Acts 11:2

2 but when Kefa went up to Yerushalayim, the members of the Circumcision faction criticized him,

Acts 11:2 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 11:2

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, ( Acts 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 five miles, for so far, according to Josephus ^F20, was Caesarea distant from Jerusalem:

they that were of the circumcision,
which phrase designs not only the circumcised Jews that believed in Christ, for such were all they of the church at Jerusalem, or at least proselytes that had been circumcised, for as yet there were no uncircumcised Gentiles among them; but those of them, who were most strenuous for circumcision, and made it not only a bar of church communion, but even of civil conversation:

these contended with him;
litigated the point, disputed the matter with him, complained against him, and quarrelled with him. Epiphanius says ^F21, that Cerinthus, that arch-heretic, was at the head of this contention.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 De Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 3. sect. 5.
F21 Contr. Haeres. l. 1. Haeres. 28.

Acts 11:2 In-Context

1 The emissaries and the brothers throughout Y'hudah heard that the Goyim had received the word of God;

2 but when Kefa went up to Yerushalayim, the members of the Circumcision faction criticized him,

3 saying, "You went into the homes of uncircumcised men and even ate with them!"

4 In reply, Kefa began explaining in detail what had actually happened:

5 "I was in the city of Yafo, praying; and in a trance I had a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came down to me.