Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 15:8
And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as [he] did unto us;
8. which knoweth the hearts ] The word is only here and in Act 1:24, and on both occasions it is St Peter who uses it. Such witness could admit of no appeal; and God had put the uncircumcised on the same level with the circumcised by giving to them the same gifts of the Spirit.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And God, which knoweth the hearts – Act 1:24. God thus knew whether they were true converts or not, and gave a demonstration that he acknowledged them as his.
Giving them the Holy Ghost … – Act 10:45-46.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 15:8-9
God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness.
Gods sovereignty
It is the sovereigns stamp which settles the question as to the right of a coin to be counted current among loyal subjects of that sovereign. When God puts His stamp of approval on a man, or on a woman, or on a movement, that fact ought to weigh beyond any individual opinion as to the original propriety of such an approval. It may seem to us that the elder and more imposing Eliab is far better suited to the kingship than the youthful rustic David; but when God decides in favour of the latter, it is time for us to reverse our opinion on this point. So, also, as to preachers and methods of preaching, as to denominational peculiarities and modes of working, as to special agents and agencies in Christian endeavour; not what we thought God would approve, but what we find God has approved, ought to weigh most with us in deciding the question of our accepting or belittling that instrumentality or undertaking. Gamaliels warning is as timely for our day as it was for his, in many a matter of treating Christian work and Christian workers. In opposing those who claim to stand for God, while they differ with us, we may be found to be fighting against God. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)
Purifying their hearts by faith.—
Purity of heart
I. Its nature.
1. By the heart we must understand the inner, as opposed to the outer, man–the spirit and not the flesh. Circumcision–indeed any external ceremony, even Christian baptism can only affect the outer man. The text, therefore, in opposition to mere ceremonial purity speaks of purity of heart.
2. It is implied that the heart of man is by nature impure (Rom 1:28-32). Perish then the delusion that the human heart is good!
3. It is to the purification of the heart that the text calls attention. Things are commonly said to be pure when they are simple and unmixed; and purity of heart implies sincerity and simplicity, as opposed to the base mixtures of hypocrisy and deceit The work of Christian purity is commenced in regeneration There is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. There are new views, principles, feelings. But these things are at first immature (1Jn 2:13). The law of progress is stamped on the whole economy of Christianity. Perfect purity is the goal at which it aims. This implies–
(1) A complete deliverance from sin–its pollution and power. This is obviously implied in the word pure. And here arises the difficulty, whether a perfectly pure state of heart is possible in the present life. Many contend only for the subjugation of sin, and not for its destruction, affirming that whilst the spirit remains in the flesh sin must remain in the spirit. But this is to ascribe some moral power to the flesh which it does not possess; sin is spiritual (Mar 7:21-22). Now Divine grace either can or cannot counteract this fearful state of things. If it cannot, then the work of human redemption, professedly effected by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, was inadequate. But if the grace of God can counteract the influence of sin, the question is settled. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Christ loved the Church that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. But, say some, the work cannot be completed till death. Now, if this mean by death, it destroys itself, for death is an enemy whose office is simply to separate the soul from the body; if it mean at death, it may soon be exposed–for if Divine grace can purify the heart a moment before death, why not an hour? why not a month? why not a year? why not twenty, or even fifty years? why not now?
(2) And because all sin is destroyed, love fills the heart. Hence obedience results from purity; this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. Every spring of feeling, and all the arcana of thought are sanctified by its magic touch. The wandering eye, the listening ear, the loquacious tongue, the busy hands, the willing feet are all actuated by the ruling principle of love to God.
II. Its author. The Holy Ghost, as Peter elsewhere says. Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit first convinces of the necessity of purity; for it is by His inward illumination that we discover the corrupt state of the heart. If we welcome this discovery we shall sorrow for and hate this indwelling sin. The same Spirit will create a strong desire for deliverance, which if cherished will express itself in earnest, wrestling prayer. This will be followed by the encouraging excitement of humble hope, and the filial confidence that the desire shall be granted. Whoever thus cooperates with the Holy Spirit, the Divine Author of purity of heart, will eventually be brought to the exercise of that faith which casts out sin and purifies the heart. The reason that so few Christians obtain this great salvation will now be manifest. They do not obey the truth, whereas the law of the Spirit is that we are sanctified through the truth. Ye have purified your souls, in obeying the truth through the Spirit.
III. Its means. By faith. All salvation is obtained by faith.
1. Its warrant is the promises, (see Eze 36:25-29; Deu 30:6; 2Co 6:16). These are the believers fulcrum. They do actually supply to him what Archimedes once boasted as his only deficiency to rival Omnipotence. Give me a place on which to stand and I will move the world. But the promises of God supply the believer with a fulcrum by which he may move both earth and heaven.
2. The object of faith is the precious blood of Christ (Act 26:17-18).
IV. Its scope. It is offered to all. Whatever differences or distinctions men may make, God makes none. There is no difference with respect to–
1. Our need of this great change. Throughout the world human nature is the same. There is none righteous, no, not one.
2. The mode of purification. In every case it is by faith. (H. J. Booth.)
Faith purifying the heart from
I. Pride.
1. This is setting up the honour of self above the honour of God. It is self-worship, and refuses to recognise any righteousness but self-righteousness.
2. What is the very prime object of faith! What do I receive into my heart if I realise Christs work for me? Is it not this, that the mighty God, He who is greater than the greatest, higher than the highest, laid aside all His glory, and came down into the very depth of humiliation for me? If I live Christ, how can I worship self? When faith has once entered, what room is there for pride? Where is the boasted glory of man before the Eternal Word, who became flesh, and by the very hiding of His glory manifested it–through Him humiliation entered into His exaltation? Where is human merit, when once the fulness of the rich stream of Gods unmerited grace is shed over the soul? No; the life of faith is the death of pride.
3. But does faith substitute nothing for self thus dethroned? Far from this. With the sense of a mans own worthlessness comes the sense of his Redeemers worth–comes love to God, the true answer and return of Gods love to him. This last, faith apprehends; that other, faith renders. The humility of those who are born of the Spirit is exactly in proportion to their appropriation of the work of Christ. As He increases in a mans esteem, self decreases. And thus humility is the true work of faith.
II. Covetousness–the inordinate valuing of created objects–the esteeming self not by self alone, but by the things wherewith self is surrounded and enriched.
1. We have in man all degrees of this sin, from the ambition which grasps empires to the miserly greed which hoards the farthing. And the secret of the sin is the same throughout all–the creature, not the Creator; my own possessions, not Gods gifts; my position my promotion, my increased income–not my stewardship before God; it is in every case a direct consequence of the substitution of self for Him.
2. And in every case faith in Christ is as directly opposed to it. If my inner regards are really fixed on Him who gave all He had, yea, Himself, for me, where is there room in me for covetous desires? Will not he whose life is hid with Christ in God be laying up treasures in heaven rather than on earth–be enriching his home rather than his tent in the wilderness?
III. Self-indulgence–the love of pleasure–the inordinate valuing of our own delights in created objects. How does faith deal with this all but universal tendency? Who is its object? Is it not He who has solemnly told us that none can be His disciple without daily self-denial? Can a man be justified by faith in Him and disregard these His words? Understand me: the Christian who lives by faith in Christ can and does enjoy life in the best and highest sense; but he cannot be a seeker of pleasure–cannot surrender his noble privilege of self-denial for the bondage in which he sees the children of the world fettered. (Dean Afford.)
Faith purifying the heart
Peter was enabled through his experience to answer those who said that unless a man was circumcised he could not be saved. There is nothing like practical work for Christ to teach us Christs truth. For the most part heretics are a set of theorisers. They do nothing, and then criticise those who are doing hard and successful service. Give a man practical work for Jesus and keep him at it, and he will, like Peter, learn as he goes on, and, like a river, filter as he flows. Peter could not continue to believe in restricting the gospel to the Jews after the conversion of Cornelius. His actual service refined his theory. If those who ruled botanical science never saw a flower, would you wonder if they ran into gross heterodoxies of belief? Let us consider the point upon which Peters argument depends.
I. The agent of heart purification–faith. There was nothing but faith in the case of Cornelius, faith born of hearing, and resting alone on Jesus.
1. Faith purified directly, not by month after month of contemplation; for, to the astonishment of the circumcised believers, the Holy Ghost fell upon them there and then.
2. Water baptism did not aid therein. The Lord will not permit us to mix up even His own ordinances with the work of His Spirit in purifying the heart by faith alone, and God forbid we ever should fall into such an error.
3. Do not, then, be looking for pure hearts within yourselves before you come to Christ by faith. Do not look for the fruits before you have the roots, but look by faith to the great Purifier, however impure you feel your heart to be.
II. The secret of its power. Believing other things does not purify the soul; why does believing the gospel? I answer, because–
1. God works by it (Act 15:8). You know the old story of the sword of Scanderbeg, with which he used to cleave men in twain from the crown of the head downwards. As one looked at it he declared that he saw nothing about it to make it so fatal a weapon; but the other replied, You should have seen the arm which was wont to wield it. Now faith looked at of itself appears to be contemptible; but who shall resist the everlasting Arm that wields it? This greater than Hercules careth little for the weakness of the instrument; but, behold, He cleanseth the Augean stable of our nature with no other agency than childlike faith.
2. God is at work in the heart by His Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit comes as a heavenly fire to consume sin, as a flowing stream to cleanse away evil, and as a rushing mighty wind to chase away all that is foul and polluted in the stagnant air of the soul. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of holiness, and as He always dwells with faith, being its Author, its Strengthener and Guardian, where faith comes the heart will speedily be purified.
III. The seat of its action–the heart. Faith changes the current of our love, and alters the motive which sways us: this is what is meant by purifying the heart. It makes us love that which is good and right, and moves us with motives free from self and sin: this is a great work indeed. Hence the change which faith produces is–
1. Radical and deep. It is a small matter to wash the outside of the cup and of the platter.
2. Thorough and complete. Rend your hearts and not your garments. Faith lays the axe at the root, and heals the stream at the fountain head.
3. Operative throughout the whole life. A diseased heart means a sickly man all over. Neither can you have the heart right without its telling upon the entire nature.
4. Permanent. Restrain appetites which still remain, and the dog returns to his vomit; purify externals and leave the nature untouched, and the sow that was washed goes back to her wallowing in the mire.
5. Acceptable with God, who searcheth the heart. Man judgeth according to the outward appearance, but God looketh at the heart.
IV. The mode of its operation.
1. Faith believes in sin as sin, and sees the horror of it as an offence against a holy and gracious God.
2. Faith delights to set Christ before the heart and to make it gaze upon His side pierced by sin, and therefore hates the sin which slew its best Friend.
3. Faith delighteth much in the Person of Christ, and therefore she sets before the soul His incomparable loveliness, as the well-beloved of saints. Thus is enkindled a vehement flame of love to Him, and this becomes a powerful purifier, for you cannot love Christ and love sin.
4. Faith has a wonderful art of realising her gracious privileges. What manner of persons then ought you to be?
5. Faith has yet further a wondrous power of bringing near the things to come. What could more effectually purify the heart than the vision of heaven which faith presents to us?
6. Power is gained by faith through pleading the promises of God. Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
7. Faith daringly lays hold upon the power of God Himself. How she smites the Philistines then!
8. Faith brings us real power to conquer sin by applying the blood of Christ. The blood of Jesus is the life of faith and the death of sin. All the saints overcome through the blood of the Lamb.
9. Faith gives us power against sin by mixing herself with all gospel ordinances–with hearing, communions, prayer, Bible study. Faith will enable you to draw nourishment out of ordinances, and make you vigorous against sin. 10. Faith rouses the new man to intense resistance of sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. And God which knoweth the hearts] . We had this epithet of the Divine Being once before; see Ac 1:24, and the note there: it occurs no where else in the New Testament.
Bare them witness] Considered them as proper or fit to receive the Gospel of Christ. It is properly remarked by learned men, that , to bear witness to any person, signifies to approve, to testify in behalf of. Here it signifies that, as God evidently sent the Gospel to the Gentiles, and, by the preaching of it, conveyed the Holy Spirit to them who believed, and as he can make no improper judgment of any who knows all hearts and their secrets, therefore what he had done was right: he saw that it was time for them to receive the Gospel; and he saw that they might be safely trusted with this heavenly deposit; and the experience of eighteen hundred years has justified the conduct of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Which knoweth the hearts; God knew the desires of the Gentiles, that they did sincerely desire to please God, and to see this salvation. This great attribute David improved, 1Ch 29:17, and highly recommended his son Solomon to consider of, 1Ch 28:9; which, if believed, would make us also to serve God with a perfect heart and a willing mind. Giving them the Holy Ghost; God himself was a witness for these Gentiles beyond all exception, when he gave them the ordinary and extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost; by which he testified, that they belonged to Christ, whose Spirit this was. Thus the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, Rev 19:10; and the Spirit, according to our Saviours promise, Joh 15:26, doth testify of him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. God, which knoweth theheartsimplying that the real question for admission to fullstanding in the visible Church is the state of the heart.Hence, though that cannot be known by men, no principle of admissionto church privileges which reverses this can be sound.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And God which knoweth the hearts,…. Of all men; he being omniscient, the searcher of the hearts, and the trier of the reins of the children of men, knew with what sincerity Cornelius sent for Peter; and with what vehement desire and longing expectation he and his family and friends waited for his coming; and with what earnestness, diligence, and affection they attended to what he said:
bore them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; God bore a testimony, and showed his well pleasedness in the whole of this affair, by bestowing upon them not only the regenerating and sanctifying grace of the Spirit; but his extraordinary gifts, such as speaking with divers tongues, even in like manner as these were bestowed on the apostles themselves, on the day of Pentecost, though they were uncircumcised persons; for the drift of Peter’s oration is to show, that circumcision was not necessary to salvation.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Which knoweth the heart (). Late word from (heart) and (known, ). In the N.T. only here and 1:24 which see.
Giving them the Holy Spirit ( ). And before their baptism. This was the Lord’s doing. They had accepted (11:18) this witness of God then and it was true now of these other Gentile converts.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Which knoweth the heart [] . Only here and ch. 1 24.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And God, which knoweth the hearts,” (kai ho kardiognostes theos) “And the heart-knowing God,” as described Jer 17:10; Joh 2:25; Pro 15:11.
2) “Bare them witness,” (emarturesen autois) “Witnessed to them,” the Gentiles, thru Peter’s preaching in power of the Holy Spirit, and with the spiritual manifestation of tongues as a spiritual gift in which they praised God, Act 10:1-48.
3) “Giving them the Holy Ghost,” (dous to pneuma to hagion) “Doling (to them) the Holy Spirit,” or giving over (to them) the Holy Spirit, both in regeneration and manifestation of the Spiritual gift of tongues, Act 10:44-46; 1Jn 4:13; Rom 5:5; Rom 8:14-16.
4) “Even as He did unto us; “ (kathos kai hemin) “Just as (like) He did even (also) to us,” Joh 20:21; Act 1:1-4; Act 11:15; Rom 8:9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(8) God which knoweth the hearts.We note the recurrence of the epithet as characteristic of St. Peter. (See Note on Act. 1:24.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Act 15:8-10 . God who knows the heart , who thus could not be deceived in the matter (comp. Act 1:24 ), has, in reference to this their admission effected by my instrumentality into the fellowship of the gospel and of faith (Act 15:7 ), done two things. He has ( a ) positively borne matter-of-fact witness for them (to their qualification for admission) by His giving to them the Holy Spirit, as to us (comp. Act 10:44 , Act 11:15 ff.); and ( b ) negatively , He made in no way distinction between us and them, after He by faith , of which He made them partakers through the gospel, had purified their hearts . God would have made such a distinction, if, after this ethical [26] purification of the heart effected by faith, He had now required of them, for their Christian standing, something else, namely, circumcision and other works of the law; but faith , by which He had morally purified their inner life, was to Him the sole requisite for their Christian standing without distinction, as also with us. Observe on ( a ), that . . . is contemporaneous with , expressing, namely, the mode of it; and on ( b ), that . . is previous to the . This is evident from the course of the speech, as the faith must have been already present before the communication of the Spirit (comp. Act 11:17 ).
Act 15:10 . Accordingly as the matter now stands ( ).
; ] i.e . why do ye put it to the test, whether God will abandon His attestation of non-observance already given to the Gentiles, or assert His punitive power against human resistance? “Apostrophe ad Pharisos et severus elenchus,” Bengel.
] with the design to impose , etc.
] comp. Gal 5:1 , and Chrysostom in loc.: (of the complete observance of the law) . Contrast to this yoke: Mat 11:29-30 .
.] since the time of Moses.
[26] Weiss, Petr. Lehrbegr . p. 321, thinks that it is in the ceremonial sense, so that the idea only allusively passes over into that of ethical cleansing. But points only to the moral sphere. Comp. Weiss himself, p. 274 f. This moral cleansing presupposes, moreover, the reconciliation appropriated by faith; see 1Pe 1:18 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
8, 9. ] The allusion is throughout to spiritual circumcision , as the purification of the heart . God, who saw deeper than the mere fleshly distinction between Jew and Gentile, who knows that the hearts of all are unclean, and that the same all-sufficient sacrifice can cleanse them all , if applied by faith (compare the remarkable parallel, 1Pe 1:18-22 incl.), put no difference between us and them, but has been pleased to render them spiritually clean.
, not simply ‘ by faith :’ but by their faith , or by the faith in Christ.
Act 15:8 . , Act 1:24 , where the same word is used by St. Peter; cf. Jer 17:10 . , and cf. St. Peter’s words in Act 10:34 . , Act 10:44 , Act 11:15 .
Which knoweth, &c. = the Heart-searcher. See note on Act 1:24.
bare . . . witness. Greek. martureo. See p. 1511.
the Holy Ghost. Both articles are here, but used grammatically, referring back to Act 2:4 (the same gift). App-101.
even as, &c. = as He did to us also.
8, 9.] The allusion is throughout to spiritual circumcision, as the purification of the heart. God, who saw deeper than the mere fleshly distinction between Jew and Gentile, who knows that the hearts of all are unclean, and that the same all-sufficient sacrifice can cleanse them all, if applied by faith (compare the remarkable parallel, 1Pe 1:18-22 incl.), put no difference between us and them, but has been pleased to render them spiritually clean.
, not simply by faith: but by their faith, or by the faith in Christ.
Act 15:8. , who knoweth the hearts) who looks to the heart, not to the flesh.- , bare them witness) Two verbs, each with a participle: , , . , the Dative, as ch. Act 10:43.-, to them) He testified, by giving them the Holy Spirit, that they are pleasing to Him: Gal 3:5.
42. GOSPEL PURIFICATION
Act 15:8-9
Every true believer desires to worship God with a pure heart and honor him with a life of purity. According to the apostle John, the believer’s hope of eternal life in Christ inspires in him an insatiable desire for purity. “Every man that hath this hope in him,” (the hope of seeing Christ and being like Christ), “purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1Jn 3:3). But how is this purification accomplished? That is the question I want to answer in this lesson.
In the Old Testament, under the types and shadows of the Mosaic dispensation, there were many forms of ceremonial purification which the children of Israel were required to meticulously obey. The instruments of service in the tabernacle and later in the temple were ceremonially purified by being washed with water and sprinkled with blood. The priests and their garments were purified by ceremonial washings. Women were required to purify themselves before marriage, after childbirth, and following every period of menstruation. And the people were required to purify themselves before observing the appointed feasts and holy ordinances of divine worship. But the first and most important means of legal, ceremonial purification was circumcision. This seal of God’s covenant with Abraham symbolically pictured the purification of God’s elect by the Holy Spirit in regeneration (Php 3:3; Col 2:11).
Those Old Testament ceremonies of purification were all outward. They did nothing to purify the heart. They only pictured the purification of the heart by the grace of God. However, by the end of the legal dispensation, by the time Christ appeared, the Jews’ religion had degenerated into base idolatry, self-righteousness, and will worship. They looked upon the mere observance of outward ceremonies as the actual purifying of their hearts and made their outward religious services the basis of their acceptance with God! They thought God would accept them because they were outwardly, ceremonially clean, even though their hearts were vile (Mat 23:25-28; Luk 16:15).
Though those rituals were only temporary symbols and pictures of gospel purification, there were many in the early church who were still Pharisees. They insisted that the Gentile believers be compelled to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses (Act 15:1; Act 15:5). It was bad enough to have Pharisees outside the church persecuting it, but when the legalists joined the church and tried to pervert the gospel, subverting men’s souls, the evil was intolerable (Act 15:24; Gal 1:6-8; Gal 2:4-5; Gal 3:1-3; Gal 5:2; Gal 5:4; Gal 5:12). Those “false brethren”, as Paul calls them, are still with us today. They are still stirring up strife and endeavoring to bring all believers into legal bondage. They make holiness and purity a matter of outward, legal obedience to the law of Moses, or (even worse) to the religious laws and customs of men. It is the spirit and doctrine of legalism that the early church confronted and denounced at the Jerusalem conference. It is an evil that must not be tolerated. Peter plainly declares that those who preach and teach legalistic doctrine are guilty of tempting God, walking directly contrary to his revealed will (Act 15:10; Col 2:16-23; 1Ti 4:1-5).
In Act 15:8-9 the apostle reproves the Judaizers and denounces their doctrine by reminding those present at the conference of God’s work of grace upon Cornelius and his household, all of whom were uncircumcised Gentiles (Act 10:43-44). Speaking by the Spirit of God, Peter plainly declared two facts that many today either are ignorant of or fail to appreciate.
First, IN CHRIST ALL GOD’S ELECT ARE ONE, AND BEING ONE IN CHRIST, ALL BELIEVERS ARE EQUAL BEFORE THE LORD – “God put no difference between us and them.” There are no second class citizens in the kingdom of heaven (Eph 2:11-19; Eph 4:1-7; Col 3:11). Our standing and acceptance with God is determined entirely by our relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Substitute, not by something we do. We are complete in him (Col 2:10). Our experiences may vary, and our understanding of spiritual things on this earth may differ, but there is “no difference between us” in the sight of God. In Christ all true believers are LOVED with the same love (1Jn 3:1)…CHOSEN by the same grace (Eph 1:4-6)…BLESSED with the same privileges (Eph 1:3)…REDEEMED by the same blood (1Pe 1:18-20)…QUICKENED by the same Spirit (Eph 2:1-4)…ROBED in the same righteousness (Jer 23:6)…PARTAKERS of the same divine nature (2Pe 1:4)…ADOPTED into the same family (Gal 4:4-6)…BUILT upon the same foundation (Eph 2:20-22)…CHILDREN of the same Father (Mat 6:9)…SERVANTS of the same Master (1Co 7:20-23)…POSSESSORS of the same hope (Rom 8:24-25)…PARTAKERS of the same promises (2Co 1:20)…HEIRS of the same inheritance (Rom 8:17)…and BENEFICIARIES of the same Intercessor (Joh 17:20-26).
Second, GOD PURIFIES THE HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE BY FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. “God put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” By nature our hearts are defiled and filthy (Mat 15:17-19; Rom 8:7). This defilement of the heart reaches to all the members of the body, and the faculties of the soul” (John Gill). Read Rom 3:9-19. The total depravity of the human heart is an inescapable fact.
1. The work of purifying the heart can be performed by God alone. Peter did not say, “Cornelius purified his heart,” but “God purified his heart!” Ceremonial cleansing, moral reformation, sorrowful repentance, baptism, and religious services can never purify the heart of man. Only the application of Christ’s blood to the heart by God’s almighty grace can purify it (Heb 9:12-14; Tit 3:4-7).
2. The means of purification is God given faith in Christ. “Faith changes the current of our love, and alters the motive which sways us: this is what is meant by purifying the heart. It makes us love that which is good and right, and moves us with motives free from self and sin. This is a great work indeed!” (C. H. Spurgeon). Faith in Christ purifies the heart by…
– Freeing us from the guilt of sin and terror of the law (Heb 9:14; 1Jn 3:21).
– Its overwhelming realization of the love of Christ for us (2Co 5:14).
– Bringing us into intimate communion with Christ (Son 1:2; Son 2:4; Son 2:6).
– Enabling us to realize, in some measure, the manifold blessings and privileges we enjoy in Christ by the grace of God (Eph 1:3-14).
– Fixing our hearts upon Christ and the heavenly, eternal things promised to us in him (2Co 4:17 to 2Co 5:1; Col 3:1-3; 1Jn 3:1-3).
3. This purification of the believer’s heart is a continual, daily exercise of divine grace (Joh 13:6-10). As we make our pilgrimage through this world, we are continually gathering the dirt of sin upon us. Therefore, we must continually go to the precious fountain and be washed in the blood of Christ (1Jn 1:9).
which: Act 1:24, 1Sa 16:7, 1Ki 8:39, 1Ch 28:9, 1Ch 29:17, Psa 44:21, Psa 139:1, Psa 139:2, Jer 11:20, Jer 17:10, Jer 20:12, Joh 2:24, Joh 2:25, Joh 21:17, Heb 4:13, Rev 2:23
bare: Act 14:3, Joh 5:37, Heb 2:4
giving: Act 2:4, Act 4:31, Act 10:44, Act 10:45, Act 11:15-17
Reciprocal: Joe 2:28 – upon Luk 16:15 – God Joh 14:26 – Holy Ghost Joh 15:26 – he Act 2:39 – and to all Act 10:28 – but Act 10:47 – General Act 11:17 – as God Act 13:22 – to whom Rom 8:27 – And he Rom 10:12 – there is no Rom 14:3 – for 2Co 11:11 – God Gal 3:2 – Received Heb 6:4 – partakers 2Pe 1:1 – have
8
Act 15:8. Knoweth the hearts. God would not have chosen the household of Cornelius for this initial work of offering the Gospel to the Gentiles, had He not seen in them a heart that was worthy of the great epoch.
Act 15:8. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us. The Eternal, before whom the secrets of all hearts are open, was able to judge of the sincerity of these Gentiles. He testified that these hitherto despised strangers were acceptable in His sight by giving them the Holy Ghost, just as He had done to the Jews who had turned and believed in Jesus.
See notes on verse 7
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)