And put no difference between us and them
Neither in the extraordinary gifts, nor special grace, of the
Spirit; giving them the same graces of faith, hope, and love,
admitting to the same privileges and immunities of the house of
God, and giving them a right and title to the same inheritance of
the saints in light, though the one were circumcised, and the
other were not. God puts no difference as to matters of religion
under the Gospel dispensation between Jews and Gentiles, neither
on account of Abraham's seed, or of circumcision, or of the
ceremonial law, or of national adoption; nor would he have any
made with respect to conversation, civil or religious; all which
Peter knew full well: nor has he made any difference in his
eternal choice of persons to eternal salvation, on any of the
above accounts, having ordained Gentiles to eternal life as Jews,
who in consequence of it believe in Christ; nor in redemption,
Christ having redeemed by his blood men out of every kindred,
tongue, people, and nation; nor in the effectual calling, for
they that were called in the first times of the Gospel, were not
of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also, to whom the Gospel
was alike sent, and made effectual to saving purposes: these
shared in the same blessings of pardon, justification, and
adoption; their sins were forgiven through the same blood, their
persons were justified by the same righteousness, and they were
taken into the same family, and were no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens of the saints, and of the
household of God; having the same access to God, being built on
the same foundation, enjoying the same privileges, and having the
same hope of eternal glory.
Purifying their hearts by faith;
which was done by implanting faith in them, and leading that
faith to the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin,
original and actual, with which men are defiled; for faith has
not this efficacy in itself, but as it has to do with the blood
of Jesus: and this spiritual purification being what answered to
circumcision, made that unnecessary; for this is the circumcision
of the heart, of which the other was only typical. The hearts of
men are filthy, and need purifying; they are originally polluted
with sin; this is the case of all men; and this defilement
reaches to all the members of the body, and the faculties of the
soul; and especially the heart is the seat of this impurity,
which God only can cleanse: he promises to do it, and does do it;
and he only can do it, men cannot; for though, they are exhorted
to it, in order to make them sensible of their pollution, and
their need of cleansing, that they may apply where it is to be
had, yet it is not in their power to effect it; to make a clean
heart is a creation work, which is peculiar to God: the heart
cannot be purified, neither by ceremonial ablutions, nor by works
of moral righteousness, nor by humiliations and tears, nor by
submission to Gospel ordinances, as water baptism, but only by
the grace of God, and the blood of Christ; which the Spirit of
God sprinkles upon the heart, and which faith looks to and deals
with, and so it is freed from an evil conscience; and this
blessing the believing Gentiles enjoyed in common with the
believing Jews.