11:6  Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
Act 11:7  And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat.
Act 11:8  But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
Act 11:9  But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
Act 11:10  And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.
Act 11:11  And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me.
Act 11:12  And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house:
Act 11:13  And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;
Act 11:14  Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
Act 11:15  And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.
Act 11:16  Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Act 11:17  Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
Act 11:18  When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

That God had granted the Gentiles repentance to life was a revolutionary concept to these devout Jewish Christians. This event in Joppa and Caesarea was long after the day of Pentecost.

Here on the day of Pentecost, when the holy spirit was first given to men, Peter himself was still living under the law of Moses as His response to the Lord shows when he was three times commanded concerning the unclean beasts and creeping things in the sheet, “Arise Peter, slay and eat”. Peter’s response was, “Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.”

This is long after the death and resurrection of the Lord. Peter refused the commandment to “slay and eat” unclean animals three times because to do so was forbidden in the law of Moses:

Deu 14:6  And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat.
Deu 14:7  Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you.
Deu 14:8  And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.
Deu 14:9  These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat:
Deu 14:10  And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.
Deu 14:11  Of all clean birds ye shall eat.
Deu 14:12  But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,
Deu 14:13  And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind,
Deu 14:14  And every raven after his kind,
Deu 14:15  And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,
Deu 14:16  The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan,
Deu 14:17  And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant,
Deu 14:18  And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
Deu 14:19  And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.

To a devout Jew such as Peter and all the apostles at this time these unclean animals signified unclean Gentiles, as Peter made clear when he arrived at Cornelius’s house:

Act 10:17  Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate,
Act 10:18  And called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there.
Act 10:19  While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
Act 10:20  Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.
Act 10:21  Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come?
Act 10:22  And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.
Act 10:23  Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him.
Act 10:24  And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends.
Act 10:25  And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.
Act 10:26  But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.
Act 10:27  And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together.
Act 10:28  And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

These events take place long before the story of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and years before the Jerusalem council of Acts 15. Yet over 14 years later (Gal 2:1), after being told of the Lord that Peter should consider no man to be ‘common or unclean’, he and Barnabas both still feared what the Jews from Jerusalem would think of them if they saw them eating with Gentiles:

Gal 2:11  But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
Gal 2:12  For before that certain came from James [Jerusalem], he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
Gal 2:13  And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
Gal 2:14  But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

On the day of Pentecost, when Peter said that salvation had come “to them that are afar off”, he was definitely not thinking that salvation had come to the Gentiles. He is speaking only of Jews who are “afar off” and would never dream at this point that the Lord would send him to eat with and speak to Gentiles. “Never [he said], has anything common or unclean entered my mouth!!”

Act 2:40  And with many other words did he testify and exhort [all these “devout Jews out of every nation under heaven”], saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Act 2:41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

The Lord has begun to ‘build His church,’ but every one of us, the apostles of Christ included, must learn to crawl before we can learn how to walk, and that is exactly what the early church was spiritually doing at the very beginning. We all must “fall seven times” before we learn how to walk.

Pro 24:16  For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Here at its birth on this day of Pentecost, the ‘feast of firstfruits’, the apostles and all those who accepted the gospel they preached were as true and sincere and as humble as the ‘little child’ who Christ tells us we must all first be:

Mat 18:1  At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
Mat 18:2  And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
Mat 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

This is not a call to be naive and gullible. The only characteristic of ‘this little child’ Christ admonishes us to emulate is the humility of a little child:

Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:5  And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

Christ did not call a sixteen-year-old because even in His day that was not the appropriate symbolism for someone who was humble.

The Gentile converts at Antioch were also just such humble souls, and this is what Christ tells us concerning the weak and humble among us:

Mat 18:6  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Peter had separated himself from the very Gentiles to whom the Lord has first sent him. When Paul rebuked him, he and Barnabas immediately repented of their hypocrisy and went up to Jerusalem with Paul to plead the case of the physically uncircumcised Gentile converts. As we saw last week even Paul and Barnabas “with the holy spirit” agreed that the Jews still had to keep the law of Moses at that time. It simply was not yet the Lord’s time for the Jews to see that God was making “of twain one new man” (Eph 2:15).

Getting back to the events of the first Pentecost of the New Testament dispensation:

Act 2:42  And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Act 2:43  And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

We all love and appreciate answered prayers. Nevertheless, the need for “many wonders and signs”, which were needed at this time to signify that this was a work of God, is an indication of the lack of spiritual maturity of the church at its birth. This is what Christ had to say about signs:

Mat 16:1  The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
Mat 16:2  He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
Mat 16:3  And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
Mat 16:4  A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

Christ rebuked “the Pharisees with the Sadducees” for requiring a sign for themselves. In doing so, He pointed out that they had already been given “signs of the times” and had not discerned them. The faithful were given “wonders and signs” at the beginning of the New Testament dispensation to establish the church throughout the Roman Empire. Once the church was established, the time came for ‘the trial of [the] faith’ of the faithful (Jas 1:2-3), and all the healings and speaking with other languages ceased to be so common, as the apostle Paul tells us:

1Co 13:8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

‘Love’ is defined as obedience to God (1Jo 5:2-3) and is a gift from God which is not an endowment of the natural man whose natural, carnal mind is “enmity against God” (Rom 8:7). Paul is telling us that all other gifts, the gift of prophecy, the gift of languages, and the gift of knowledge, are all “childish things” when compared to the gift of love.

With this great Truth in mind, consider just how applicable those words are to the church in its infancy. They genuinely believed they have the love of God, and in an infantile manner they certainly do. Stephen’s ‘love’ of God led to his martyrdom. Yet not one of the earliest Christians, the apostles included, considered Gentiles to be any different than a common dog, as Christ Himself insinuated, before acting otherwise:

Mar 7:25  For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
Mar 7:26  The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
Mar 7:27  But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
Mar 7:28  And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.
Mar 7:29  And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
Mar 7:30  And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

The story of this Gentile woman is included in the scriptures to prepare the Lord’s disciples to later receive things which they could not at that time bear (Joh 16:12). It is this lack of maturity that is on display in the last verses of our study today:

Act 2:44  And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
Act 2:45  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Act 2:46  And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Act 2:47  Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

The Lord had commanded his disciples to “go into all the world” just as He had commanded Noah’s family to fill the earth:

Gen 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.(NET)

Mar 16:15  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Every “babe in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4) is slow to leave the nest, and Noah’s descendants preferred to build a tower “lest they [become] scattered upon the face of the earth (Gen 11:4), and the Lord’s disciples preferred to sell all they owned and  have everything in common and stay right there in Jerusalem.

Neither situation surprised the Lord, so He confused the languages at the tower, and He ‘scattered [His disciples] abroad” through persecution:

Act 11:19  Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.

Even after being “scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen”, Luke, the author of the book of Acts, takes note that the entire church still “preached the Word to none but unto the Jews only.”

The overarching point of this entire book is that the entire church of Christ began as spiritual infants who, until the end of this book, were still unable to bear the many things Christ was yet to reveal to them:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

The time will come when the holy spirit will show us how we are to be the light and the salt of this earth in this dispensation (Mat 5:13-14). However, that time and the revelation that a physical pedigree as Abrahams’s children and keeping of all the rituals surrounding the physical temple are things that are ‘passing away’ will not come to the early Jewish church until after all the events of this entire book have transpired, and the apostle Paul is in prison in Rome where the Lord will reveal to Him and Peter and all the apostles that He is in the process of making one body, one temple and one church of the Jews and the Gentiles, without the letter to the Gentiles of Acts 15 any longer dividing us:

Act 15:19  wherefore I [James the Lord’s physical brother] judge: not to trouble those who from the nations do turn back to God,
Act 15:20  but to write to them to abstain from the pollutions of the idols, and the whoredom, and the strangled thing; and the blood;
Act 15:21  for Moses from former generations in every city hath those preaching him—in the synagogues every sabbath being read.’ (YLT)

Moses being taught in the synagogues every sabbath was sufficient for the believing Jews because they were all still attending the synagogues and keeping the law of Moses. At the time of the events of Acts 15, there was still no concept of Jews and Gentiles being ‘made one of twain’:

Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances [affirmed for Jewish Christians by the letter to the Gentiles of Acts 15]; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

It is only after this is revealed to Paul that James refers to the law as “the perfect law of liberty”, and the apostle Peter refers favorably to Paul’s epistles:

Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Jas 2:12  So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

2Pe 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.