The early church had to learn to look at Gentiles in the same way as they looked at Jews. God does not show favouritism. The people who share their culture and language are not more important than those who do not. Jew and Gentile, apart from faith in Christ, are both subject to God’s wrath. Both need forgiveness in his name.

For us today, we can take the same application when it comes to culture and language. The standards of God’s judgment are the same for all those made in his image, and there are not two peoples of God. There are only those who submit to Jesus and honour him as King and those who do not.