This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Acts 10-15, which includes Peter’s vision about preaching to the gentiles and the first recorded use of the word “Christian.”

Church News recently dug through archives to learn what Church leaders and scholars have said about these chapters.

Peter’s vision and the centurion Cornelius

“Early in the book of Acts, we find the Apostles of Christ declaring the gospel message only to Jews, following the pattern of Jesus’s ministry (see Matthew 15:24), but now, in the Lord’s timetable, the time had come for a change. In Joppa, Peter had a dream in which he saw a variety of animals lowered to earth from heaven in ‘a great sheet knit at the four corners’ (Acts 10:11) and was commanded to ‘kill, and eat’ (Acts 10:13). Peter was reluctant since at least some of the animals were ‘unclean’ under the law of Moses, and Peter had never violated the commandment against eating such. Nevertheless, the voice said to Peter in his dream, ‘What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common’ (Acts 10:15).

“The meaning of this dream became clear when soon afterward, several men sent from the Roman centurion Cornelius arrived at Peter’s lodging with a request that he come teach their master. …

“By this experience and revelation to Peter, the Lord modified the practice of the Church and revealed a more complete doctrinal understanding to His disciples. And so the preaching of the gospel expanded to encompass all mankind.”

— Elder D. Todd Christofferson, April 2012 general conference, “The Doctrine of Christ”

“During the early days of the Church, in the meridian of time, the gospel was taken to the house of Israel only; then revelation came to Peter, the senior Apostle, that the time had come to take the gospel beyond Israel and unto the gentiles. The 10th and 11th chapters of Acts help us understand the process and pattern whereby this needed expansion of the Church to more of God’s children was made known to its presiding officers and the general membership.

“Using Cornelius, who was a gentile, a centurion and a good man, the Lord impressed upon Peter that the gospel would go to the gentiles, a concept new and foreign to the Saints of that day. The revelation making that change in the affairs of the Church came to Peter, the senior Apostle. We know that the gospel then went rapidly to the nations of the gentiles.”

— Elder John B. Dickson, April 2013 general conference, “The Gospel to All the World”

“Peter had been of the opinion that only Jews were in the favor of the Lord and that gentiles were not as acceptable. Before he had even met Cornelius, though, a vision was shown him, and he saw plainly that God was not partial. No nation or people or individual could expect to be favored above another.

“From those passages of scripture we learn these basic principles:

“First: All men on earth are of one blood — we stem from common ancestors, Adam and Eve.

“Second: God, our Father, in His omniscient wisdom, determined premortally the nation in which we were to live.

“Third: Nationalities are apparently circumscribed in relation to the House of Israel.

“Fourth: Our Father does not favor one people over another, but accepts all those of every nation who fear Him and work righteousness.”

— Then-Elder Howard W. Hunter, 1979 Brigham Young University fireside, “All Are Alike Unto God”

“There is a difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before he was baptized, which was the convincing power of God unto him of the truth of the gospel, but he could not receive the gift of the Holy Ghost until after he was baptized. Had he not taken this sign or ordinance upon him, the Holy Ghost, which convinced him of the truth of God, would have left him.”

— The Prophet Joseph Smith, from an 1833 address given in Springfield, Pennsylvania; included in “Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith”

“Cornelius’s baptism is the first clear case of a gentile coming into the Church without having obeyed the requirements of the law of Moses — circumcision, the law of carnal commandments, ceremonial law and so forth. Many Jewish brethren in the Church objected to this direct membership process and complained to Peter, but he answered their criticism with a recital of his vision and of the workings of the Spirit in the matter (see Acts 11). Despite this divine direction through the Lord’s anointed, however, some Jewish members of the Church remained reluctant to accept the change, ‘preaching the word to none but … Jews only’ (Acts 11:19).”

— Robert J. Matthews, former dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University, in the October 1995 Ensign article, “A Crisis, a Council, and Inspired Leadership”

Antioch and the name ‘Christian’

This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Acts 10-15, which includes Peter’s vision about preaching to the gentiles and the first recorded use of the word “Christian.” Church News recently dug through archives to learn what Church leaders and scholars have said about these chapters.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“The Saints in New Testament times were called Christians because they professed a belief in Jesus Christ. That name, first used derogatorily by their detractors, is now a name of distinction; and we are honored to be called a Christian church.”

— Then-Elder M. Russell Ballard, October 2011 general conference, “The Importance of a Name”

“We read in the New Testament that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ were called Christians for the first time in Antioch (see Acts 11:26), but they called each other Saints. How stirring it must have been for them to hear the Apostle Paul call them ‘fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God’ (Ephesians 2:19) and also say they were ‘called to be saints’ (Romans 1:7; emphasis added).”

— Elder Benjamín De Hoyos, April 2011 general conference, “Called to Be Saints”

“Acts 11:26 tells us that ‘the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.’ Here, the passive construction ‘were called Christians’ suggests that the term was first used not by Christians, but by non-Christians. …

“The term was probably modeled on such words as Herodian and Caesarian, already in circulation at that time, and meant nothing more complicated than Christ’s people or, perhaps, partisans of Christ. Note that the Christian congregation at Antioch represented a wide range of backgrounds, including Jews and non-Jews. These believers displayed the whole spectrum of attitudes toward the Jewish law — from continued adherence to the traditions of Judaism to rejection of all things Jewish.”

— Daniel C. Peterson, former BYU professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic, and Stephen D. Ricks, a current BYU Hebrew professor, in the March 1988 Ensign article, “Comparing LDS Beliefs with First-Century Christianity”

The disagreement between Paul and Barnabas

“[Paul’s] companion Barnabas apparently heard Paul’s tongue when it was not the tongue of an angel. (See Acts 15:2.) …

“Only Jesus was perfect in all things, including love and meekness. Even the greatest of mortal prophets fall short of Christ’s high and perfect standards.

“Thus, as members of the Church, if we can see the life of discipleship, whether for ourselves or for the prophets, as a combination of proving, reproving and improving, we will be much better off.”

— Elder Neal A. Maxwell, October 1984 general conference, “Out of Obscurity”

“Brothers and sisters, the scriptures are like a developmental display window through which we can see gradual growth — along with this vital lesson: it is direction first, then velocity! …

“In the scriptural display window … we see that all conflict is not catastrophe. We view misunderstandings even in rich relationships like that of Paul and Barnabas. …

“Yes, brothers and sisters, this is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us.”

— Elder Neal A. Maxwell, October 1976 general conference, “Notwithstanding My Weakness”

The Jerusalem Council

This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Acts 10-15, which includes Peter’s vision about preaching to the gentiles and the first recorded use of the word “Christian.” Church News recently dug through archives to learn what Church leaders and scholars have said about these chapters.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“Acts 15 recounts one of the earliest Christian councils, the Jerusalem Council, and teaches principles still applicable to the Church today.

“This council met to discuss the issue of what gentiles (non-Jews) should do when converting to Christianity. While the first believers had been Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah, gentiles came from a different religious and ethnic background, so their inclusion into the emerging Christian Church became an issue. …

“Early Church members held different positions on this issue. Some taught that males who wanted to be saved and accept Jesus needed to be circumcised, as was customary under the law of Moses (see Acts 15:1).

“Paul and Barnabas represented another position. They had been teaching gentiles and felt that the Holy Spirit had helped convert them. Paul and Barnabas saw this as a witness that the work they were doing was true (see Acts 15:2–4). They were not requiring circumcision or adherence to Jewish dietary laws for baptism. …

“James, the brother of Jesus and an important early Church leader in Jerusalem … proposed a middle-ground solution. He suggested the gentiles should abstain from at least four things related to keeping the law of Moses (see Acts 15:20, 29):

• Meats offered to idols
• Fornication (sexual immorality)
• Strangled meat (the animal’s blood had not been drained)
• Blood (related to avoiding strangled meat)

“These prohibitions would differentiate converted gentiles from other gentiles since these actions were sometimes part of gentile worship of gods and goddesses. … The policy also indirectly emphasized that faith and covenants in Jesus Christ were the path to salvation, not the law of Moses.”

— Jared Ludlow, BYU professor of Ancient Scripture, in the 2023 Liahona article, “The Jerusalem Council”

“The council was not held in a vacuum, nor was it a mere academic exercise. It was attended by people of strong opinions, religious convictions, traditions and biases whose lack of agreement made the council necessary. There was, in effect, a crisis forming in the young Church, and the moderate, inspired resolution by Church leaders was the best possible response for the time. …

“This clearly stated the problem: Was obedience to the law of Moses, with all its attendant performances, required for salvation now that Jesus Christ had made the Atonement? … Throughout the book of Acts and the epistles, circumcision is generally used as a one-word representation for the entire law of Moses; hence when the Jewish members of the Church insisted that gentiles be circumcised, they really meant that the gentile converts should obey all of the law of Moses.

“The settlement of [this question] would have profound effect on how members regarded Christ’s mission. It would also affect the missionary procedures of the Church and the religious behavior and practices of every family in the Church with regard to their children for generations. …

“The resolution of the problem reported in the book of Acts gives our present generation an informative model as to how both Church members and those of different faiths may react when revelation confronts tradition and long-standing custom. Only living prophets could correctly handle the situation then. Only living prophets can do so in our day.”

— Robert J. Matthews, former dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University, in the October 1995 Ensign article, “A Crisis, a Council, and Inspired Leadership”