Acts 11:17-18
What is written? (ESV)
If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way? When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
What does it say?
If God gave the same gift to them (Gentiles) as He gave to us (Jews) when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, then who was I (Peter) to resist? So when they (Jerusalem church) heard Peter’s testimony they stopped objecting and glorified God by accepting the fact that God had granted repentance leading to life to the Gentiles as well.
What is its immediate context?
Peter is reporting back to the church in Jerusalem about his journey to Joppa and the conversion of the first gentiles (Cornelius and his family/friends – chap 10).
How Acts 11:17-18 is applied across Bible answers
Can someone receive the Holy Spirit before being saved?
Peter testifies to the rest of the Jewish brethren about what happened with Cornelius3, and that it was God's giving of "the same gift" [of the Holy Spirit] that convinced him they too should be baptized/saved.
Paul has just recounted the Acts 10 events3, telling them that, "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning." (vs 15)
