Acts 11:2

2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who stressed circumcision^[a] argued with 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 The apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had welcomed God's message also.

2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who stressed circumcision argued with him,

3 saying, "You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them!"

4 Peter began to explain to them in an orderly sequence, saying:

5 "I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a visionary state, an object coming down that resembled a large sheet being lowered from heaven by its four corners, and it came to me.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit those of the circumcision