NOW I understand

"Men after God's heart return to the Gospel because they know they forget the Gospel. Even ministers of the Gospel neglect the Gospel. The New Testament shows that even the apostles sometimes forgot the Gospel, as we see in an oddly comforting episode from the life of Peter.

"In Acts 10, God welcomed a Roman centurion named Cornelius into the family of God by faith alone, without works, without giving up his Gentile heritage. God chose Peter to preach the Gospel to Cornelius, a 'God-fearing' Gentile (v. 2), but Peter had a hard time accepting it. Before Peter would be willing to go to Cornelius, God had to send him a vision of a sheet lowered from Heaven, holding all kinds of clean and unclean animals. Three times God said, 'Rise, Peter, kill and eat.' Three times Peter refused: 'Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impore or unclean.' And three times a voice from Heaven said, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean' (vv. 11-16). While Peter wondered what this might mean, Cornelius' servants arrived at Peter's house, seeking him. Peter had no idea who they were, but the Spirit told Peter, 'Do not hesitate to go with them' (vv. 17-22). Peter must have been shocked when he found that the men were Gentiles, but he obeyed and went. When Peter arrived at Cornelius' house, a crowd of Gentiles awaited him. When Peter greeted them, he told them God had sent him. The he asked, 'May I ask why you sent for me?' (vv. 24-29).

"When I read this question, I want to laugh and tell him, 'Peter, you are an apostle, a herald of the Gospel! Surely you know why God sent you there!' But Cornelius did not laugh. Instead he urged Peter to present his message: 'It was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us' (v. 33).

"then Peter began to preach: 'I know realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right' (vv. 34-35). Again I want to laugh at Peter, to shake him. 'Peter, how can you say, 'I now realize.' Surely you knew before. You saw Jesus heal Gentiles, talk to Samaritans, and purge demoniacs from Gadara or Phorenicia --Matthew 15; John 4; Luke 8. How can you say, 'I now realize God accepts people from every nation'? Surely you already knew that.'

"We laugh at Peter. Yet like Peter, we know and we don't know. We know the Gospel, but we need to grasp it more deeply, more truly. We all have moments when we think, 'Now I realize; now I understand the Gospel'" (Dan Doriani, The Life of a God-made Man, pp. 29-30)."