The question was not Why did you preach to them? but Why did you eat with them? But Peter does not respond to this frigid (yes, frigid) objection; he relies on this profound argument: if they had received the Spirit, how could one refuse to give them baptism? But why did they not object in the case of the Samaritans? For on the contrary, neither before nor after their baptism was there any controversy, and they did not become angry on that occasion but, on hearing the news, sent the apostles for this very purpose. As a matter of fact, even here they are not complaining of this, for they knew it was of divine grace. What they ask is, Why did you eat with them? Besides, the difference between Samaritans and Gentiles is not so great. Surely it was part of the divine plan for Peter to be accused, so that they too might learn. For Peter would not have spoken without cause.

For if, when he was blamed by the believers, he had paid regard to the authority that he had received in holy church, he might have replied that the sheep should not dare to find fault with the shepherd to whom they had been committed. But, had he said anything of his own power in answer to the complaint of the believers, he would not have been truly a teacher of gentleness. He pacified them, therefore, by giving a reason humbly, and he even produced witnesses to defend him from blame, saying, Moreover these six brothers accompanied me. If, then, the pastor of the church, the prince of the apostles, who singularly did signs and miracles, did not disdain humbly to give a reason in defending himself from blame, how much more ought we sinners, when we are blamed for anything, to pacify those who blame us by giving a reason humbly!

The words were not those of the prudent Peter but of the Spirit. And in his defense he showed God as the absolute author and himself as the author of nothing. He said what he did in his ecstasy, I was in the city of Joppa, and he showed the vessel, as I have said before; and again he said and I did not hear. The Spirit ordered me to leave, and so, after leaving, I did not run. I said that God had sent me, and so I did not baptize after these things, but again God did everything. God himself baptized, not I.

I am amazed at how some people interpret this as having to do with certain foods that were prohibited by the old law but that are now to be consumed, since neither serpents nor reptiles can be eaten. Nor did Peter himself understand it in this way. Rather [he understood it as meaning that] all people are equally called to the gospel of Christ and nothing is naturally defiled. For when he was reproached,^[1] he explained the symbolism of this vision, not [as giving the reason] why he ate beasts but why he associated with Gentiles.

It is beautifully appropriate that when the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit^[1] were poured out, the witnesses were brothers who were seven in number. Alternatively, because this world was formed in six days, the works accomplished [by Peter] were demonstrated through the six brothers who fittingly accompanied the teacher when, among the words of his exhortation, he described to his hearers the exemplary work that he had accomplished.

It was out of superabundance that this [sending of the Holy Spirit] takes place, to show that even the beginning did not come from the apostle. For if Peter had set out of his own accord and [the Holy Spirit had not come first], they would have been completely thunder-struck. Consequently, from the start he tries to bring their thoughts around to his side by saying, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.

The people received John, who was less than Christ. They reflected and thought, Perhaps he is the Christ. But they did not receive him who had come, who was greater than John. Do you want to know the reason? Recognize this: John’s baptism could be seen; the baptism of Christ was invisible. John said, For I baptize you in water, but he who comes after me is greater than I. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire.^[1] When does Jesus baptize with the Holy Spirit? And again, when does he baptize with fire? Does he baptize at one and the same time with Spirit and fire, or at distinct and different times? He says, But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.^[2] After his ascension into heaven, the apostles were baptized with the Holy Spirit. But Scripture does not record that they were baptized with fire.^[3]

At the Jordan River, John awaited those who came for baptism. Some he rejected, saying, generation of vipers, and so on.^[4] But those who confessed their faults and sins he received. In the same way, the Lord Jesus Christ will stand in the river of fire near the flaming sword.^[5] If anyone desires to pass over to paradise after departing this life and needs cleansing, Christ will baptize him in this river and send him across to the place he longs for. But whoever does not have the sign of earlier baptisms, him Christ will not baptize in the fiery bath. For it is fitting that one should be baptized in water and the Spirit.^[6] Then, when he comes to the fiery river, he can show that he preserved the bathing in water and the Spirit. Then he will deserve to receive in addition the baptism in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.

[Peter] shows that he did nothing himself. For it was the very thing that we obtained, he says, that those men received. If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus, who was I that I could withstand God? To silence them more effectively, he added the same gift. Do you see how he does not allow them to have less? When they believed, he says, God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus. He makes them clean, and he does not say to you but to us. That is, why do you feel aggrieved when we call them partners? When they heard this they were silenced. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance to life.’ Do you see how it all came about through the oratory of Peter, who did well to report the events? They glorified God because he had given them repentance. They were humbled by these words. From this point on the door of faith was open to the Gentiles.

Zion heard and was glad.^[1] What did Zion hear? That all God’s angels worship him? Yes, to be sure; but what else did Zion hear? This is what it heard: The heavens have proclaimed his justice, and all nations have seen his glory. Let all who worship graven images be put to shame, those who boast of their idols.^[2] The church had not yet extended to the Gentiles, you see. Some of the Jews in Judea had come to believe, but these Jews imagined that they alone belonged to Christ. Then the apostles were sent to the Gentiles, and the word was preached to Cornelius. He believed and was baptized, and his companions were baptized with him. You know what happened to lead them to baptism. . . . An angel was sent to Cornelius; the angel sent Cornelius to Peter, and Peter came to Cornelius’s house. But Cornelius was from the Gentiles, so he and his friends were uncircumcised. In order, therefore, that Peter and his companions might have no hesitation about delivering the gospel to uncircumcised persons, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and the others even before they were baptized; the Spirit filled them, and they began to speak in tongues. Until this time the Holy Spirit had never fallen upon any unbaptized person; but he fell on these before their baptism. Peter might well have hesitated over whether to baptize the uncircumcised, but the Holy Spirit came, and they began to speak in tongues. The invisible gift was conferred and removed any doubt about the visible sacrament, so they were all baptized.

Now you find it recorded in Scripture that the apostles and the brothers in Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God, and they glorified God. It is this thanksgiving on their part that is mentioned in our psalm: Zion heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judea leaped for joy.^[3]

Here is what we read in the book of the blessed Job: Gold will come from the north, and fearful praise to God,^[1] since the splendor of faith first sprang to life in the cold heart of the Gentile world, and in virtue of this same unexpected faith, the Jewish world, trembling with fear, glorified God.^[2]

The persecution brought a not inconsiderable success. For by turning everything to their good, God cooperates with those who love him.^[1] Had their purpose been to work zealously to establish the church, they would not have done anything different. They dispersed the teachers, and look how the preaching spread.

Look! Not even in tribulation did they succumb to lamentations and tears, as we do, but dedicated themselves to a great and good work and preached the word even more undaunted. They did not ask, Should we, who are Cyrenians and Cyprians, attack so splendid and great a city? Instead, trusting in the grace of God, they applied themselves to the work of teaching, and the Gentiles themselves did not disdain to learn from them. Notice how all these things were accomplished through small means; how the preaching grew; and how, similar to those in Jerusalem, they bestowed their care on everyone, treating the entire world as a single household.

News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When such a great city was receiving the word, why did they not go themselves? Because of the Jews. But they sent Barnabas. Only it was no small part, and so it was providentially arranged for Paul to go there as well. It was both natural and providential that they turned him [toward Antioch] and that he was not shut up in Jerusalem, that voice of the gospel, that trumpet of heaven. Do you see how on all occasions Christ uses their faults to serve a need for the benefit of the church?

The more insignificant they were, the brighter the grace working great results by small means. And he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord, for he was a good man. I think by good here he means a kind, unaffected person, very much eager for the salvation of his neighbors. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. With steadfast purpose, he says. With encomium and praise, for, like rich land, this city received the word and brought forth much fruit.

Now it is good to read through the history what Jeremiah suffered among the people, in reference to whom he said, I said: No more shall I speak or name the name of the Lord,^[1] and again elsewhere, I have unceasingly been an object of derision.^[2] But whatever he also suffered at the hand of the reigning king of Israel^[3] has been written in his prophecy. But that those from among the people came frequently to stone even Moses has also been written, and the stones of that place were not his homeland, but those following him were, that is, the people, by whom he too was dishonored. And Isaiah is reported to have been cut up by the people. Now, if someone does not accept this report because it is found in the apocryphal Isaiah, let him believe in what is written in the letter to the Hebrews: They were stoned, cut up, put to the test.^[4] The cut up is referred to Isaiah, just as the verse they were murdered by the sword^[5] applies to Zechariah, who was murdered between the temple and the altar,^[6] as the Savior taught bearing witness, I believe, to a writing not contained in the shared and publicly accepted books but to one that is probably apocryphal. But they were dishonored by the Jews and went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, impoverished, suffering tribulation and the following.^[7] For all who desire to live uprightly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.^[8] Now it is probably because he learned that a prophet cannot have honor in his homeland, that Paul, having proclaimed the word in many other places, did not preach in Tarsus.

Surely they were called Christians because Paul spent such a long time among them. For a whole year, it says, they met with the church and taught a large company of people; and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians. This is no small praise for the city, but enough to match it against all cities. For Antioch was the first city, before all the others, to have the benefit of listening to Paul for so long, and because of this the people there were the first to be deemed worthy of the name. Look at the success of Paul, to what heights it raised, like a standard, that name! Elsewhere, three thousand or five thousand or so great a number believed, but nothing like this. Elsewhere, the believers were called they of the way; here, they were given the name Christians.

Our good Master, Jesus Christ, bestowed on us a partnership in his revered name, so that we get our name from no other person connected with us, and if one happens to be rich and well-born or of lowly origin and poor, or if one has some distinction from his business or position, all such conditions are of no avail because the one authoritative name for those believing in him is that of Christian. Now, since this grace was ordained for us from above, it is necessary, first of all, for us to understand the greatness of the gift so that we can worthily thank the God who has given it to us. Then, it is necessary to show through our life that we ourselves are what the power of this great name requires us to be. The greatness of the gift of which we are deemed worthy through the partnership with the Master becomes clear to us if we recognize the true significance of the name of Christ, so that, when in our prayers we call upon the Lord of all by this name, we may comprehend the concept that we are taking into our soul. . . . Paul, most of all, knew what Christ is, and he indicated, by what he did, the kind of person named for him, imitating him so brilliantly that he revealed his own Master in himself, his own soul being transformed through his accurate imitation of his prototype, so that Paul no longer seemed to be living and speaking, but Christ himself seemed to be living in him. As this astute perceiver of particular goods says, Do you seek a proof of the Christ who speaks in me?^[1] and, It is now no longer I that live but Christ lives in me.^[2]

This man knew the significance of the name of Christ for us, saying that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.^[3] And he called him peace,^[4] and light inaccessible^[5] in whom God dwells, and sanctification and redemption,^[6] and great high priest,^[7] and passover,^[8] and a propitiation of souls,^[9] the brightness of glory and image of substance,^[10] and maker of the world,^[11] and spiritual food,^[12] and spiritual drink and spiritual rock,^[13] water,^[14] foundation of faith,^[15] and cornerstone,^[16] and image of the invisible God,^[17] and great God,^[18] and head of the body of the church,^[19] and the firstborn of every creature,^[20] firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,^[21] firstborn from the dead,^[22] firstborn among many brothers,^[23] and mediator between God and humanity,^[24] and only begotten Son,^[25] and crowned with glory and honor,^[26] and lord of glory^[27] and beginning of being,^[28] speaking thus of him who is the beginning, king of justice and king of peace,^[29] and ineffable king of all, having the power of the kingdom,^[30] and many other such things that are not easily enumerated. When all of these phrases are put next to each other, each one of the terms makes its own contribution to a revelation of what is signified by being named after Christ, and each provides for us a certain emphasis. To the extent that we take these concepts into our souls, they are all indications of the unspeakable greatness of the gift for us. However, since the rank of kingship underlies all worth and power and rule, by this title the royal power of Christ is authoritatively and primarily indicated (for the anointing of kingship, as we learn in the historical books, comes first^[31]), and all the force of the other titles depends on that of royalty. For this reason, the person who knows the separate elements included under it also knows the power encompassing these elements. But it is the kingship itself that declares what the title of Christ means. Therefore, since, thanks to our good Master, we are sharers of the greatest and the most divine and the first of names, those honored by the name of Christ being called Christians, it is necessary that there be seen in us also all of the connotations of this name, so that the title be not a misnomer in our case but that our life be a testimony of it. Being something does not result from being called something. The underlying nature, whatever it happens to be, is discovered through the meaning attached to the name.