Acts 10:34–48

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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."

Without respect of persons, God tells you that you are a sinner, and without respect of persons that His grace is toward you.

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).

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.

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.

"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.

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?

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He is Lord of all, and you, my friend, will have to give an account to Him hereafter.

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." 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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 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?

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Here we get the second wonderful truth, that is, God for us. The One whom man refused, God raised up, and put into glory.

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.

"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 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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

"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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

There was no interval, no waiting, no laying on of hands. Hearing, believing and receiving the Holy Spirit all went together.

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?

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.

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!

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.

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.

The Jewish believers who came with Peter were astonished to see God pour out His Spirit on Gentiles. Jewish disciples had spoken in other languages (Acts 2:4) when they received the Spirit. Now the Gentiles do the same. This shows that the barriers between nations are broken down, and that people of every nation can now understand one another. It is the result of the value of the sacrifice of Christ.

This made it plain, beyond doubt, that God opened the door to the nations just as He had opened it to the Jews. It was not man, nor the church, nor even the apostles who did it... And it was fitting that God used a man who was clearly one of the twelve apostles, and not the man already called and appointed as the apostle to the Gentiles.

Cornelius and his friends did believe. Faith was present in their hearts before they ever heard the message. Hearing it, their faith instantly embraced it, and God marked that fact by giving them the gift of the Holy Spirit at once. Their faith leapt forward like a flash of lightning, and the thunder-clap of the Holy Spirit followed straight after.

The Gentiles were far away from God. The greater the distance, the more freely His grace comes out to those who have no claim on Him. The scene sparkles with the brilliance of the grace of God. The rebellious Jew must repent and be baptised in public. The Samaritan, with his false religion, hears the gospel, believes it, and is baptised in the name of Jesus. But he must wait for the apostles to come down, pray for him and lay their hands on him, before the Holy Spirit comes. The Gentile was far off, and as a nation had no link with God — and that is where you and I come in. He hears the truth, believes the gospel, and receives the Holy Spirit on the spot, with none of these steps first.

This is dorea, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Scripture uses this same word for the gift of the Holy Spirit which Cornelius received (Acts 10:45). And Peter says of that gift that it was the same thing they had themselves received at Pentecost (Acts 10:47).

The act was never repeated after the one we read of in Acts 10:45. It took place on two occasions only, and the historian describes it in only two chapters of Acts (2 and 10)... God poured the Spirit out first on believers from among the Jews, and then on believers from among the Gentiles. This put the Gentiles on completely equal ground with the Jews, since each group received the gift direct from God. The Holy Spirit has never been poured out again.

It mattered that the Jewish believers should go along fully with the mighty work of God's grace, which sealed believing Gentiles just as it sealed believing Jews... This left no room for circumcision or the law. All is of grace reigning through righteousness.

They believe the testimony sent to them about the worth of Jesus' name in the forgiveness of sins. As a result the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word... What follows proves that they had received this incomparable Gift: "For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God." The evidence that they had received the Holy Spirit was plain to the ear and eye of Peter and of his Jewish brothers. He had been careful for his reputation, so he took six brothers down with him. They were to take note of what happened and join him in testifying about it, as they do before the objectors at Jerusalem in Acts 11.

On Pentecost water baptism was a condition of receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) and the forgiveness of sins. In Samaria the apostles Peter and John, according to the wisdom of God, had to lay on hands. But here the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles without water baptism and without the laying on of hands. Nor was there any process of seeking, surrendering, self-examination, giving up, or praying for it. By the hearing of faith, in believing the message of the gospel, the Holy Spirit fell on them. Then Cornelius, his relatives and friends spoke with tongues and magnified God. This showed that every barrier between Jew and Gentile had gone, and that God gave the Gentiles nothing inferior to what came upon the believing Jews on the day of Pentecost.

In both cases the tongues given publicly authenticated the gift of the Holy Spirit. But the occasions differed. In Jerusalem the persons publicly authorised were preachers and witnesses of Christ... In Caesarea it verified not the preachers, but the people who received the preaching.

But the believing Gentiles, as we see, received the Holy Spirit while hearing the word, as most — perhaps all of us — have done; and baptism follows. Who could refuse the outward sign to the obvious recipients of that divine seal? Their gifts of speaking with tongues and magnifying God proclaimed the more precious gift of the Spirit, which never passes away. His seal is the true ground why those who have it should be owned as members of Christ's body. It is not church knowledge in them, and still less the will or consent of other men.

In Acts 10:46 Cornelius and his relatives and close friends magnified God. They had just heard the gospel from Peter's lips, and the Holy Spirit came upon them... And Christ may still be magnified today in the body of the humblest and weakest believer, for His strength is made perfect in weakness. Christ may be magnified with praise, prayer, and witness to Himself... Christ may be magnified even in our daily work in the house, or shop, or office, or the care of the children.

It is significant that in all three cases it is companies and not single people. Further, God gives the Spirit without the believer seeking for His indwelling... Clearly there is no thought at all in Scripture of Christians begging God for days and weeks for a baptism of the Spirit and the gift of tongues. God continues to give the Spirit to believers, for He is an absolute necessity to their spiritual life. But the gift of tongues seems to have been confined to the beginning of Christianity.

Peter says to them, "Can anyone withhold water?" He had every right to grant this public privilege to the Gentiles whom the Spirit had baptized. Water baptism is not brushed aside here, and it is not made a command or condition. God had given the Spirit first, and no human hand had any part in it. That shut the mouths of the Jewish believers, who were always quick to object. They would have forbidden water if God had not so plainly given these Gentiles the unspeakable gift of the Spirit.

God then gives the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles, without their becoming Jews or being circumcised. From then on the Christian assembly could not refuse them. God had received them, and had put His seal on them. Peter commands them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Where is the blessed wisdom and consistency in God's ways here? The Jew is baptized and then receives the Holy Spirit. The Gentile receives the Holy Spirit and then is baptized. The reason was this. To a Jew it was a most painful thing. In becoming a Christian he had crossed a frightening gap that cut him off from Judaism. He had to step out of everything he had belonged to before and stand under the banner of the crucified One. Therefore he must be baptized... They must bow to Him whom they had crucified — bow to Him who was the nation's shame.

When the Gentiles receive the Spirit, the insistence on baptism as a condition drops. God takes things into His own hands, as one may say. The Spirit falls on Cornelius and those with him while they are still listening to Peter. No hint of baptism has yet been given... Some teach that baptism is the "sacrament of regeneration." On that view Cornelius received the Spirit while still unregenerate — before any new birth — because he had not yet been baptized.

Does "receiving the Holy Spirit" mean only divine power coming on people? Old Testament believers had known that power, yet we never read that any of them received the Holy Spirit. Does it mean a gift of spiritual abilities, such as tongues or miracles? Some who had received the Spirit did share in those at times. But in truth it was far more. What they received was the Holy Spirit Himself. And nothing less than this is the common privilege of believers since the day of Pentecost.

There was a command to baptize, but no command to be baptized... When we read how they gave it, we find the clearest evidence of this. It was not a matter of obedience but of granting a privilege — entrance into the outward, professing assembly of God on earth. "What hinders me from being baptized?" says the officer of Candace. His question rules out any thought of obedience. He speaks of being let in, and he counted that a privilege. So with Cornelius: "Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"

Then Peter says, we cannot keep these people out of their privileges... No, he says, they are forgiven, they have the Holy Spirit, and the House of God on earth must open to them. Here Peter uses the keys of the kingdom of heaven a second time. He opens the door again as he brings in the Gentiles. He has no authority to let people into heaven. But he does let them into the kingdom of heaven on earth, where people profess Christ, and he does it, I understand, by the door of baptism.

At Pentecost the believing Jews had to be baptized before they received the gift of the Spirit. In a solemn way they had to take the place of death with Christ toward everything they had trusted before... But the believing Gentiles, as we see, received the Holy Spirit while hearing the word, as most of us — perhaps all — have done. Baptism then follows. Who could refuse the outward sign to those who had clearly received that divine seal?

They did not have to be baptized first, as the Jews had (Acts 2:38). Instead God showed here His full acceptance of Gentiles in a public way that could not be mistaken. Gentiles had not been guilty of rejecting the Messiah in public, as Israel had. So Israel had to reverse that earlier stand against Christ in public, by baptism, before God could accept them in public.

Baptism is the act of the person baptising, not of the person being baptised. The one being baptised cannot do it for himself. He is outside, and cannot receive himself in. So it is written, "He commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord." ... It is not obedience... he cannot baptise himself. But there is more. Peter asks, "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?" Then he commanded them to be baptised. It was a privilege given to them.

There was a command to make disciples of all nations, and to baptize them, but no command to people to be baptized. Acts 10:48 is no exception. It says instead that he "commanded that they should be baptized in the name of the Lord." Privilege and blessing are not matters of command. They come from divine grace.

It seems they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ not by Peter, but at his direction. One or more of the brothers with him did it (v. 48). There was neither vanity nor superstition in getting it done by Peter. Still, in obedience to the Lord, he took care that it was done properly... It already mattered that everyone should know this: an ordinary believer has the right to baptize even in a great apostle's presence, and the act took no value from office or gift.

Baptism is always to some person or thing. The disciples found at Ephesus had been baptised to the baptism of John (Acts 19:3). The Israelites had been baptised to Moses. Those baptised in Acts were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus as Saviour and Lord. There is no reason why this cannot be joined with the words found in Matthew. A person may be baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Scripture never treats baptism as the sign even of the giving of life. It is the sign of death with Christ to sin, and of sins washed away for those who are already made alive.

The vision on the housetop at Joppa had taught Peter to call no man common or unclean just because of his nationality. So, for the first time in his life, he stayed with people who had been Gentiles, and stayed for some days. For him the wall of separation had come down.