But a certain man in Caesarea, -- by name Cornelius, a centurion of the band called Italic,
The book turns a corner here. Until now the message has gone to Jews and Samaritans. Here Luke names a Roman officer in the garrison town of Caesarea. With him, the gospel reaches the Gentiles.
Cornelius is named at a turning point. God had announced this change long before, and His people had been slow to act on it:
This change was momentous, and the circumstances around it carried unmistakable marks of divine authority. Yet the Lord Himself had announced it long before (Luke 24:47), to disciples whose ears were unwilling and therefore did not understand. Peter had stated it plainly too (Acts 2:39), though he seems to have grasped little of the force of what he then said... But He would not have the activity of His grace wait any longer for the dull sons of men. His message of love to the lost must run out in power. And the great apostle to the Jews must be the one to open the gates of the kingdom officially, not to Jews only but to Gentiles also. The moment was come; the man with whom to begin appears.
Cornelius holds a rank in the Roman army. Its structure explains the words Luke uses:
A "legion" was a body that contained within itself all the grades of the army... Every legion at times contained 10 cohorts of 600 each; every cohort 3 maniples of 200; and every maniple 2 centuries of 100. So we get the name centurion, meaning commander of 100 men, as in Acts 10:1, 22. ... A cohort is translated "band" in Acts 10:1.
God chose both the moment and the messenger. Two earlier preachers had already passed through this city:
The first Gentile to receive the call was Cornelius, an officer in the Roman garrison at Caesarea. Toward God, he was devout and a man of prayer. Toward people, he was generous and kind, and this to a conquered nation. In choosing such a man, and not a character like the Philippian jailer, God showed consideration for Jewish feeling. Philip and Saul had both already visited Caesarea, yet neither seems to have preached the gospel there (Acts 8:40; Acts 9:30). In this we see the sovereignty of God. He has His own time and His own instruments for carrying out His work in every place.
The next verse says he feared God "with all his household" — older translations read "with all his house," the phrase this writer uses:
He feared God "with all his house." There are very few people of whom that can be said. "With all his house" would include his servants and children... This Gentile centurion, then, could not have been an unconverted man, for an unconverted man has no fear of God before his eyes. Cornelius, on the contrary, was a prayerful man, a man in whom the Spirit of God had worked, and had produced spiritual desires in his heart. He is a type of hundreds and thousands of Gentiles today. He was an awakened man — anxious, devout, prayerful, and God-fearing; but had you gone and asked him if his sins were forgiven, he would not have dared to say so.
A man can be a real work of God and still not know forgiveness. That is why Peter had to come:
He was already a converted man, though a Gentile. But he did not know the salvation proclaimed in the gospel. That is why Peter was to be sent for, as Peter himself afterwards explained (Acts 11:13-14)... The devout centurion was only entitled to know his sins forgiven on God's message of grace through the blood of Jesus.
Everything in Peter's background made him an unlikely choice — and the right one:
God entrusted the keys of the kingdom of the heavens to a home-born Jew, from the city of Bethsaida on the western shore of the Lake of Galilee. He had already used them to admit Jews into the kingdom on the day of Pentecost. Soon he would use them again, to admit Gentiles in the house of the centurion Cornelius at Caesarea. There seems a fitness in this... A home-born Jew was the fitting instrument to open the door of the kingdom to them. In doing so he acted against Jewish teaching, national feeling, and the habits of a lifetime (Acts 10:28). But the Holy Spirit guided what he did. No one could have suspected Peter of favouritism toward Gentiles.
- The door. God announced this opening long before. His servants were slow to use it. The delay ends here, and this verse names the man He starts with.
- The doorkeeper. God sends Peter, a Jew acting against the habits of a lifetime. No one could accuse him of favouring Gentiles.
- The doorstep. Caesarea was a Roman garrison town, and Philip and Saul had passed through it before. God chose the time and the messenger.
- The man at the door. A commander of a hundred men. His fear of God reached through his whole household, servants and children included.
- What he still lacked. He was devout, generous, praying — already a work of God. Yet he could not say God had forgiven his sins. That assurance comes only through the message of grace by the blood of Jesus.
pious, and fearing God with all his house, [both] giving much alms to the people, and supplicating God continually,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
-- saw plainly in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming unto him, and saying to him, Cornelius.
A Roman officer in Caesarea is praying in the middle of the afternoon. A messenger from God stands in his room and calls him by name. Three questions follow: why this hour, why an angel, and why a man who already feared God still needed someone sent to him.
The hour matters. Commentators link it to Israel's set time of worship. They also note whom God had His eye on: a Gentile soldier outside that nation.
An angel appeared to Cornelius while he was praying at the ninth hour. That hour had long been set apart for the evening sacrifice on the altar, and in Jerusalem it was known as the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1). The centurion learned that God, known to Israel as the LORD of Hosts, had noticed and cared for the Gentile soldier. Grace had really reached him in the gift of spiritual life, though he was neither an Israelite nor a convert to the Jewish religion.
The verse says he "saw clearly." One writer stresses the daylight, then the surprise: God used the apostle sent to the Jews to reach the Gentiles.
He sees an angel of God in a vision, but not a vision of the night. It was broad daylight, in the afternoon. He was not asleep either. When he asks, he learns that God has not forgotten his prayers and alms. God tells him to fetch Simon Peter from Joppa. The great apostle to the Gentiles wrote at the end to teach the slow minds of believing Jews. In the same way, at the beginning God commanded the great apostle to the Jews to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Does this beautiful interlacing offend you? If so, it shows how little you have grasped God's ways, which leave no room or excuse for human independence.
If Cornelius was already praying and God already answering, what was missing? One writer draws a line between a soul turned to God and a soul that knows its sins forgiven.
The Spirit of God is careful to make known the godly life of Cornelius. He was already a converted man, though a Gentile. But he did not know the salvation proclaimed in the gospel. That is why Peter had to be sent for, as Peter himself later explained (Acts 11:13-14). Otherwise he could only have hoped for his soul in the mercy of God… The devout centurion could know his sins forgiven only through God's message of grace, by the blood of Jesus.
The angel knows the message, yet delivers only an address in Joppa. One writer explains why God left the preaching to a man.
The angel, you notice, did not cut a long story short by telling the message to Cornelius himself. Only a man who has himself received grace can tell the message of grace properly. So Peter must be called. God took notice of the prayers and alms of Cornelius, because they expressed his heart sincerely seeking God. If, after hearing the gospel, he had ignored its message and gone on with his prayers and alms, it would have been a different matter. Then they would not have "ascended as a memorial before God."
Cornelius is frightened. One writer treats that fear as normal and reads it as the voice of conscience, not a flaw in the man.
He was in prayer, and clearly saw a vision, about three o'clock in the afternoon, of "an angel of God coming in to him, and saying to him, Cornelius." He was frightened. So is every man when God gets near to him… There never yet was a man who was not afraid when the Lord drew near. Conscience tells him — just what conscience told me — that a sinner in his sins is not fit for God.
The angel comes at last, on one particular afternoon. One writer turns the gap between praying and being answered into encouragement.
We are apt to suppose that our breath in prayer is lost if an answer is not received at once. But exercise of heart in prayer is never fruitless, though the result may be long delayed. "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God," Cornelius was told. We do not know how long God kept him waiting before sending Peter with the answer. It may have been years (Acts 10)… There is a time as well as a way of answering, and it rests in the wisdom and grace of God.
- The hour — the ninth hour was the time of the evening sacrifice, Jerusalem's hour of prayer. God met a Gentile soldier who stood outside Israel.
- The seeing — no night dream. It was broad daylight, and he was wide awake. God cut across human independence by sending the apostle to the Jews to the Gentiles.
- The man — Cornelius was already converted, and God had heard him, yet he did not know the salvation announced in the gospel.
- The messenger — the angel gave an address but preached nothing. Only someone who has received grace can tell the message of grace.
- The waiting — God kept his prayers, perhaps for years. The timing and manner of the answer rest with Him.
But he, having fixed his eyes upon him, and become full of fear, said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Thy prayers and thine alms have gone up for a memorial before God.
A Roman officer at Caesarea sees an angel while he prays, and hears that God has noticed his life. Two questions follow: what does it mean for prayers and gifts to go up "as a memorial before God," and where did Cornelius stand with God before Peter arrived?
The timing matters. Cornelius was praying at the hour Israel linked with the evening sacrifice. Right then, a Gentile soldier learned he had been under God's eye all along.
An angel appeared to Cornelius while he was praying at the ninth hour. That hour had long been set apart for the evening sacrifice at the altar, and Jerusalem knew it as the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1). The centurion now learned that God, known to Israel as the Lord of Hosts, had watched over and cared for the Gentile soldier. Grace had really reached him in the gift of spiritual life, though he was neither an Israelite nor a convert to the Jewish religion. God had heard his prayers and carefully noted his gifts to the Jews, and both had gone up as a memorial before God.
He stared at the angel and asked what it meant. Writers treat that fear as the normal response when God comes near.
He was frightened; and so is every man when God gets near to him. Sinner, you will get frightened when you sense that God is drawing near to you. Jacob was afraid when God came near that night by the river, when he was alone. The shepherds were afraid when God sent the angels to tell them the Saviour was born. Cornelius was afraid. No man ever escaped fear when the Lord drew near. Conscience tells him — just what conscience told me — that a sinner in his sins is not fit for God.
Some read Cornelius as a religious man trying to buy God's approval with prayers and alms — his gifts to those in need. The angel's words rule that out.
What right have we to imagine that Cornelius was praying, fasting, and giving alms to earn salvation? None at all... The angel told him that his prayers and his alms had gone up as a memorial before God. Is this not clear proof? These prayers and alms were not the trappings of self-righteousness. They were the fruit of a righteousness based on the knowledge he had of God. Surely the fruits of self-righteousness and legalism could never have gone up as a memorial to the throne of God.
If God accepted his prayers, why did he still need Peter? Because being made alive and being saved are two different things.
He feared God, and his prayer and his alms came up as a memorial before Him. He was no more unconverted than the disciples were before Pentecost, or the Old Testament saints... Yet he needed to hear words from the apostle by which he and all his house should be saved (Acts 11:14). Salvation is more than being made alive. It is knowing you hold that deliverance through the work of Christ, which the gospel now announces. Cornelius may have been safe before; he was saved after he received the message of grace and the gift of the Spirit.
The prayers had already gone up, long before the answer arrived.
We easily think we waste our breath in prayer if no answer comes at once. But exercise of heart in prayer is never fruitless, even though the result may be long delayed. The angel said to Cornelius, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God." We do not know how long he waited before God sent Peter with the answer. It may have been years (Acts 10)... There is a time as well as a way of answering, and that rests in the wisdom and grace of God.
The angel confirms that God has heard, then hands the errand to a man. He never preaches the message himself.
Another point worth noticing is that angels are not mentioned as preaching the gospel. When God sent the angel to Cornelius to guide him in his search for truth, the angel did not preach the gospel to him. He told him to send for a man. Cornelius heard of the Saviour not from the mouth of the mighty angel but from the lips of a sinner saved by grace.
- Noticed — God had been watching a Gentile soldier, and told him so at the hour of Israel's evening sacrifice.
- Genuine — Prayers offered to earn God's favour never rise to Him. His rose, so they were the fruit of what he already knew of God.
- Waiting — Prayer is never wasted breath. Cornelius may have prayed for years before the answer came. God chooses both the time and the way of answering.
- Incomplete — Being alive to God is not the same as being saved; he still had to hear the words Peter would bring.
- Human — The angel could announce that God had heard, but the good news itself had to come from a man who had been saved by it.