Acts 10:44-48: a reflection

44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word. 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. 46For they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying God. Then Peter answered, 47“Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.” 48He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.

As Peter is preaching to Cornelius, a Gentile, and his household, something unexpected happens: while Peter is still speaking, the Holy Spirit falls on all who are hearing, and they begin praising God. The Jewish believers who had come with Peter are amazed, astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. And Peter draws the obvious conclusion: Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?

Notice the order of events. God acted first. Before any human decision to accept the Gentiles, before the church had worked out its policy, the Holy Spirit fell on them, settling the matter. God had already received these outsiders, poured out his Spirit on them, made them his own, and it was left to Peter simply to recognize what God had already done. God's grace ran ahead of the church's categories, reaching the outsider before anyone had decided to let him in.

That is how God's grace often works: running ahead of us, reaching people we might have been slow to include, doing his own including work before we catch up. And Peter's response is the right one: can anyone withhold what God has clearly given? When God has plainly received and worked in someone, it is not for us to fence them out. Do not draw the boundaries of God's grace more narrowly than he does. His grace runs ahead to include the outsider; when you see God clearly at work in someone you might have excluded, recognize what he has done, and do not withhold what God has given.

Lord, while Peter was still speaking, your Spirit fell on the Gentiles, and you received the outsiders before anyone had decided to let them in; your grace ran ahead of the church's categories. Keep me from drawing the boundaries of your grace more narrowly than you do. When you are clearly at work in someone I might have been slow to include, help me recognize what you have done and not withhold what you have given. Your grace reaches the outsider; give me a heart as wide as yours.