And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”
Parallel translations
- WEB If then God gave to them the same gift as us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?”
- KJV 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?
- BSB So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder the work of God?”
- NKJV If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”
- NASB Therefore, if God gave them the same gift as He also gave to us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Since God gave Gentiles the same gift He gave believing Jews, Peter asks who he was to stand in God's way. To resist Gentile inclusion would be to oppose God.
Overview
Peter's clinching argument is that God Himself granted the Gentiles the identical gift, given to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. For Peter to refuse them would be to resist God's clear action. The verse places the final authority for Gentile inclusion where it belongs, in God's sovereign grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Acts 10:47“Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.”
- Rom 9:20–26But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
- Acts 15:8–9God, who knows the heart, testified about them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just like he did to us.
- Rom 11:34–36“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
- Dan 4:35All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, What are you doing?
- Rom 9:15–16For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
- Job 33:13Why do you strive against him, because he doesn’t give account of any of his matters?
- Job 9:12–14Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
- Matt 20:14–15Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.
- Acts 10:45They of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles.
- Job 40:2“Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
- Acts 5:39But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it, and you would be found even to be fighting against God!”
- Job 40:8–9Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?
- Acts 11:15As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 11:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.