And on the morrow they came to Caesarea. But Cornelius was looking for them, having called together his kinsmen and [his] intimate friends.
Peter reaches Caesarea and walks into a house already full of people. Cornelius, a Roman officer, believed the message God had sent him, so he called together his relatives and closest friends to wait for a man he had never met.
Cornelius does not wait to see whether a Jew will enter a Gentile's house. He counts on it, and fills the room before Peter arrives.
Would a Jew obey the summons of a Gentile? Would Peter enter under his roof? Some might have questioned that. Cornelius, however, did not. Not a shadow of a doubt existed in his mind, and he had reckoned on an immediate response. And he was not mistaken. Peter arrived as soon as he could well have been there — the fourth day after the angel's visit — and found a warm and full welcome. The centurion's relatives and close friends had gathered to meet him... For the first time Peter had crossed the doorway of a Gentile's home.
Cornelius did not yet have the light himself. He was only sure it was coming — and that was enough to make him send for others.
When someone is interested in a truth they are not clear about, they want another person to come and hear about it too. I should not be surprised if there are men in this hall who are not clear about the gospel themselves. Yet they have said to others, "Come along with us; we will go and hear what this preacher has to say." That was exactly Cornelius' position. He had not got the light himself, but he could say, "I know I am going to get it. I have had a message from God, and light is coming." So he fills his house with his friends and relatives.
Kelly turns this from a fact about a Roman soldier into a question for readers who know far more than he did.
Dear reader, have you nothing to learn from the zeal of this Roman centurion? We saw his settled piety and devotion before (verses 2, 22). Are we to have less zeal because we are more familiar with the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ? That would be a sorrowful fruit. It would come not from better light, but from indifference of the flesh and worldly ease. These block the proper working of divine affections — the affections by which others may live and our own souls grow through the knowledge of God.
This gathering marks a first in history. The surprise is which apostle was sent to speak.
Cornelius, his relatives, and close friends are the first Gentiles to hear the glad tidings of the grace of God. Paul was above all the apostle sent to the nations. Yet Peter is the one chosen to speak the word to them first. For this purpose God brings him the whole way from Joppa to Caesarea, so that he may tell Cornelius words by which he and all his house should be saved.
Writers are careful about how much weight to place on the scene. It changed everything about Gentile access, but it was not yet the full teaching about the church.
When Peter received Cornelius and his friends into the assembly, it may be said to pave the way. Even so, it did not announce the glorious truth of the true nature, calling, and destiny of that assembly. Paul, already called, was to unfold that in due course... These events showed that in every nation anyone who feared God was acceptable to Him. They also showed that no one had to become a Jew to receive the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory... The doctrine was not preached, because it was not yet known, but the thing itself was enacted.
- Waiting. Cornelius did not hedge. He calculated when Peter could arrive and had the house ready on the day, with no doubt that a Jew would come.
- Widening. He sent for relatives and close friends before he had one word of the gospel himself. Expecting light, he widened the circle.
- Zeal. We know God's grace better than Cornelius did. That should make us more eager, not less, that others may live.
- First. This household is the first group of Gentiles ever gathered to hear the good news. Peter, not Paul, is the one sent to speak it.
- Foundation. Caesarea acted out one truth: no one needs to become a Jew to be saved. The fuller teaching about the church came later, through Paul.
And when Peter was now coming in, Cornelius met him, and falling down did [him] homage.
Peter arrives at the house of Cornelius, a Roman officer. At the door, Cornelius falls at his feet. Two questions follow: what was he doing, and why did Peter stop him at once?
Cornelius came out to meet the man he had sent for, and then went down at his feet. One writer explains why he did it.
It was all the more remarkable, since a Roman normally never bowed to the ground before a stranger. But the angel's message had raised this lowly, devout man's expectation so high that he failed to separate the preacher from the truth he was sent to make known. So he was ready to pay more honour than was fitting to the man God had told him to send for.
The word behind "worshiped" here is proskuneo. On its own it does not tell us whether the honour is divine or social.
The word most often used for worship is proskuneo. It comes from pros and kuneo, "to fawn or crouch," and "to kiss." Its first use in Scripture is in Genesis 18:2 [in the Greek Old Testament] when Abraham bows to the ground… It takes in all acts of outward honour, such as kneeling and bowing to the ground. People paid such honour to kings and other superiors, and also to a divine person, or to someone they regarded as such… So the word in itself does not decide whether the homage goes to God (which is its most constant use) or not. In most passages it could be translated "do homage."
One writer names both the reverence behind the act and the mistake in it.
Fully expecting Peter, Cornelius had already gathered his relatives and close friends to hear the word of God. However, out of deep reverence for the things of God, he made the serious mistake of falling at Peter's feet to worship him. Some men would proudly accept this, but not Peter, who knew that only the Lord is to be worshipped. Peter lifted him up, telling him to stand, for he was just like Cornelius, a mere man, and not God.
Another writer sees the mistake and the wonder in it together: "He carried his reverence too far; still it was no small thing that the haughty Roman should fall at the feet of a humble Galilean fisherman" (F. B. Hole).
Peter's refusal was not a one-off. Paul refused the same honour, and one writer draws a conclusion about Jesus from that.
It is remarkable that the Spirit of God has put it on record. Men offered homage to both Peter and Paul, and both stopped it at once and with force. "Stand up: I myself also am a man," was Peter's command to Cornelius when that centurion threw himself at his feet (Acts 10:26)… These were true men. They would not let anyone think they were more than men. They would not accept adoration even for a moment, because adoration belonged to God alone. From these events in the lives of His servants we learn by inference that Jesus was God when He accepted the adoration of Thomas. If not, what was He?
One writer turns the scene on those who claim to hold Peter's place today.
Oh, you who claim to be Peter's special and exclusive successor, are you not ashamed? Why are you of all men the furthest from his ways and the most opposed to his spirit? You have silver and gold, which he did not. But you deny and corrupt the faith he preached. And the lowliness he showed even to a Gentile who was not yet baptised is the most solemn rebuke to your pride, while the cardinals adore you again and again, each one falling down before you and kissing your slippered toe. Can the contrast be more complete? And this is "succession"!
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- Homage. The word here covers any deep bow — to a king or to God. Peter's answer, not the word itself, settles what the act meant.
- Expectation. Cornelius meant well. He could not separate the preacher from the truth the preacher came to bring.
- Refusal. Peter lifts him up instead of taking the honour. He stood there as a man and nothing more.
- Contrast. God's servants forbid such honour. Jesus received it — and that says who He is.
- Rebuke. Peter showed lowliness to a Gentile who was not yet baptised. That judges every later claim to his place that takes the homage he refused.
But Peter made him rise, saying, Rise up *I* myself also am a man.
Peter reaches Caesarea, and the Roman who sent for him falls at his feet. Peter will not take it: he lifts the man up and tells him they are both only men.
An angel had told Cornelius to send for Peter. By the time Peter came through the door, his hopes had risen so high that he honoured the messenger as if he were the message.
It was all the more remarkable, since a Roman would not usually bow to the ground in greeting a stranger. But the angel's message had lifted the humble and devout mind of Cornelius to such a pitch of expectation that he failed to separate the preacher from the truth he was sent to make known. So he was ready to pay more honour than was right to the man God had told him to send for. On the other hand, the dignity that goes with the truth fits with the deepest humility. It even produces and increases that humility, in proportion to the power grace gains over the soul.
The Greek word for what Cornelius did covers a wide range of bowing. By itself it does not tell you whether God or a man is in view.
The word most often used for worship is proskuneo, from pros and kuneo, "to fawn or crouch," and "to kiss."... It covers all acts of outward honour, such as kneeling and bowing to the ground — the wide sense the word "worship" once had in English (see 1 Chronicles 29:20). People paid such honour to kings and other superiors, as well as to a divine person, or one regarded as such... So the word in itself does not tell us whether the homage goes to God (which is its most common use) or not. In most passages you could translate it "do homage."
Peter does not lecture him. He gets him on his feet and states the one fact that ends the confusion.
Cornelius falls at the feet of this messenger, who he knew was God's messenger to his soul. This only shows how earnest the man was. "But Peter lifted him up, saying, 'Stand up; I too am a man.'" You are a man, and so am I: we are on the same level.
The same scene happens twice, with two different apostles. Both men push the honour away, and their refusal tells us something about Christ, who did not.
It is remarkable that the Spirit of God has put it on record that men offered homage to both Peter and Paul, and that both of them stopped it at once and with force... These were true men. They would not let anyone think they were more than men, and they would not accept adoration even for a moment, since it belongs to God alone. From these incidents in the lives of His servants we learn, by inference, that Jesus was God when He accepted the adoration of Thomas. If not, what was He? Let the objectors supply the answer.
The same pull is still at work. We lean on the people God uses instead of on Christ.
We all recognise the tendency to make much of man. Without knowing it, we fall into idolatry. We give the glory to some instrument God in His grace has seen fit to use, instead of to Himself. We lean too heavily on the hand that would point us to Christ. Too often we make priests of the very people who remind us that we are all priests... When loved and honoured servants of Christ are taken away, one lesson at least we may learn is not to make too much of them — to "cease from man" — to cling more simply to Christ alone.
The correction did not cool Cornelius down. It turned the whole room toward God.
He accepted Peter's gentle rebuke, "I too am a man." Yet he knew God was at work, and that they must hold the meeting as in His presence. So he set himself and the whole audience "here present before God," ready to hear from the preacher "all things that God has commanded you." They were ready to hear ALL. Plenty of people do not mind hearing pleasant and comforting things, but they object to the sterner announcements the gospel makes.
- The mistake. Cornelius's eagerness blurred the line between the preacher and the truth he carried. A Roman ended up on the floor in front of a man like himself.
- The act. People bowed like that to kings as well as to God, so the act by itself proved nothing.
- The lift. Peter's answer was not a rebuke from above but a hand that raised Cornelius to his own level: you are a man, and so am I.
- The contrast. Peter refused what Paul refused too. Christ accepted it — and that tells us who He is.
- The result. Cornelius took the correction. He set the whole room before God, ready to hear everything God commanded.
And he went in, talking with him, and found many gathered together.
Peter walks into a Roman officer's home in Caesarea, still talking with his host. Inside, a room is already full of people. For a Jew, entering that house was unlawful. What Peter found inside shows why God sent him through the door anyway.
Everything turned on one question: would Peter actually walk in?
Would a Jew obey the summons of a Gentile? Would Peter enter under his roof? Some might have questioned that. Cornelius, however, did not. Not a shadow of a doubt existed in his mind... The centurion had gathered his relatives and close friends to meet him. What a sight it must have been! For the first time he had crossed the threshold of a Gentile's home. And for the first time in the world's history, Gentiles came together to hear the gospel of God's grace.
A rule had kept Jew and Gentile apart. It did not begin with human pride.
Notice that God has "broken down" the wall He Himself had raised long ago. It would have been sin for anyone else to break it down. The LORD said to His people, "You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine" (Leviticus 20:26). The godly gloried in this... So Peter was right to tell Cornelius that it was unlawful. A Jew could not visit or mix with anyone of another nation. But such distinctions belong to the past. God's present work is forming the one body. God now proclaims peace to those far off and those near, and both draw near to the Father.
So what was left for Peter to do?
Now that the true light shines, the old distinction is gone. It was not so at the beginning; it is no longer in force. If God was entitled to set up such a difference, He was just as free to annul it... Peter came "without objecting," as was fitting for him. For what has faith to do in such circumstances but obey?
On the roof Peter had puzzled over a vision he could not explain.
Peter lifts him up, and they go into the house together. Peter finds "many persons gathered." The house was full of souls that God was going to bless... Peter has learned his lesson now; he has the key to the difficulty he pondered over on the roof. When he had gone down and obeyed, he saw quite clearly that the grace of God was going out to the ends of the earth.
Cornelius did not wait alone. He had no clear light yet, and still he filled his house with friends and relatives.
You will always find it this way. Someone is interested in the truth but not clear about it, and they want another person to come and hear about it too... That was exactly Cornelius' position. He did not have the light himself, but he could say, "I know I am going to get it. I have had a message from God, and light is coming." So he fills his house with his friends and relatives.
Those gathered were not a random crowd.
He was also sure that this was of God. So he had no doubt Peter would come, and he had called together many people who, like himself, were seekers after God... They were ready to hear everything God had to say. Plenty of people do not mind hearing pleasant and comforting things, but object to the sterner announcements the gospel makes.
Cornelius was the first of a series.
We must not pass over in silence this energy which embraced whole houses and brought them under the Christian faith. We only see it, however, when it is a question of bringing in the Gentiles. But Cornelius, Lydia, and the jailer of Philippi are all witnesses to this power.
- Door. Peter crossed into a Gentile home for the first time. Gentiles had never before gathered to hear the gospel.
- Wall. God Himself raised the wall between Jew and Gentile. Only God could take it down.
- Obedience. Peter obeyed before he understood. The meaning of the rooftop vision followed him through the door.
- Gathering. Cornelius had no light yet, but he knew it was coming. So he filled his house with friends and relatives.
- Household. What began in one Roman home spread to whole families as the gospel went to the nations.
And he said to them, *Ye* know how it is unlawful for a Jew to be joined or come to one of a strange race, and to *me* God has shewn to call no man common or unclean.
Peter is standing inside a Roman officer's house, where his upbringing said he had no business being. He names that barrier out loud, then tells the room why he crossed it.
The rule Peter names was not written in Israel's law. It was the custom of his day, and God's own dealings had already reached past it.
Peter tells the people gathered there that they knew the rule. It was unlawful for a Jew to keep company with someone of a foreign nation, or even to come as a friend to his home. Israel's law had not said exactly this, but it was how the Jews of that time understood it. The Lord sent Elijah to stay with a Gentile widow (1 Kings 17:9). More importantly, God sent Joseph and Mary with the child Jesus to Egypt, where keeping this Jewish rule would be impossible. The Lord Himself also spoke kindly to a Samaritan woman. She was surprised at this, because the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans (John 4:9). But Peter's rigid thinking had to give way to what the Lord showed him: he must not call any man common or unclean, whatever nation he belonged to.
Peter had seen a vision of creatures the law forbade him to eat. The animals were never the real subject.
God forbade Israel certain creatures only because of what they pictured, not because there was any evil in the creature itself. In a vision the Lord told Peter to eat all kinds of animals. Peter objected, but the Lord insisted. Then he realised that the unclean animals stood for people — that is, Gentiles. Peter says in Acts 10:28 that God had shown him he should not call any man unclean. Before the cross, Israel kept strictly apart from Gentiles, since they counted Gentiles unclean. But the sacrifice of Christ cleanses all who trust Him as Saviour, whether Jew or Gentile.
Peter does not treat the old separation as a mistake. He treats it as finished, and points to the One who ended it.
Peter had entered not only the house but the room where Cornelius had his company waiting to hear the gospel. He explains first what they all knew, then what God had just shown him. They knew that for a Jew to be familiar with a Gentile was unlawful. As for Peter, God had shown him that he was not to call any man common or unclean. Now that the true light shines, the old distinction is gone. It was not so at the beginning; it is no longer in force. If God had the right to set up such a difference, He was just as free to cancel it... In such a case, what is faith to do but obey?
What slowed Peter down was not the truth itself. It was something in him.
Prejudice — that sad hindrance then, now, and always — stood in the way. He needed his mind enlarged to take in God's purpose for the Gentiles. To someone trained inside the Jewish system, admitting Jews into the kingdom seemed one thing, and admitting Gentiles quite another... but now all was changed. The middle wall was broken down — the barriers were swept away. It was a wonderful lesson for him to learn on the roof of Simon the tanner's house. There he learned for the first time that "God shows no partiality," and that what God has cleansed no one may call common.
Peter obeyed before he understood. The puzzle he had turned over on the roof cleared only after he acted.
Peter has learned his lesson now; he has got the key to the difficulty that he pondered over on the roof. When he had gone down and obeyed, he saw quite clearly that the grace of God was going out to the ends of the earth.
Years later Peter went back on the freedom he states here. Paul challenged him with his own earlier way of life.
Paul began his protest by asking Peter a question about his earlier way of life, before the sudden change. Peter had given up the strict Jewish customs for the freer life of the Gentiles, as he himself had stated in Acts 10:28. How could he now retreat from that position without contradicting himself? Such a retreat amounted to saying that, after all, Gentiles should live by the customs of the Jews.
- Barrier — The line Peter names was the custom of his day, not a plain command of the law. God had already reached past it.
- Vision — The forbidden animals stood for people. Peter thought he was hearing a lesson about food; it was a lesson about Gentiles.
- Authority — The God who once set the distinction up is free to cancel it, so the old rule is not broken but ended.
- Obedience — Peter obeyed first and understood later. Only then did he see grace going out to the ends of the earth.
- Consistency — Light once received can still be dropped. Paul measured Peter's later retreat against the very truth Peter states here.
Wherefore also, having been sent for, I came without saying anything against it. I inquire therefore for what reason ye have sent for me.
Peter has just walked into a Gentile's house. His upbringing told him a Jew must never do that. He explains to the crowded room why he came anyway, and then asks why they sent for him.
Peter tells the room they already know a Jew may not visit a foreigner. One writer notes that this was accepted custom, not the letter of Israel's law. He points to times when God Himself went past it:
Peter tells the gathered audience that they knew it was unlawful for a Jew to keep company with a foreigner, or even to visit his home. This was not exactly what Israel's law had said, but it was the meaning the Jews had accepted by then. The Lord sent Elijah to stay with a Gentile widow (1 Kings 17:9)... Also, the Lord Himself spoke kindly to a Samaritan woman. She was surprised at this, for Jews had no dealings with Samaritans (John 4:9). But Peter's rigid thinking had to give way to what the Lord had shown him: he must not call any person common or unclean, whatever nation he came from. That is why he came at once, without objection.
Behind the custom stood a real separation. One writer notes who put it there, and who alone could remove it:
Notice that God has "broken down" the wall which He Himself put up long ago (it would have been sin for anyone else to do so). The LORD said to His people, "I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine" (Leviticus 20:26)... So Peter was right to tell Cornelius that it was unlawful for a Jew to visit, or keep company with, someone of another nation. But such distinctions belong to the past.
Peter came "without objection". One writer asks what else faith can do once God has spoken:
If God had the right to set up such a difference, He was just as free to cancel it. He had shown this to Peter, preparing him for Cornelius. God had told Cornelius to send for Peter, and Peter had come at that word "without objection", as was fitting for him. For what has faith to do in such a case but obey? If Christ Himself was, beyond all others, the Obedient Man, then the apostles stood apart from other people as much by the measure of their obedience as by their gift and power.
Peter still had something to learn. One writer names what stood in the way:
Prejudice — that sad hindrance then, now, and always — stood in the way. To someone raised under the Jewish system, it seemed one thing to let Jews into the kingdom, and quite another to let Gentiles in... That is how it had been in the past. But now everything was changed. The middle wall was broken down — the barriers were swept away.
A room of anxious people was already waiting for him. One writer admits the question puzzles him:
I must say that I never quite understood that question. I cannot understand a man, who knows the grace of God, and is in the presence of anxious people, asking, "I ask then why you sent for me?" I think, if I got into such a gathering, I should know, and I would say, I know what you want; you want the gospel: the Lord help me to give it to you.
Peter's question draws out Cornelius's story. Neither man could have staged the other's half:
Cornelius answers his question by telling him how he saw the vision of the angel in response to his prayer, and how he was told to send for Peter. Peter's own vision fully confirmed that this was miraculous, so there was no possibility of deception here... So God Himself had arranged this gathering in the home of Cornelius, and they were ready to hear all that God had commanded Peter.
One writer turns Peter's readiness into a warning:
Listen, you who want to honour Peter truly, so that you may be saved from the destructive superstitions of his false successors. See how quickly he comes, with not a word to say against it, when Cornelius asks. Ah! It is not Peter who demanded or received worldly pomp and human honour. It is you who have lost the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and who are ruled by dark and evil traditions that make God's word of no effect.
- Sent by God. God raised the wall between Jew and Gentile, so only God could take it down — and He did.
- Sent for by man. An angel told Cornelius to send for Peter, and Peter's own vision confirmed the call from the other side.
- Came without objection. Once God has spoken, faith has one task: obey. Prejudice, however deep, must give way.
- Asked before he preached. One writer admits he never understood why Peter asked, with anxious people in front of him waiting for the gospel.
- Stayed a servant. No pomp, no conditions — Peter comes at a foreigner's request and asks nothing for himself.
And Cornelius said, Four days ago I had been [fasting] unto this hour, and the ninth [I was] praying in my house, and lo, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
A Roman officer stands in his own house, explaining himself to Peter. His account goes back four days — to an hour of prayer, and a visitor in bright clothing who told him to send for a man.
Peter does not begin by preaching. He asks a question first. What comes back is a man's own account of the last four days.
Then he probes Cornelius, and tries to find out the state of his soul. He says, "I ask then why you sent for me." It is a good thing to let a soul who is anxious about divine things speak out for itself. Cornelius tells his own story... Here you have another indication of Cornelius's moral state; he was fasting as well as praying, pouring out his soul to God.
The time he names was not random. It was the fixed afternoon hour of Jewish worship — and God met a man there who had no claim on that worship.
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 Jerusalem knew it as the hour of prayer. God, the centurion learned, had observed and cared for the Gentile soldier. Grace had really reached him in the giving of spiritual life, though he was neither an Israelite nor a convert to the Jewish religion... Never before had a heavenly visitor appeared in that house. So Cornelius was frightened at first, and asked, "What is it, Lord?"
Cornelius fasted as well as prayed — a detail some older translations keep in this verse. He had likely never heard Jesus teach, yet his life fell into a shape the Bible already describes.
Cornelius may not have heard of the Sermon on the Mount, but his practical righteousness quite matched what is laid down there. Verse 1 of Matthew 6 speaks of "righteousness" in general. The verses that follow give its branches: giving to the poor, praying and fasting.
The man in bright clothing spoke, but he did not tell Cornelius about Christ. He gave an address in Joppa and left.
Another point worth noticing is that angels are not mentioned as preaching the gospel. God sent the angel to Cornelius to guide him in his search for truth. The angel did not preach the gospel to him, but told him to send for a man. Not from the mouth of the mighty angel but from the lips of a sinner saved by grace did Cornelius hear of the Saviour... So we see how in service man in grace enjoys a privilege denied to angels.
Cornelius was already a generous, praying man. Yet when God opened the door to the nations, His word to Cornelius was not do more, but listen.
To be saved, he was not told to do works. He was to hear words when Peter came: "He will speak to you." Later Peter tells the story in Jerusalem. He says the angel had told Cornelius, "Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household." Mark that now! ... Many souls think that if they are to be saved, it must be by works of some kind. But when God opens the way to the Gentiles, He rules out the thought of works.
God had noticed him and cared for him. Yet he still had no assurance — and that gap is why Peter had to come.
He was an awakened man — anxious, godly, prayerful, God-fearing. But if you had gone and asked him whether his sins were forgiven, he would not have dared to say so. Up to that moment the testimony of the Gospel had not gone out, and forgiveness had not been preached to the Gentiles.
- Sought. Cornelius was praying at the set afternoon hour of Jewish worship. God met him there, though he belonged neither to Israel nor to its religion.
- Seen. His giving, praying and fasting are the branches of righteousness the Sermon on the Mount describes. God noticed that life before Peter arrived.
- Sent. The angel in bright clothing carried an address, not a gospel. Telling a sinner about the Saviour is a privilege God gives to redeemed people, not to angels.
- Spoken. God told him not to do works but to hear words — and those words would save him and his whole household.
- Saved. Prayerful, generous and awakened, he still could not say his sins were forgiven. That came only when the message reached him.
and said, Cornelius, thy prayer has been heard, and thy alms have come in remembrance before God.
In Caesarea, Cornelius repeats to Peter what an angel had told him: God had taken notice of a Gentile soldier's prayers and his gifts to the poor. Two questions follow. What was he asking for? And if God had already heard him, why send for a preacher?
The angel does not say what the prayer was about. One writer reads it from the man's situation: an outsider to Israel who wanted light.
Before he heard Peter's address, it would have been wrong for Cornelius to say that he was forgiven. It would be just as wrong for you and me now, if we believe on Jesus, to say we do not know it. Cornelius did not know this great blessing, but it is clear that he longed for it with all his heart. He tells Peter that the angel had said to him, "Cornelius, your prayer has been heard." What does that mean? That God read his heart, and knew what he desired — light. Remember that he was not a convert to the Jewish religion. He had not embraced Judaism. The Jews plainly thought well of him, but he had never put himself under the law.
Was Cornelius buying God's favour with his giving and praying? One writer argues the opposite.
What right have we to imagine that Cornelius was praying, fasting, and giving alms in order to earn salvation? None at all — at least if we let the inspired account govern us. We have no other way of knowing anything about this truly excellent and interesting man. 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.
Another writer asks what God does with the prayers of an ungodly man.
When did the prayers and alms of an ungodly man ever "come up for a memorial before God"? Such are "dead works," as worthless, if not as offensive, as wicked works.
God accepted his prayer and still sent him for a message. His next task was not more devotion, but listening.
To be saved, he was not told to do works. He was to hear words, when Peter came. "He shall speak to you."... Many souls think that they must be saved by works of some sort. But when God opens the way to the Gentiles, He rules out the thought of works.
An angel had the man's attention and could have finished the business on the spot. Instead he gave him an address in Joppa. The prayers God accepted were never a substitute for the gospel.
The angel, you notice, did not cut a long story short by telling the message to Cornelius himself. Only a man who is himself a subject of grace can rightly tell the message of grace. So Peter must be called. God valued the prayers and alms of Cornelius, because they expressed the sincere seeking of his heart after God. Suppose that, after hearing the gospel, he had ignored its message and gone on with his prayers and alms. That would have been a different matter. Then they would not have "come up for a memorial before God."
We are not told how long Cornelius waited for an answer. The silence was not a refusal, and no honest prayer is wasted.
Exercise of heart in prayer is never fruitless, though the result may be long delayed... and we do not know how long he waited before God sent Peter to him with the answer: it may have been years (Acts 10). As with Daniel, so with Cornelius, and so with us, God chooses both the time and the way of answering, and that choice rests in His wisdom and grace.
And God has a track record of getting the message through:
God never fails an expectant heart... He sent a Philip to the eunuch in the desert of Gaza. He sent a Peter to the centurion, in the town of Caesarea. He sent a Paul to a seller of purple, in the suburbs of Philippi. And He will send a message to the reader of these lines, if he is truly earnest in seeking God's salvation.
- Heard — God read the heart behind the prayer. Cornelius wanted light; he was not claiming a forgiveness he did not yet have.
- Remembered — his prayers and gifts were not a payment to God. They were fruit growing from what he already knew of God.
- Still lacking — Being heard is not the same as being saved; he was sent for words, not more works.
- Answered by a man — An angel could name the need but not preach the remedy; grace is told by someone who has received it.
- Waited for — The delay may have been years; the timing belongs to God, and He has never failed a heart that expects Him.
Send therefore to Joppa and fetch Simon, who is surnamed Peter; he lodges in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea [who when he is come will speak to thee].
Cornelius is repeating an angel's instructions back to Peter: a town, a name, and a house by the sea. The striking thing is what the angel did not do — he gave an address instead of a message.
An angel stood in front of Cornelius and could have told him everything. Instead Cornelius had to send to another town for a man. The reason has to do with who is fit to carry this message.
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 rightly. So Peter must be called.
The address is a humble one, and that detail matters. While Cornelius was sending his men, God was already at the far end of the journey, working on the man they went to fetch.
The angel does not preach the gospel to Cornelius, but sends Peter to him for this. That is how closely the Lord keeps to His own methods and appointments. The Lord goes ahead of the messengers from Caesarea to the house of Simon the tanner by the sea. That house is the lowly birthplace of a wide and far-reaching movement in His ways with men.
The address itself hinted at what was coming. A tanner made leather out of animal skins. Peter was already lodging where a strict Jew would have hesitated to stay.
The end of the previous chapter tells us that Peter stayed in Joppa in the house of Simon the tanner. Was he breaking with his Jewish law and customs? The Jews considered tanning an unclean trade.
The leading apostle lived in a working man's house, not a palace. One writer turns that against people who claim first place in the church today.
Scripture tells us that he stayed a good many days in Joppa at the house of a certain tanner who had his own name, Simon. Does this say nothing to those who easily believe that they too stand "first" in the church of God in our day? According to Scripture, no true apostle ever had, or ever sought, wealth or rank because of his office.
Cornelius was a praying, generous man. Yet the angel did not tell him to add another good deed. He was to fetch someone who would talk to him.
To be saved, he was not told to do works. He was to hear words, when Peter came. "He shall speak to you." … Many souls think that if they are to be saved, it will be by works of some sort. But when God opens the way to the Gentiles, He rules out the thought of works. He says to this anxious man: send for My messenger, who shall "tell you words."
(Wolston quotes an older translation. It ends the verse with the words "who, when he comes, shall speak to you." The ESV ends it at the tanner's house.)
The errand looked simple from Caesarea. At the other end it meant a Jew walking into a Gentile home. God had already prepared Peter for that step.
Now that the true light shines, the old distinction is gone. It was not so at the beginning; it is no longer in force. If God was entitled to set up such a difference, He was just as free to cancel it. So He had shown this to Peter, as special preparation for Cornelius, whom God had directed to send for Peter.
Cornelius had nothing but a name and an address. He acted on it at once, and one writer reads that speed as the mark of a serious man.
As soon as Cornelius hears from God what he is to do, he does it. This shows the earnestness and the fervour of the man. "So I sent for you at once," he says to Peter. He will not wait a day. He does not say, I will think about it.
- Sent, not spoken. The angel withheld the message and gave an address instead, because only a man who has received grace can tell it.
- Sent to a tanner's house. The angel named a humble place, a trade the Jews counted unclean — the unlikely starting point of a far-reaching work.
- Sent ahead. God reached the tanner's house before the messengers did. He was preparing the preacher while the hearer was still sending.
- Sent for words. The angel told Cornelius to listen, not to achieve. That rules out the idea of being saved by what we do.
- Sent at once. He obeyed at once on the strength of a name and a place. He would not wait a day.
Immediately therefore I sent to thee, and *thou* hast well done in coming. Now therefore *we* are all present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.
Peter has just walked into a Gentile home in Caesarea, and he asks Cornelius why he sent for him. The answer is this verse: a room full of people, waiting, with no plan of their own except to hear what God has to say.
Cornelius is not describing a lucky coincidence. Two visions had brought two strangers into one room.
In answer to his question, Cornelius tells him how he saw the vision of the angel in response to his prayer, and how he was told to send for Peter. The vision given to Peter fully confirmed that this was miraculous. So there was no chance of deception here, unlike the case with many who claim to have had visions. God had carefully arranged the gathering in the home of Cornelius, and they were ready to hear all that God had commanded Peter.
Cornelius had just taken a gentle rebuke from Peter: the preacher was only a man. Yet he still knew whose presence the room stood in, and he asked for the whole message, not part of it.
He had accepted Peter's gentle rebuke when Peter said, "I myself also am a man." Yet he knew that God was at work, and that the meeting was to be held in His presence. So he placed himself and everyone there "here present before God," ready to hear from the preacher "all things that God has commanded you." They were ready to hear ALL. Plenty of people do not mind hearing pleasant and comforting things, but they object to the sterner things the Gospel says.
That kind of listener is rare.
There was no holding back, and no wish to leave out any part of the counsel of God. What a contrast with this day of itching ears!
Cornelius expected words God had commanded Peter to say, not Peter's own opinions.
Now, we know that Cornelius understood very clearly what was happening. Peter was coming to speak to him. Peter was God's messenger to him, sent to deliver God's word to him. Peter would be only the channel. The word he longed for was coming through him, and it would not be the word of a mere man.
There is a small point in the wording here. Older versions end the verse "commanded of God"; one writer explains why "of the Lord" is the better reading.
Many had come together, and they were present in the sight of God to hear all that the Lord had commanded Peter — for that is how we should read it here, not "of God." To the Apostle, this scene and this company must have been of unusual interest. For the first time he had crossed the threshold of a Gentile's home.
How you listen matters as much as what you hear. A perfect message can still be lost on the wrong heart.
So a certain state of soul is needed for listening rightly — an upright condition before God. Without it, the plainest message can be misunderstood and twisted. Cornelius and his friends are an example of this. He said to Peter, "Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord." To neglect the how is as fatal as to forget the what. So the hearer must always seek to be in the right condition to receive the message. He must also remember that only God's word is without error, and that everything brought to him claiming to be from God must be tested by the perfect standard of the Scriptures.
Preachers feel the difference such a room makes.
I know nothing more cheering to someone who loves souls than an audience like this, all eager to hear. Before Peter began to preach, he knew there was not a single uninterested soul in that company, no one putting it off, no one mocking... Eager listeners make earnest preachers. Longing hearers make it easy to preach.
That readiness did not go unanswered.
Such an attitude of soul brings blessing. The whole company listened eagerly to Peter's testimony about the Lord Jesus. In less than an hour (probably) every person there received the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Arranged — Two visions brought Peter and Cornelius together. The meeting was God's doing, not man's.
- Before God — Cornelius put himself and the whole room in God's presence. The preacher was only a man.
- All — He asked for everything God commanded, with nothing held back. Many want the comforting parts and object to the sterner ones.
- How — How you listen matters as much as what you hear. A wrong heart ruins the plainest message, and every message must be tested by Scripture.
- Blessing — Within about an hour that whole listening company had forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And Peter opening his mouth said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons,
Peter is standing inside a Roman officer's house, a place he had always believed a Jew must not enter. His first words there correct his own thinking about God: who He accepts, on what basis, and how far the gospel now reaches.
Older translations render Peter's words as "God is no respecter of persons." He is not stating something he had always believed. He is dropping something he had believed wrongly.
Peter's opening words then are precious… Clearly he had himself thought that God was a respecter of persons, because his upbringing gave Israelites a higher place in God's sight than all other nations. In the church of God all of this must be completely levelled, and God used this miraculous way to press that truth on Peter.
"In every nation" is not about geography for its own sake. It marks how far God's blessing now reaches.
It is a question now of the grace of God going out world-wide; wherever there is a soul looking to God, that is the soul God will bless… Peter knew full well that Jesus was Lord of the Jews, but it never seemed to have sunk into his soul before that He was Lord of all.
One word here needs care. Writers say "accepted" is not the best rendering.
Peter now knows the truth. He has learned the lesson of the great sheet. As he says, in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is "accepted" with Him — or, as it should be, "acceptable," or "well pleasing to Him." Acceptance rests on completely different ground, as we learn from Ephesians 1:6. This was a completely new lesson to Peter.
Cornelius feared God and did what was right. Commentators read that as a real work already begun in him, not as a man earning his way in.
It is plain that the call did not go out to a pagan idolater. Peter speaks here of a man who already feared God and did what is right. Cornelius was not an unconverted soul. He truly feared God, and he was full of prayer and giving to the poor. Of course, self-righteous prayer or giving could not have commended him to God… In going out to the Gentiles, it was wise and most gracious of the Lord to begin with someone no Jew could deny was godly.
Cornelius already knew the message God had sent to Israel. So why did he not claim it for himself?
Cornelius knew the gospel had gone out to the children of Israel. But he was a humble believer, and that is exactly why he did not claim the blessing for himself. The very essence of faith is this: you do not run ahead of God. You receive what He sends, and in the way He sends it.
Peter's words open a door. Writers are careful to mark what those words do not yet say.
Peter has at last seen that God shows no partiality. In every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is accepted with Him. This goes no further than admitting that blessing is for Gentiles as truly as for Jews. The truth of the one body had not yet been made known, and Paul was the honoured administrator of it… Peter went no further than admitting Gentiles to an equal place with the Jews: "God gave them the same gift as He gave to us."
What Peter learned about God cuts both ways for the reader.
Without respect of persons, God tells you that you are a sinner, and without respect of persons that His grace is toward you.
The same rule shapes how believers treat one another.
But "God shows no partiality" (Acts 10:34). And God's Word must govern the Church. She does not make it; she is taught by it. It says, "If you show partiality, you are committing sin" (James 2:9).
- Unlearned — Peter had once thought God ranked nations. His upbringing put Israel above the rest, and God levelled it.
- Acceptable — the better rendering is "acceptable" or "well pleasing." Acceptance itself rests on different ground, taught in Ephesians 1:6.
- Prepared — God began with a man already fearing Him and praying, someone no Jew could call ungodly.
- Restrained — Cornelius knew the message sent to Israel, yet he would not claim it. Faith receives what God sends. It does not run ahead of Him.
- Extended — the verse gives Gentiles an equal place, and no more. The God who shows no partiality forbids partiality in His people.
but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.
Peter had just seen a vision that overturned a lifetime of religious training, and now he stands in a Roman officer's house and says what he has learned. Two questions follow: does God treat all nations alike, and can anyone be "acceptable" to Him before hearing about Christ?
Peter's opening sentence is a confession as much as a statement. It reveals what he had believed until that morning.
Peter's opening words then are precious: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him." Clearly he had himself thought that God showed partiality, for his upbringing had given Israelites a higher place in God's sight than every other nationality. In the church of God all of this must be completely levelled. God used this miraculous way of pressing such truth on Peter.
Older English translations end this verse with "accepted." That can sound like a settled standing before God. One writer corrects the word, and points to different ground for a Christian's acceptance.
Peter now knows the truth. He has learned the lesson of the great sheet, as he says: "But in every nation he that fears Him and works righteousness is accepted with Him." It should be "acceptable," or "well pleasing to Him." Acceptance is on totally different grounds, as we learn from Ephesians 1:6. This was an entirely new lesson to Peter.
The ESV already reads "acceptable to Him."
Some have read this line as proof that sincere living earns salvation without the gospel. One writer answered that idea head-on.
"So to live that he might be saved" at once shows ignorance of the ways of God in grace — in fact, of the gospel, as regards Christ's work. "Right convictions and good practice" is not gospel. Is he born again? Acts 17:27 does not say a word about the Spirit's acting. Acts 10:35 says only that the man who is such and such is accepted. It was merely that blessing was not confined to the Jews, as is clear when you read the passage.
If God finds anything pleasing in a person, where did it come from? One writer traces it back to God Himself.
He now fully realizes that in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is acceptable to Him. How could He indeed ignore what is but the fruit of His own work in the soul, wherever it is found?
Cornelius already prayed and gave to the poor. Yet he still had to send for a preacher. One writer draws a line here between being alive toward God and being saved.
But it is a mistake to suppose that Cornelius was a mere self-righteous formalist before Peter went to his house in Caesarea. He feared God, and his prayer and his alms came up as a memorial before Him. Cornelius already had eternal life. Yet he needed to hear words from the apostle, so that he and all his house should be saved. Salvation is more than being made alive. It is the conscious possession of the deliverance the gospel now announces, won through the work of Christ. Cornelius may have been safe before; he was saved after he received the message of grace and the gift of the Spirit.
God's own instruction to him was not to do something, but to hear something. The promise quoted comes from Acts 11:14, which the ESV renders "a message by which you will be saved."
What God tells Cornelius to do is to listen to "words, whereby you and all your house shall be saved." Many souls think that if they are to be saved, it is by works of some kind. But when God opens the way to the Gentiles, He rules out the thought of works. He says to this anxious man: send for my messenger, who shall "tell you words."
This verse had a practical outcome: a non-Jew did not have to become a Jew first. One writer also marks the limits of what Peter's vision revealed.
Peter's vision did not reveal the assembly as the body of Christ, neither did the admission of Cornelius. They only showed that in every nation the person who feared God was acceptable to Him. In a word, the favour of God was not limited to the Jews, and no one needed to become a Jew to share the salvation that is in Christ.
- Levelled. Peter's upbringing had placed Israel above every other nation. In the church of God that ground must be level.
- Acceptable. The word means "acceptable," or "well pleasing," rather than "accepted." A Christian's acceptance stands on totally different ground.
- God's fruit. What God finds pleasing in a man of any nation is what He Himself produced in that soul; He will not ignore His own work.
- Words, not works. Cornelius already prayed and gave, yet God told him to send for a preacher. Words to hear, not works to do.
- Door open. The result: no one has to become a Jew first. The favour of God is not fenced within one nation.
The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, (*he* is Lord of all things,)
Peter is standing in the house of Cornelius, a Roman officer. He sums up God's whole message to the world — peace, through Jesus Christ — and then adds five words that break every boundary he grew up with.
The verse does not say people must find peace. It says God sent the word and preached it. That reverses the way many people think about getting right with God.
How often are souls urged to make their peace with God! The truth is that Christ has made peace, and God has been proclaiming it in the gospel for more than 1800 years. The poor sinner has only to believe... Nothing but the blood of Christ, the Son of God's love, could make peace with a holy and righteous God. But the work is done and God has accepted it. Now God Himself proclaims it, and He wants you to receive it. "Preaching peace by Jesus Christ," said the apostle Peter in the house of Cornelius.
Peter names one source of peace: Jesus Christ. That matters for anyone who keeps checking their own progress for proof of peace.
So many live in miserable uncertainty because they do not rest in absolute faith on God's foundation. They are taken up with themselves instead of building on Christ alone. They are looking to experience rather than to a risen Saviour... God did not send peace to the children of Israel by spiritual experiences or by religious exercises. He does not send it to us Gentiles that way either. He sends peace by Jesus Christ alone.
Peter tells Cornelius he already knows this message. His own honesty was what kept him from claiming it.
You can see that a man might be godly and still not know the privileges of Christianity... Cornelius was not ignorant of this word. He had also heard that God was preaching peace through Jesus Christ. But it was "to the children of Israel." So why did Cornelius not get peace? For a beautiful reason. He was just and upright, and he knew he was not in the favoured circle of Israel. So he judged it was not for him.
The words in brackets are not decoration. They are the hinge the whole scene turns on.
He reminds them that they knew of the word of God sent to Israel by Jesus Christ. He is the One who preached peace in the middle of the strife and confusion of the nation. The parenthesis he adds, "He is Lord of all," shows that the message was not for Israel alone.
Peter had seen this majesty with his own eyes, and the memory breaks into his sermon.
Then we have the short but delightfully expressive parenthesis — "He is Lord of all." The apostle had heard the voice "from the excellent glory" telling the Father's delight in Christ. He had been an eyewitness "of His majesty." So he breaks off his talk to Cornelius, as it were, to express his heartfelt appreciation of the universal supremacy of his Lord.
Peter had preached Jesus as Israel's Messiah. Under the title "Lord," the national line disappears — and a personal demand appears.
He is Lord, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. His place as Messiah did apply more to the Jew, who had the holy writings, with their prophecies announcing the coming of the Messiah. But when we consider Him from the point of view of His Lordship, then all other distinctions vanish. He is Lord of the Jew, but He is equally Lord of the Gentile... If I turn to the Lord I shall at once admit myself to be under His authority. My place is subjection beneath His mighty Word.
Commentators tie this universal title to the resurrection. The risen Christ is beyond the borders that divide people here.
Jesus, risen from the dead, is Lord of all, not merely of the Jews. He is the Lord of all men and all things, for all things are put under His feet... Jesus, walking through this world, was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But risen from the dead, the Saviour has no national limits. There is no Gentile or Jew beyond the grave. Here there are geographical distinctions that mark people off from one another. Beyond the grave there are none — and that is where the Lord of glory is.
It also reaches into the future.
He is Lord of all, and you, my friend, will have to give an account to Him hereafter.
- Sent — God is the one who sends and preaches. Peace is not something people negotiate; it is news delivered.
- Made — the peace preached was already made by the blood of Christ. Believing it, not producing it, is the sinner's part.
- Through Christ — not through feelings, progress, or religious effort. Peace is only as steady as the foundation it rests on.
- Lord of all — those bracketed words carried the message past Israel's borders. They reached a Roman officer's house, and everyone since.
- All means you — if He is Lord of all, He is your Lord: today for peace, and one day for an account.
*ye* know; the testimony which has spread through the whole of Judaea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached --
Peter is in the house of Cornelius, telling a room of Gentiles that they already know the story. The verse says where that story ran and when it began — so why did Cornelius still need Peter to come?
Peter opens with news, not with new facts. God had sent that word to Israel — yet these Gentiles had heard it too.
The grace of God was now about to flow richly beyond the boundaries of Israel. Yet God had sent that word about Jesus Christ, Himself present among men, to the children of Israel only. Still, that word had spread widely through Galilee and Judea. Cornelius and his friends lived in those parts, so they knew all about it. They knew well the things that happened in the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth.
"Judea" here does not mean one small province. The word covers the whole land.
"Judea." This seems to stand for the whole land of Israel, as it clearly does in Acts 10:37, and in the Gospel at Luke 6:17, Luke 7:17, and Luke 23:5.
The starting point matters. Peter names a district in the north that people despised, a region named after the Gentiles.
This message was spoken of throughout Judea. It began from despised Galilee of the Gentiles, after the baptism which John preached. We read of it in Mark 1:14-15, where the Lord Himself called men to repent and believe the gospel. It is the only salvation for the Jew — and for the Gentile when he is called later, as Cornelius now began to be.
Peter dates the start from John's baptism. Commentators differ on which stretch of ministry the phrase covers. One reading ties it to the moment John went to prison:
The public testimony, or preaching, of our Lord began after John's imprisonment, and it began from Galilee. But this passage shows that before that He was gathering disciples by private teaching, and His disciples were baptising.
Another reading points back to an earlier work in the south that the Gospels do not record:
Early in His ministry He preached the gospel so widely that in Judea He "was making and baptizing more disciples than John" (John 4:1). We have no record of this huge campaign, and the scale of its success was amazing. Peter appears to point to it when he says that the word God sent, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, spread throughout all Judea (Acts 10:37).
Cornelius already had the facts. So what did a God-fearing man like him still lack?
He had the fear of God, and faith in Him. He even knew certain facts about Christ's ministry on earth. Yet he was not saved until he heard and believed the good news of the risen Christ and forgiveness in His name. Then God delivered him right out of the old world system that had held him, and brought him to Himself.
What he lacked was not information but permission.
As Acts 10:37 tells us, he knew very well the word that had spread through all Judea and was sent to the children of Israel. What he wanted was to learn on authority that God meant the same word of His grace for himself, a Gentile, and for others like him. He wanted it in all the freeness and fullness of the gospel. He did not dare take it without God's approval. He saw it clearly enough for Israel, whom he honoured as the old and chosen people of God.
- Known. Peter starts from what his Gentile hearers already knew. The life and death of Jesus were public news across the land, not a private tradition.
- Begun. The message dates from John's baptism and started in Galilee — a despised region named after the Gentiles.
- Bounded. God sent that word to Israel, and it ran through Judea — a name that here covers the whole land, not one province.
- Not enough. Cornelius knew the account, but knowing it did not save him. He had to hear and believe the message of the risen Christ and forgiveness in His name.
- Released. He needed authority to claim as a Gentile what he had only ever seen as Israel's. Peter's visit gave him that.
Jesus who [was] of Nazareth how God anointed him with [the] Holy Spirit and with power; who went through [all quarters] doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
Peter is in the home of Cornelius, a Gentile, telling the people there what Jesus did in Judea. He sums up a whole public life in one line: God anointed Him, He went through the land doing good, and He broke the devil's hold on people.
The audience matters here. Peter is speaking to non-Jews, and the love he describes did more than speak:
Peter carefully adds that Jesus is Lord not of the Jews only but of all. Jesus of Nazareth is the object of faith, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and power. He had come — the One that everyone anointed by God in figure had pointed to. The love of God to sinful man was clear in Him, and that love worked real deliverance; for He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him.
What did the anointing do for a Person who was already perfect?
The Holy Spirit's coming down on the Lord Jesus did not in any sense add to His perfection. He was as perfect before as afterwards; but it was in connection with His service on earth. It was God, as it were, setting His mark upon Him, and sealing Him for His work.
There is a reason He waited for it:
It was not that anything was lacking in Jesus. In the first place, as God, He could have done all things, but He had humbled Himself, and had come to obey. So only when called and anointed does He present Himself in public.
One writer looks closely at the word Peter uses for "power":
Here we have a definite, official designation of our Lord, and more is added: "with power." Could the horn of oil used to anoint David be what suggested the power? The word for power here is not the one usually translated "authority." It is the ordinary word for strength or might. So our Lord was not only designated for His work, but also qualified for it.
Put His course beside every other man's:
Others "loved the darkness" (John 3:19); He "loved righteousness" (Hebrews 1:9). Scripture says of men, "no one does good, not even one" (Rom. 3:12); but He "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38). Men were marked by "following their own sinful desires" (Jude 16, Eph. 2). He came for one thing: to do the will of God (Heb. 10:9).
The healings measure how far His power reached — and how man answered it:
Here was One, a man, wielding power enough to deliver man from all the effects of sin. The sick He healed — healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him — power working in goodness. And what was the effect? They would not have Him. On earth the Lord had power to remove the effects of Satan's power. But behind those effects was man's heart, and it could ask Him to depart.
This last clause guards against a false picture of God — as if the Son were kind and the Father were not:
Some people have the idea that Jesus came into the world to do a work that would turn God's heart towards man. They link goodness, grace, kindness and love with Jesus, while they see God as hard and demanding. That thought needs to go, for it is neither the gospel nor the truth of God. Jesus was here, but God sent Him... He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, but it was because God was with Him.
The verse is not only a record. It is also a shape for Christian life:
The Holy Spirit has joined us who are Christians to Christ. We are made and shaped for this: to be down here in this world reproducing what Christ is... I once heard a complaint from one dear sister. The Christians she knew, she said, seemed to think of nothing but going to meetings, and never seemed to have time to do any good works. I wonder if we are like that? How many poor do you care for and visit?
- Anointed — God marked and sealed Jesus for His work. The anointing added nothing to His perfection; it fit the servant's place He had taken.
- Empowered — "With power" means strength for the task, not just a title. He was designated, and He was also qualified.
- Good — In a world where no one does good, His whole course was doing good. That is love that acts, not love that only speaks.
- Delivering — His power reached every effect of sin and the devil's oppression. Yet the very people He healed could still ask Him to leave.
- Sent — "God was with Him" tells us the kindness was God's own. He was not a Son softening a hard Father. And that life is now the pattern we are left here to reproduce.
*We* also [are] witnesses of all things which he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they also slew, having hanged him on a cross.
Peter is standing in a Gentile home — a house of people outside Israel. He tells them the story of Jesus. They had heard the reports from a distance, but no one had ever offered them a share in Him. His summary of that life ends on a tree.
Peter is not passing on a rumour. He is telling what he saw. Everyone in the region could have seen the same things. So he can appeal to what his hearers already know.
He went about doing good, and Peter and his companions were witnesses of it; yet He was killed, hanged on a tree. All of this was public, well-known fact — he could say to his audience, "You know." But Cornelius and his relatives and close friends had never before heard that they had any interest in that blessed One. They knew His path among the Jews, and how He was presented to them; but they were Gentiles!
The evidence was open and public. So no one could plead ignorance for the rejection that followed.
The love of God for sinful man was clear in Him, and that love brought real deliverance. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him. He was the true Messiah. But in Himself and in His work He was more than that beyond all measure, and His rejection showed it most clearly. Yet there was ample testimony to Him before that rejection, so that man was without excuse.
One writer hears in Peter's summary the name Matthew opens his gospel with. He reads the whole sermon as three steps.
In the space of one short verse (Acts 10:38) Peter brings out the truth that Matthew opens with and unfolds in his gospel: "They shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us)." The preaching in the house of Cornelius brings three great truths before us: first, "God with us"; then "God for us"; and third, "God in us." God with us was the whole life of Jesus... Peter does not accuse his hearers of any share in the crime of killing Jesus. Even so, he states the truth.
The verse puts kindness and killing side by side without explaining the jump. Commentators locate the reason not in Jesus but in the human heart.
Why did man reject Christ, except that man hated God? That was the only reason men killed Christ in this world. They hated God, and therefore they hated Him. They hated the light... And this is their sin, that they have put the Light out of the world... Even Pilate said, "I find no guilt in him." The world has sinned against God in crucifying and killing Jesus. They hated God. So when God sent His Son into the world in love, they turned Him out.
Peter does not just say that Jesus died. He says how: on a tree. That way of dying carried a specific meaning in the law of Moses.
The curse the law pronounced was a perfectly just sentence... In the days of Moses, the curse belonged in a special way to the one who died as a lawbreaker by hanging on a tree. Many a person in ancient times read Deuteronomy 21:23 and may have wondered why the curse went with death on a tree, and not with death by any other means, such as stoning or the sword. Now we know. In due time the Redeemer was to bear the curse for others, honouring the law by hanging on a tree.
Peter's wording changes with his hearers. To Israel he presses home their guilt. To scattered believers he points to the same tree where Jesus bore their sins.
Peter brings home to Israel their guilt in crucifying the One whom God has made both Lord and Christ... When speaking to Cornelius, Peter referred to the Jews hanging Jesus on a tree. But when writing to the Jews scattered abroad he said, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree." Israel was guilty. Yet there was also "the definite plan and foreknowledge of God," and the wonderful grace that dealt with the question of our sins so that we might be forgiven.
- Seen — Peter preaches as an eyewitness. His hearers already knew the facts, so no one could call the rejection ignorance.
- Good — the life summed up here is "God with us": going about doing good, healing all oppressed by the devil.
- Hated — men met that good with death. The reason lies in man, not in Christ: they hated the light and put it out of the world.
- Cursed — "on a tree" is not a small detail. Deuteronomy 21:23 marked that death as the place of the curse, and there the Redeemer bore it.
- Purposed — the same cross exposes human guilt and carries out God's definite plan, so that God could forgive our sins.
This [man] God raised up the third day and gave him to be openly seen,
Peter is standing in a Roman officer's house in Caesarea. He is speaking to Gentiles about a Jewish Messiah they knew only from a distance. His summary turns on one line. Men killed Jesus; God raised Him and let Him be seen — but only by a small circle.
The verse follows Peter's words about men killing Jesus and hanging Him on a tree. Two opposite acts stand side by side. The second is God's reply to the first.
Here we get the second wonderful truth, that is, God for us. The One whom man refused, God raised up, and put into glory.
Peter had just told this household that they already knew the public facts about Jesus. The resurrection was different. People at the time denied it.
The death of Jesus had been a public spectacle, and everybody knew about it. Only a few had seen His resurrection. Common report denied it, and the religious authorities backed that denial, as we learn from Matthew 28:11-15. So Peter now announced the astonishing news. God had raised the crucified Jesus from the dead. He and his fellow apostles had seen Him themselves, eaten with Him, and received from Him a command about what they were to preach to others.
The word "people" here is not humanity in general. In Peter's speech it means one nation. That limit points to something God was starting.
"Not to all the people" — notice that "the people" here always means the Jewish people only. God was now forming a new people altogether.
The list of those who met the risen Christ is worth reading against the list of those who condemned Him. The two lists do not overlap.
The risen Lord showed Himself to certain of His disciples (John 21:1), but not to any of His enemies. He appeared to men like Peter and John, Thomas and Cleopas. He did not appear to Annas and Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod, or to any of their followers.
The risen Christ ate and drank with His followers. Those meals met a need — but not His own.
He whom they killed on a tree ate and drank with His own after He rose from the dead. He did not need the food. They needed the testimony that He was alive from the dead — a truly risen Man, who had loved His own in the world, and loved them to the utmost.
If this one fact fails, nothing else in the message stands.
The resurrection is what the gospel turns on and what clinches it. If unbelief still holds out against its testimony, what could be clearer? Man hates both the love and the truth of God, and will not be saved at any price.
The resurrection is not only a wonder in itself. Read backwards, it tells you what God thought of the death that came three days earlier.
At the moment of His death Christ accomplished atonement. He bore the sinner's sins, and was made sin so that we might escape its consequences. He sacrificed Himself, and so infinitely glorified God. What was the result? God raised Him up. So I can tell you of a risen, triumphant, victorious Saviour. That is the Saviour I know. He triumphed over sin, Satan, death, the grave, and the power of darkness; and as the risen man He lives before God.
- Man's verdict — men killed Him and hanged Him on a tree. That is where Peter's account starts.
- God's reversal — the One man refused, God raised up and put into glory.
- God's proof — the raising shows that the atoning death satisfied God. The Saviour Peter preaches is alive and victorious.
- God's witnesses — He appeared to a chosen few: His own, not His judges. They ate and drank with Him because they needed the certainty.
- God's new people — "the people" means the Jewish nation. That limit shows God was forming a new people, which is why a Roman household is hearing this at all.
not of all the people, but of witnesses who were chosen before of God, *us* who have eaten and drunk with him after he arose from among [the] dead.
Peter is in the home of Cornelius, a man who is not Jewish, telling him what God did with the Jesus that men had killed. One detail stands out: God did not show the risen Christ to everyone, but only to a few chosen men who ate with Him after He rose.
The word "people" here does not mean everyone. Peter uses it in one narrow sense, and that sense points to something new God was doing.
"The people" here always means the Jewish people only. So the risen Christ appeared "not to all the people" — because God was now forming a new people altogether.
Before the cross, everyone saw Jesus. After it, no enemy did. The reason was mercy, not fear.
If our Lord had publicly appeared to His enemies, it would have meant destruction to them. Instead of confronting them with their evil deeds, to their utter confusion and destruction, He commissioned His disciples to preach the gospel, beginning at Jerusalem, the very city of His murderers.
That silence toward His adversaries is not permanent. One writer names the men on both sides of the line and points to the day when the second group will see Him too.
The risen Lord showed Himself to some of His disciples, but not to any of His enemies. He appeared to men like Peter and John, Thomas and Cleopas, but not to Annas and Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod, or any of their followers. His enemies judged Him unjustly, and He humbly submitted to that judgment. Yet by His own word before the Jewish council (Matthew 26:64), they will still "see the Son of Man" on the day He appears, when He comes with clouds of glory and majesty to judge all evildoers.
The verse says God chose these witnesses. One writer asks what that word can mean once God is the one choosing.
Does not the use of the word here prove its meaning? Used in connection with God, it is impossible to attach any idea to it beyond that of selection or appointment.
The choice was also practical. Proof of a resurrection needs witnesses who knew the man before he died.
There were good and necessary reasons why outsiders could not see or confirm His resurrection. In the main it called for chosen witnesses who knew Him well... How could any reasonable person expect unbelieving Jews or Gentiles to record such a wonder, to His glory and to their own certain condemnation? Yet thousands of unbelievers were brought to believe, and suffered for their faith without flinching.
A ghost story collapses at a shared meal. And the point of those meals was not His hunger.
The One they killed on a tree ate and drank with His own people after He rose from the dead. He did not need the food. They needed the proof that He was alive from the dead — a real, risen Man, who had loved His own who were in the world, and loved them to the very end.
The meals narrow the circle further. They tell us who these witnesses were, and why no one could join them later.
The only people who ate and drank with Jesus after His resurrection were the apostles. Others saw Him, but these were the chosen witnesses of the resurrection... The apostles, then, were to be eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection. That is an important fact, because it shows the office was temporary in character, and could not be revived in later times.
Peter spoke as a man who was there. From that one fact he drew the heart of the gospel.
There was no doubt about His resurrection; the preacher himself had seen Him, and had eaten and drunk with Him... His death met the claims of God, while His resurrection displayed His absolute victory over death, and sin, and all the power of Satan.
- Chosen. "Chosen by God" can only mean God's own selection and appointment. The witnesses did not volunteer.
- Spared. Mercy kept the risen Christ from His enemies. A public appearance would have destroyed them, so He sent preachers to them instead.
- Certified. He ate and drank, not because He needed food, but because they needed proof. A real Man stood before them, alive.
- Commissioned. The men at those meals were the apostles, and that eyewitness office could never be repeated.
- Sent. A private appearing produced a public message. God showed the risen Christ to a few so that everyone could hear about Him.
And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that *he* it is who was determinately appointed of God [to be] judge of living and dead.
Peter is preaching in a Roman officer's house, speaking to Gentiles for the first time. God has appointed the crucified Jesus as Judge of the living and the dead — so why does the first sermon to Gentiles open with a courtroom?
Peter's word for his audience, "the people," has a narrow meaning. The next line breaks it open.
"God raised Him up the third day and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen of God, even to us." You see, "the people" is used here throughout for the Jewish people only. For now God was forming a completely new people. But was it only to the people? He commanded us to preach to the people. What does he mean by that? The Jew, of course. Not so. "To Him all the prophets bear witness, that through His name whoever believes in Him…" So we find light beginning to dawn on this going out of the gospel to every creature — to the Gentile as much as to the Jew.
The announcement lands hard because of who this Judge is.
First, the Jesus whom men crucified is appointed by God to be the Judge both of the living and the dead. His crucifixion was the act of both Jew and Gentile. Cornelius must have been familiar with the details. He must have known some who took part in it, and he may even have been involved himself. He knew about His shame, His dishonour, and His apparent failure. Well, the despised Jesus is to come forth in due time as the universal Judge. The destinies of all men rest in His hands. What an astounding declaration! It is enough to overwhelm every enemy with terror!
Peter is not the only preacher who starts here. Paul does the same at Athens, and one writer explains why.
It is striking that Peter names this office of the Lord first, and Paul names it second at Athens — the office He holds after death and resurrection, of being the appointed Judge of all men. In both cases they were giving testimony to Gentiles… With the Jew there were other and greater and nearer glories in the Messiah. The Jews had neglected and despised the responsibilities of those glories, and so those glories were taken up with them. On the Gentiles no such deposit as the law or the oracles of God rested. So in the first chapter of Romans we find creation and its testimony. Here we find the office of Judge of living and dead, together with the power of pardon in the Lord's name when it is received.
What gives this Man the right to judge? And what comes before the day He judges?
It is His victory, as Man, over death that gives Him the title to judge (see John 5:21-27). But before the day when He will judge comes the day in which He saves.
The verse names two groups. Writers here read them as two judgments at two different times.
He shall come to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1) — not the living and the dead at the same time, but the living first, the dead afterwards. The judgment of the living stretches over a considerable span of time. The judgment of the dead comes at the close of all, before the eternal scene where all judgment ends.
The next verse turns this sentence of judgment into an offer. Everything rests on who makes it.
But second, before this Judge takes His seat on the judgment throne, all the prophets bear witness that there is forgiveness offered in His name. That forgiveness is received by "whoever believes in Him." Forgiveness through the name of the Judge! Could anything be more stable and satisfying than that? The Judge has become the guarantor for sinful men, so the believer in Him receives forgiveness of sins before the day dawns when the great court for the living and the dead will sit.
The offer reaches every kind of person, and what it gives lasts for ever.
Peter's "whoever" is universal. It goes out to men without distinction of class or colour. He who forgives their sins is the appointed universal Judge, so they are clear of condemnation for ever. If the Judge justifies, who is he that condemns? He must have the last word about every man.
- Commanded — the apostles did not invent this message. God ordered them to announce that the crucified Jesus now holds every human destiny in His hands.
- Appointed — His right to judge rests on His resurrection, the victory over death He won as Man.
- Living and dead — commentators read this as two judgments, not one: the living first, the dead at the close.
- Whoever — "the people" meant the Jews. The next line widens the offer to anyone who believes, Gentile as much as Jew.
- Forgiven — the Judge offers pardon in His own name before the court sits. If the Judge justifies you, no one can condemn you.
To him all the prophets bear witness that every one that believes on him will receive through his name remission of sins.
Peter is preaching in the house of Cornelius, a Roman officer. His closing sentence gathers up everything before it: every prophet points to one Man, and forgiveness through His name is open to anyone who believes.
Peter does not offer a new idea. He points his hearers back to the prophets.
Peter's last words to Cornelius and those gathered in his house appeal to the united witness of all the Old Testament prophets. Christ Jesus, the blessed Man, clearly fulfilled their prophecies about the Messiah of Israel. Yet they did not only prove that He is Judge. They also showed that whoever truly believed in Him, Jew or Gentile, would receive forgiveness of sins. Marvellous message of grace!
Peter had only just learned this himself, and it changed how he read the prophets.
With this new-born conviction in his soul, Peter now reads the prophets in fresh light and with other eyes. He is full of the truth himself, and he speaks with the utmost simplicity to Cornelius. Cornelius and his household hear the blessed word. "To him all the prophets bear witness." It was one concurrent evidence... There is no question of a Jew, but "everyone who believes in Him." Sadly, the Jews did not believe in Him. But whoever did believe, Jew or Gentile, "receives forgiveness of sins." Cornelius had not known this, and no one could have known it until the work of redemption was done. Believers who lived before Christ were just as safe before His work as they were afterwards, but that work put them on the ground of conscious salvation before God.
One word in the verse rules out every exception. Older translations render it "whosoever."
Peter's "whosoever" is universal. It goes out to people of every class and colour. The One who forgives their sins is the same One appointed to be Judge of all, so they are clear of condemnation for ever. If the Judge justifies, who is there to condemn? He must have the last word about every man.
One writer traces this width back to the resurrection.
Jesus, risen from the dead, is Lord of all, not merely of the Jews... Jesus, walking through this world, was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But risen from the dead, the Saviour has no national limits. There is no Gentile or Jew beyond the grave. Here on earth, geography marks people off from one another. Beyond the grave there are no such lines, and that is where the Lord of glory is.
Peter says forgiveness comes "through his name." One writer explains what that phrase rules out.
As believers, we are not forgiven because of anything that we are, or because of any experience, however real. That would be for our own sakes. We are forgiven because of what God has found in Christ and His work — "for His Name's sake"... Peter carried out the Lord's commission. He told the Gentiles that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins. So forgiveness of sins is nothing we achieve. God proclaims it to us through the Lord Jesus, and we receive it by faith in Christ.
Peter gives an anxious man no ritual and no programme. He points him to a Person.
When the messenger reaches the troubled soul, this is what he says: Believe in God's Son. Believe in the One whom the world has refused, and whom God has taken into glory. He tells him that all the prophets bear witness to this blessed truth: from Christ he will receive forgiveness of his sins. All he has "to do" is believe in Him.
God answered before Peter had finished the sentence. The Spirit came at the very words that promised forgiveness.
"Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name. While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word." What! Without baptism? Without laying on of hands? Without prayer for them? Yes — without any of these things, and without more delay. Even while the apostle Peter is still preaching those very words, God gives them all the Holy Spirit.
- Witness — every prophet points one way. Peter's message is not an invention but "one concurrent evidence" that meets in Christ.
- Name — forgiveness rests on the worth of His name, never on what the believer is or feels.
- Everyone — the promise crosses class, colour and nation, because the risen Lord has no national limits.
- Believe — the only thing asked of the troubled soul is to trust the One God has glorified.
- Receive — Cornelius simply believed, and received forgiveness. The Spirit fell while Peter was still speaking, before any ritual.
While Peter was yet speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word.
The scene is Caesarea, in the house of Cornelius, a Roman officer — a Gentile, an outsider to Israel. Peter is still speaking when God acts. The Spirit comes on people who had not been baptised, prayed over, or made Jews first.
Peter never finished. The moment his hearers took in the word about forgiveness, God answered it.
Whatever more Peter meant to say was never spoken, for the Holy Spirit at once fell on all who heard the word. A blessed interruption! How I wish we knew more of this in our preaching today. The truth is that Peter's audience drank in his testimony word by word as he gave it. So they received divine forgiveness on the spot. So comes the gift of the Spirit, whom God gives to all forgiven ones, and to them only. This is God's order for Christianity until the end: first, the forgiveness of sins; second, the gift of the Holy Spirit; and third, baptism.
His last words had been about forgiveness for anyone who believes in Jesus.
This was his last word to the assembled company. It is the first time we find the word "whoever" in this book. He had nothing to say to this Gentile company about repentance and baptism. His message was interrupted. They believed and the Holy Spirit fell on them.
Everything that had accompanied earlier gifts of the Spirit is missing here.
Nowhere in the ways of God with man does His grace sparkle with greater brilliance than in this scene. The Gentile had no claim on Him and no link with Him. Yet he hears the gospel in all its fullness, and the Holy Spirit falls on the believer. There was no baptism first, as in the case of the Jew (Acts 2:38). There was no prayer, as in the case of the Samaritans (Acts 8:15). There was no laying on of hands, as in the case of the converts to Judaism at Ephesus (Acts 19:6). The hearing of faith secured the blessing as the words Peter spoke fell from his lips.
Three things happened at once.
There was no interval, no waiting, no laying on of hands. Hearing, believing and receiving the Holy Spirit all went together.
At Pentecost the order was baptism first, then the gift. Here God reversed it — and commentators trace the wisdom in that.
This is very different from what we saw on the day of Pentecost, for there they were baptised first. Every one of them was baptised. They believed on Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and then they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. But here the Spirit came while Peter spoke the word, and these were Gentiles. No doubt there was great wisdom in it. Who would have been bold enough? Perhaps Peter. But there were Jewish believers there too. What would they have thought?
Another writer sees a further reason in the different histories of the two groups.
They were not called on to be baptized first, as Jews had been (ch. 2:38). Instead God here showed His full acceptance of Gentiles in a public way that could not be mistaken. Gentiles had not been guilty of openly rejecting the Messiah, as Israel had been. That is why Israel was required to reverse that stand against Christ openly, by baptism, before God could accept them openly.
Two words in the verse carry weight. The first is all.
Here, in the case of Cornelius the Roman centurion and his friends, there was again no distinction between believer and believer. Notice the word, ALL!
The second is heard. It means more than sitting in the room.
Some present may have been gazing about the room at Cornelius' fine furniture and the pictures on the wall. Some may have been studying the fashion of some lady's latest hat. Others may have been lost in thought about their business or their pleasures. Only those who heard the Word were blessed.
What fell on that room was a baptism of the Holy Spirit, and it had happened once before.
This baptism of the Holy Spirit took place with Jewish believers at Pentecost (see Acts 1:5; Acts 2:1-4). It took place with Gentile believers at the call of Cornelius and his friends (Acts 10:44; Acts 11:15-17). The baptism of the Spirit sets aside everything that belongs to the flesh. Natural distinctions, such as Jew or Gentile, and social positions, such as slave or free, have no place in the one Body.
- Word. Peter was speaking about forgiveness for whoever believes. God used that word, not a ritual.
- Faith. They took the word in as Peter spoke it. Hearing, believing and receiving the Spirit all happened at once.
- Gift. The Spirit was given without baptism, without prayer over them, without any hand laid on them — grace with nothing added.
- Order. At Pentecost baptism came first. Here God gave the Spirit first, showing His acceptance of Gentiles in a way no one could mistake.
- Reach. God included all who heard. In the one Body, the difference between Jew and Gentile no longer counts.