God Purified Their Hearts by Faith

 Meditations on The Acts of the Apostles

March 11, 2021

God Purified Their Hearts by Faith

God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.

Acts 15:8

Read: Acts 15:1-11

Whenever we commit to change, it is vitally important to continually reinforce the benefits of change because there is a great temptation to revert to the way things were. Our natural tendency is to resist change. Our passage today is an example of this. The Church Council in Jerusalem had previously dealt with whether the Gentiles had to become Jews first before they could become Christians, and here they are again having the same debate. Note how clearly salvation by grace through faith is affirmed.

The Apostle Peter made the case for grace when he stated, “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (v.11) The foundation for Peter’s claim is the fruit of the Holy Spirit: “God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.” (v.8-9)

My Takeaway: The phrase in verse 9, “(God) purified their hearts by faith” gives insight to John Wesley’s teaching on holiness of heart and holiness of life. Holiness of heart is God’s work of making us the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Holiness of life is God’s work of forming Christ in us. (Galatians 4:19) We will see this at work in tomorrow’s passage.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.