AP

Cornelius Calls for Peter (Acts 10:23b-48)

Peter at Cornelius’ House

In view of the shocking nature of his assignment, Peter evidently thought it prudent to ask six brothers (Acts 11:12) from the Jewish church in Joppa to accompany him. He would have told them about the vision and about the Roman soldier who at God’s command had requested him to come. If not, they would have declined to defile themselves by entering the house of a Gentile. Later it would become clear that God had chosen them to bear witness along with Peter concerning the legitimate inclusion of Gentiles in the Christian church. They would be representing Jewish Christianity, and Cornelius and his family would be representing the non-Jewish believers. When Peter would later give an account of this in Jerusalem, the six brothers from Joppa would be able to defend him and confirm that he had proclaimed the gospel to Gentiles at the explicit urging of the Holy Spirit.

The next morning the ten men (Peter, the soldier, both domestic slaves, and the six brothers) left Joppa for Caesarea. They did not travel those fifty kilometres in one day, so they arrived in Caesarea on the following day. By now it had been four days ago that the angel had appeared to Cornelius (v. 30). Cornelius had calculated how late they might be, and was looking anxiously for them. He had called together his family, who also worshipped the God of Israel (10:2), and his best friends (also God-fearers?). He was concerned about their salvation also. Peter came upon an uplifting scene there! (Zechariah 8:23). Here was a house full of Gentiles, waiting for what the Messiah had to say to them through his envoy.

When Peter was about to enter the house, Cornelius came to meet him, kneeled before him in reverence. This was a demonstration of respect that was not uncommon in civil relationships. In religious relationships, such a slavish show of respect is not permissible, however. As disciples of the Lord Jesus, we have but one Master, and we are all brothers and sisters of one another, who must, if we are to follow the example of the Master, wash each other’s feet, not kiss the feet of supposed leaders (Matthew 23:8–11; John 13:12-17). Peter had remembered this lesson well. For that reason, he helped Cornelius to stand, and humbly said, “Stand up; I too am a man!”

Next came an important moment in church history. Jesus Christ pushed his apostle over the threshold of a Gentile house and thereby dismantled the barrier between Jews and Gentiles! As if this were the most common thing in the world, Peter entered, unforced, as his host was talking. By means of reporting this apparently superfluous detail, Luke is showing how obediently Peter was following the new course. In the dwelling, he discovered to his surprise that Cornelius had gathered a group of people.

But the situation was just as unusual for the non-Jewish people as it was for Peter. Therefore, any uneasiness about his presence had to be removed: “You know,” Peter began, “how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation” (cf. Luke 7:6). This was a human precept. God had forbidden only marriages and covenants with Canaanites [cf. Deuteronomy 7:1–4]. Not all associations with Gentiles were absolutely prohibited, but that which rendered a Jew ceremoniously unclean, such as entering a Gentile house or handling articles belonging to Gentiles. Cornelius, even though he was a ‘God-fearer,’ and his household, would also have been avoided by pious Jews.

Peter continued: “But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising an objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” Modern readers would expect a summary of the preceding at this point. But Luke now launches into a moderately extensive narrative for the third time about how Cornelius had received a mandate from an angel—“a man in bright clothing”— to send someone to Joppa to invite Peter. In 11:13–14, he would mention this for the fourth time. Obviously, Luke was putting all his effort in hammering home for his readers—especially Theophilus, to whom the Gospel and Acts was addressed—that proclaiming the gospel to the uncircumcised, non-Jewish world was completely legitimate, because it originated not from human initiative, but from divine appointment. This is the key point of Acts. Every Jewish opposition against this preaching, about which Luke would be telling us in the rest of Acts, was therefore illegitimate.

Being aware that God had brought this gathering together in a miraculous way, Cornelius concluded: “We are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.” A more receptive audience Peter (and any gospel preacher) could not desire.

Peter began to speak at a historical turning point in the course of gospel proclamation: from now on it would go to all nations! The Lord had promised this already to Abraham (Genesis 12:3) and some of the prophets had talked about it (e.g., Isaiah 2:1–5; Psalm 87), but for Israel this had remained a secret that needed to be further disclosed (Ephesians 3:4–6). And Peter had now received that disclosure. “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”

The time had dawned when, in fulfilment of prophecy, God looks not at whether someone has been circumcised and eats kosher, but whether someone has loving respect for him and wants to do his will out of faith.

We can hardly imagine what an enormous reversal this constituted for Jewish sensitivities! For almost two thousand years (from the time of Abraham), the Jews had considered themselves the only ‘beloved of the Lord’ (Psalm 147:19–20). They were less aware of the implications of, for example, the Messianic Psalm 72, especially verse 17b. After cleansing the temple, Jesus quoted from Isaiah 56:7, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.” All the nations, of course, refer to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. The context of Isaiah showed God promising to bring the “foreigners who join themselves to the LORD” into his holy mountain. God, “who gathers the exiles (outcasts) of Israel,” promised: “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered” (Isaiah 56:6-8).

Verses 34-43: Peter gives a summary of the gospel. Mark based his gospel on the preaching of Peter; he also started with John the Baptist. He recounts the ministry, the death, and the resurrection of Christ, and what it means for those who believe in him (“forgiveness of sins through his name”).

Verses 44-48: A mini-Pentecost follows “while Peter was yet speaking”! Just as the Jews in Jerusalem and the Samaritans were privileged to have an outpouring of the Spirit, so now also the Gentiles. Peter’s companions from Joppa were “astonished” literally “besides themselves.” The new believers were speaking in other languages. They were baptized and Peter stayed with them for a few days to instruct them further in the faith.

Questions:

Have you ever been asked to do something that went against everything you’ve been taught since childhood? How do you think Peter felt? What enabled Peter to overcome this?

How do the Acts 10 events compare with those of Acts 8:14-17?

What variety/diversity should we legitimately expect in the contemporary church of God?

– Alida Sewell