and he related to us how he had seen the angel in his house, standing and saying [to him], Send [men] to Joppa and fetch Simon, who is surnamed Peter,
In Jerusalem, Peter answers those who object that he went into a Gentile home. He replies by retelling the facts. At the heart of his account stands the angel's errand to Cornelius.
Three separate things happened at once, and no human hand arranged them.
Peter also told them how the three men from the Gentile Cornelius appeared in person at that very moment before the house in Joppa. The Spirit told him to go with them without a question. Such a threefold cord could not be broken. Each part was independent of the others, and all of them were from God. For Cornelius in Caesarea had a vision no less than Peter in Joppa. But Peter had something more. While he was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit directed him to go with the messengers of Cornelius. He did not yet know that the three men were asking for him at the gate.
The angel could have said anything. All he gave was a town and a name.
Here is another point worth noticing. Angels are not mentioned as preaching the gospel. The angel sent to Cornelius came to guide him in his search for truth. Yet he did not preach the gospel to him. He told him to send for a man. Cornelius heard of the Saviour not from the mouth of the mighty angel, but from the lips of a sinner saved by grace. Again, the angel of the Lord directed Philip to intercept the Ethiopian official. Philip, not the angel, was the one who preached Jesus to him so effectively. So we see that in service, a man in grace enjoys a privilege denied to angels.
Cornelius was already a godly man. So what was he still missing?
The Spirit of God is careful to make known the godly life of Cornelius. He was already a converted man, though a Gentile. But he did not know salvation as proclaimed in the gospel. That is why Peter had to be sent for, as Peter himself afterwards explained (Acts 11:13-14). Otherwise he could only have hoped for his soul in the mercy of God. But now the gospel is to teach sinful man, without distinction... This devout officer could only know his sins forgiven through God's message of grace in the blood of Jesus.
Notice what the angel does not command. He gives Cornelius nothing to do — only a man to hear. The lines below quote an older translation of verse 14.
"Send men to Joppa and call for Simon, who is called Peter, and he will tell you words by which you and all your house will be saved" (Acts 11:13-14). That was the command Cornelius received. The obedience of faith soon heard the words of life. I sometimes say that the little letter K is responsible for a good deal of mischief. WORDS and WORKS differ by only one letter... Words were what Cornelius was to hear. He was not told to do any works. Have you thought you had to do some works to get salvation? Not so, my friend. What you need is to hear words.
The angel's message did not stop at the man who received it. Peter and Paul, from different starting points, say the same thing about a believer's family.
Peter was "a witness of the sufferings of Christ." Paul received his apostleship from the Lord in glory. The two of them unite in proclaiming that there is a connection in the grace of God between the believer and his household... proclaiming the sacredness of the family relationship, and indeed the unity of the household in His sight.
Commentators also mark a limit to that promise.
Cornelius was assured that he was to be saved by hearing the words Peter spoke. How groundless and evil it is to infer from this that "all his house" would be saved regardless of faith! The terms of salvation are alike for Jew or Gentile — by grace, but through faith.
- Errand. The angel came with directions, not a sermon: send to Joppa, fetch Peter.
- Privilege. Angels give directions; a sinner saved by grace tells the good news — a privilege angels do not have.
- Need. Cornelius was already converted and godly. He still did not know salvation as the gospel proclaims it. So the angel sent him to a man.
- Method. The angel gave him no work to do, only words to hear. Words save; works never did.
- Reach. The promise stretched over his whole house — yet on the same terms for each person in it: grace, through faith.
who shall speak words to thee whereby *thou* shalt be saved, thou and all thy house.
Peter is answering believers in Jerusalem who ask why he entered a Gentile home. His defence rests on what the angel told Cornelius: a man would come and speak, and those words would save a whole household. Two questions follow. Why send a message instead of an angel? And how could a devout, God-fearing man still need saving?
Peter adds a detail that the earlier account in Acts 10 leaves out. Everything hangs on one word: "words." One writer sets that word against what religion asks of a person:
In Peter's account we have his side of the story, not that of Cornelius. Yet he gives us one detail about the angel's message to Cornelius that the previous chapter does not mention. Peter was to tell him "words," by which he and all his house would be "saved." The law demands works from men: the Gospel brings words to men, and those words lead them to salvation, if believed. Note also that they were not "saved" until they had heard the Gospel and believed it. Yet there had no doubt been a work of God in the hearts of these people, which led them to seek after God.
The angel had Cornelius' full attention and could have told him everything on the spot. Instead he sent him to fetch Peter. Commentators find the reason in who has the right to preach:
Why this method? Why did the angel not tell him at once about the dead and risen Saviour? The answer is very simple. The privilege of preaching Christ belongs only to those who have themselves tasted redeeming grace. In the same way an angel directed Philip towards the Ethiopian official in Acts 8:26.
Cornelius prayed, gave to the poor, and feared God. Yet the angel still promised him words by which he would be saved. One writer denies that he was only going through religious motions, and draws a careful line:
But it is a mistake to think that Cornelius was only a self-righteous man of outward religion before Peter went to his house in Caesarea. He feared God, and his prayer and his alms came up for a memorial before Him... Cornelius, like the rest, had eternal life. If not, there could be godliness and acceptable prayer without spiritual life. Yet he needed to hear words from the apostle, by which he and all his house would be saved. Salvation is more than being made alive. It is the conscious possession of that deliverance through the work of Christ, which the gospel now announces. Cornelius may have been safe before; he was saved after he received the message of grace and the gift of the Spirit.
The same writer says elsewhere how far this salvation reaches:
This goes beyond light, or even life, to salvation made sure, and it rests on Christ's death and resurrection.
If the promise hangs on words, it matters what they were. Peter's sermon supplies them, and the response came before he had finished:
But as the angel directed, he had sent for Peter to tell him words by which he and his house would be saved. So we turn to Peter's address to find what those words were. He tells us he had barely begun. He had brought forward the testimony of all the prophets to Christ, "that through His Name whoever believes in Him shall receive forgiveness of sins" — and the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard.
The promise names a house, not only a man. The same wording appears far back in Scripture:
We shall meet almost these same words when we look at another "house." That seems to suggest these very words, which include the house, are the Holy Spirit's own special message to those who really want to be saved. We need not ask now who made up Cornelius' household. But we must note that the word is the same as of old: "you and your household." (Gen. 7:1).
- Words — the angel promised a message, not a task; law asks works from people, the gospel brings words to them.
- Messenger — the angel did not preach the Saviour. That privilege belongs to those who have themselves tasted redeeming grace.
- Content — the saving words were these: whoever believes in Christ's name receives forgiveness of sins. All the prophets said so.
- Reach — the promise named a household, in the same words as of old: "you and your household." It is God's message to all who really want to be saved.
- Result — Cornelius was godly before Peter came; he was saved after he heard. Salvation here means knowing you are delivered, on the ground of Christ's death and resurrection.