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.
And the faithful of the circumcision were astonished, as many as came with Peter, that upon the nations also the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out
Peter is still speaking in a Roman officer's house when God interrupts the sermon. The Jewish believers who came with him are stunned. God has poured out His Spirit on people outside Israel. Why was this such a shock? On what terms did God give the gift? And what did it settle for the church?
The men who came with Peter were Jewish believers. What they saw broke a barrier between nations. One writer links their shock to the sign that came with it — the same sign the Jewish believers had received earlier.
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.
God opened this door, not the church and not the apostles. One writer also notes which apostle God used to do it.
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.
These Gentiles believed the message as they heard it. One writer describes how fast God answered that faith.
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.
In the other cases in Acts, something had to happen first. Here, nothing did.
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.
The word for gift here is the same word used of what the Jewish believers received at Pentecost.
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).
One writer points out how rare this pouring out was, and what it settled about equality.
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.
God sealed these Gentiles by His own act. That settled what the Jewish believers had to accept.
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.
- Poured — God gave Gentiles the same gift He gave Jewish believers at Pentecost; Scripture uses one word, dorea, for both.
- Poured freely — no baptism, no laying on of hands, no waiting: the Spirit came the moment they believed the message.
- Poured on outsiders — those furthest from God received the freest grace; that is where non-Jewish believers today come in.
- Poured before witnesses — God opened the door, not the apostles and not the church; Peter's Jewish companions saw it and agreed.
- Poured, so nothing was added — God had sealed them by grace, and that left no room for circumcision or the law.
for they heard them speaking with tongues and magnifying God. Then Peter answered,
Peter was still preaching in the house of Cornelius, a Roman officer, when the Holy Spirit fell on his Gentile listeners. What the Jewish believers with him then heard astonished them, and it settled a question that shaped the whole future of the church.
This proof was not a private feeling. Peter's companions could hear it for themselves, and he had brought them as witnesses.
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.
God gave the Gentiles the same sign He gave at Pentecost. This time it came with none of the conditions the Jewish believers had known.
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.
At Pentecost the tongues marked out the men who proclaimed Christ. Here the roles are reversed.
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.
Here the Spirit came first and baptism followed after. That raises a question: what decides who belongs to Christ?
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.
The tongues carried words, and those words praised God.
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.
One writer compares all three times in Acts when the Spirit came in this way. Each time He came on a group, and no one had asked for Him.
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.
- Heard. The proof was audible. Six Jewish witnesses could report what they heard, and they backed Peter up at Jerusalem.
- Equal. God gave the Gentiles the same sign He gave at Pentecost. Nothing lesser, and no barrier left between Jew and Gentile.
- Received. At Jerusalem tongues marked out the preachers. At Caesarea they marked out the hearers who believed.
- Sealed. The Spirit came by the hearing of faith: no seeking, no ritual, no waiting. Baptism only followed what God had already done.
- Magnified. They used the gift first to praise God. That use has never ended: Christ can be magnified in the weakest believer's ordinary day.