Right Divider
Body part
This is exactly the position that MAD takes. There were SOME things that were revealed FIRST to Paul. And SOME of these things were NEW and DIFFERENT. This is why Peter can say this:No I don’t think they were dumb at all but you have to consider their situation. They didn’t have the complete revealed word as we do. They really didn’t understand a lot of things that were happening. For example, how many times did Jesus tell them he was going to die and rise again the third day and they had prophecies about it yet what do we see?
Jn. 20:8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. 9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
2Pe 3:15-16 KJV And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; (16) As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
So many people brush off or ignore the subtleties of scripture, but Peter tells us that there was wisdom given to Paul. Note that he does NOT says US.
Those to whom Peter was writing where questioning the delay in the coming of the kingdom and Peter uses Paul's wisdom to explain the delay.
But.... they were ALREADY told to "go to all nations". So going to Cornelius should NOT have been something new. There must be something else going on here and there is.Most of the time, it was only after the fact that they were able to piece things together and understand or Jesus either had to open their minds or they had to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Luke 24:44 Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,
Jn. 16:12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
So no, I’m not surprised that they didn’t understand being told something totally new only once.