Acts 11:2

2 But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers 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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

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

Acts 11:2 In-Context

1 Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God.

2 But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him.

3 “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.

4 Then Peter told them exactly what had happened.

5 “I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me.

Footnotes

• [a]. Greek those of the circumcision.