first, Peter saw himself and all Jews as the people of God. Second, as a result of the intense learning forced on Peter and the early church by God, Gentiles and Jews were accepted equally as the people of God, without requiring conversion of the Gentiles to Judaism. These self-reflection skills that were forced by God on Peter are available to us today. You cannot develop what you cannot see, and until Peter saw his biases clashing with God’s ways, he could not welcome Gentiles as equals. This was not easy for him, and it is not easy for us today. The first step is the most difficult.
