We have pointed out that Acts is a dispensational book. One verse related to the dispensational element in Acts is 1:8, where the Lord tells the disciples, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the remotest part of the earth.” Before the Lord spoke these words, the disciples asked Him, “Lord, are You at this time restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (1:6). The Lord replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father has placed in His own authority” (v. 7). Then the Lord went on to say that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit had come upon them and they would be His witnesses unto the remotest part of the earth. In 1:8 the Lord Jesus told the disciples that He would use them as His witnesses not only among the Jews in Jerusalem and in all Judea but among those in Samaria, and even among all the Gentiles in the remotest part of the earth. Although the disciples heard this word, they did not realize what the Lord was saying. In this simple word the Lord Jesus was indicating that the disciples would need to break through the Old Testament dispensation. From the disciples’ experience we see that to hear is one thing, but to realize and experience what we hear is another. Peter, for example, heard the Lord’s word in 1:8, but he nevertheless had difficulty with the Lord’s fulfillment of this word.
In 1:8 the Lord said that the disciples would be His witnesses in Samaria. This was fulfilled through the preaching of Philip the evangelist. In chapter eight we see that Philip evangelized Samaria and brought a good number of Samaritans into the Body of Christ. After that, the Lord wanted to go further. He had gone from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria. Now He desired to go from Samaria to the Gentile world. At first Peter did not agree to take this step, but eventually he accepted the Lord’s word concerning the Gentiles and went with six other brothers to the house of Cornelius.
According to 10:23, when Peter went to the house of Cornelius in Caesarea, “some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.” In 11:12 Peter points out that six brothers went with him. We have noted previously that in this case Peter did not act individualistically, but with some of the brothers in the principle of the Body of Christ so that they might witness what God would do with the Gentiles through the preaching of the gospel by the breaking of the Jewish tradition and habit. However, Peter may not have been that familiar with the principle of the Body. He may have been acting here out of caution and out of the need to protect himself from the criticism of those of the circumcision. There is no record that the Lord told Peter to take these six brothers with him; neither are we told that Cornelius invited them to come along with Peter. These six were neither sent by the Lord nor invited by Cornelius; instead, they were taken by Peter as a protection for him. We may say that Peter kept the principle of the Body. However, if we could ask him about the matter, he might say, “You give me too much credit in saying that I acted according to the principle of the Body. What I did in taking the six brothers with me was for my protection. I was afraid that the Jewish brothers in Jerusalem would condemn me. Therefore, as a precaution, I took six brothers with me when I went to Caesarea.”
Not only did Peter bring these six brothers with him from Joppa to Caesarea; he also took them with him to Jerusalem. Peter knew that he would face trouble in Jerusalem and that he would be criticized for what he had done in Caesarea. He realized that he would need witnesses. He was a witness of Jesus Christ, and the six brothers that he brought to Jerusalem were his witnesses.
When Peter went up to Jerusalem, “those of the circumcision disputed with him, saying, You went in to men who are uncircumcised and ate with them!” (11:2-3). The saints in Jerusalem heard about what had happened in Caesarea, about what Peter had done in the house of Cornelius. Those of the circumcision asked Peter concerning this. They seemed to be saying to him, “Peter, what did you do? You took the lead to associate with the uncircumcised and to eat with them! What is this?”