Acts 10:34, “So Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.’”

In this verse, one can either learn wonderful biblical truths, or one can become greatly confused. One one hand, Peter clearly communicates that God does not favor any particular race of people — salvation is for everyone. On the other hand, the second half of Peter’s statement almost sounds like a man can become acceptable to God by his works. How should a Christian interpret and apply this verse and its context, while not ignoring difficulties?

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“But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name’” (Acts 9:15-16).

Many Christians are familiar with this passage that refers to God’s calling of Paul to become a servant of Christ. Paul was to be God’s chosen instrument of the gospel to both the Jews and the Gentiles. What is particularly interesting and wonderful here is the insight into the way God planned to use Paul. By that I mean that God intended for Paul to “suffer” for His name’s sake.

God’s usage of the word “suffer” is crucial to an understanding of what it means to walk with God.

The form of “suffer” used here is the Greek word “pascho.” It refers to a real tangible experience, and is used almost always to refer to a bad experience. This same Greek word is used in Matthew 16:21 where Jesus prophesied that He would “suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” Mark also recorded that “the Son of man must suffer many things. . .” (Mark 8:31). The point I’m making is that Paul’s future experience as a servant of God was not going to be easy. In fact, it was going to be the opposite. Paul was commissioned to suffer hardship after hardship for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel, and these hardships meant experiencing real distress, real trials, real burdens, real tiredness, real exhaustion, and real pain. Paul was called to suffer for Christ in an experiential way.

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In my reading today, I came across this passage that is often misconstrued: (Acts 7:14-16) Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Explanation:

A standard belief of true Christianity is that when a person receives Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells in us and lives through us. Romans 8:9 could not be any clearer about this fact: “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”

Although this teaching is obvious, why does the passage in Acts seem to separate the receiving of Christ and the receiving of the Holy Spirit? Are they two separate events, as some have suggested? Can a person receive Christ without being indwelt by the Holy Spirit?

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