Context
We begin our passage in context as the gospel is spreading. We saw during the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7) that the Jewish authorities had begun to severely persecute the church. As Christians began to flee Jerusalem they brought the gospel with them wherever they went. They moved out to Samaria and to the Eunuch, who would have been ritually unable to fully join the Jewish church.
They had moved out to Joppa, on the Mediterranean coast, where Peter was residing at the opening of this chapter. And then the focus shifts north to Caesarea. Caesarea is the administrative center of the Roman Province. (It’s where Paul has his hearing before the governor in Acts 24.) This means that it has a significant number of Gentile residents.
The story we are about to hear is about a particular conversion. But there are a lot of unusual elements in this story that make it stand out and be worthy of inclusion.
It’s worth taking note of something here when it comes to narrative in the Bible. During the early part of Acts, tens or hundreds of thousands of people came to Christ. We obviously do not have detailed accounts of each of these conversions. The Holy Spirit, in His wisdom chose certain events to be detailed. This is because these events hold special significance or are valuable to teach particular lessons to God’s people.
So when we read passages like this, we should be attuned to what the distinctives of the particular story are that help set it apart from the common events we can assume were occurring every day.
Calling of Cornelius
Acts 10:1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
Cornelius is a man who is called “devout”, who “feared God”, "who “gave alms generously” and who “prayed continually”. This is a man who already has some measure of faith in God, but who is, as we will see, a Gentile. The alms puts me in mind of James 1:27, which seems to summarize our faithfulness to others in the act of charity towards those in need.
The Lord, having seen and respected Cornelius’ faith, grants him a vision, telling him to send for Peter. The angel gives Cornelius instructions as to how to find Peter, who is staying with Simon the tanner in Joppa.
Cornelius, responding to the call of God, immediately does as he is asked, sending two servants, along with another god-fearing Gentile soldier to find Peter. It’s interesting that the angel does not simply tell Cornelius the gospel, as God did with Paul, but instead tells him to go the round-about way and call over Peter. This may be because there is a particular role Peter needed to fill, but it may also be simply because God delights to use His people when He can. I also wonder if the sheer hard-heartedness of Paul required a more miraculous revelation than did a faithful person like Cornelius. If you came to faith after a youth spent in a Christian home, it may very well be that you didn’t have the sort of dramatic conversion story that those of us who were enemies of God did.
The important thing to note is that God responds to Cornelius’s faithfulness with greater blessing. Sometimes we get people like Paul who are blessed by God seemingly out of nowhere, when they are opposed to God’s will. Other times we have someone who is faithful to what they know of God and God blesses them with greater blessing.
However, it is important to note the response of Cornelius. When God offers him something, he immediately responds with action. He doesn’t wait and remain comfortable and put it off to a more convenient time. He jumps at the chance to have a deeper and more insightful interaction with God’s truth.
Peter’s Vision
Acts 10:9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
Peter is praying around the noon hour of the day, as was likely his custom. Daniel had a custom of praying three times a day. It is useful sometimes to have these habits of prayer and communion with God, not so much because God requires any standard hours of prayer, but because if we do not submit to some external discipline, the most likely outcome is our own neglect of prayer because we are easily distracted.
Then, around the same time the Spirit is interacting with Cornelius to send for Peter, Peter also receives a vision from God. He was praying around mid-day while he waited for lunch and his vision consisted of God calling him to eat unclean animals.
His response is telling. He is shocked and scandalized by the Lord asking him to eat something that’s unclean. Once again, we are confronted with the essential Jewishness of the church at this time. Peter does not consider himself to no longer be Jewish. He does not consider the laws of the Old Testament to be in any way negated. He is concerned in this case with honoring God by being faithful to his commands.
However, this is not the first time that Peter has demonstrated that, due to a lack of understanding of Christ’s purpose, he directly defies Jesus himself. He did so on at least two other occasions, first, when he refused to acknowledge Christ’s prediction of His death in Matt 16 and in John 13 when he refused to let Christ wash his feet. Peter appears to have been a zealous man, but perhaps one whose zeal sometimes caused him to resist even the teachings of God Himself.
But in this case, there’s a quandary. Here is the Lord, whom Peter immediately recognizes, calling him to do something that formerly was explicitly disallowed. The issue is that this constitutes a change from Old Testament law to the New Testament.
New Covenant
It’s worth noting that the words “Old Testament” and “New Testament” are actually just an archaic way of saying “Old Covenant” and “New Covenant”. The “covenant” meaning is preserved in the phrase “last will and testament”. It is a legally binding document.
This reflects the standard biblical doctrine regarding the two covenants. Hebrews 8 is a go-to resource on this topic and it will become important as the passage continues. But the critical thing for us to note here is that the vision Peter is receiving has to do with one of the distinctions between Old Testament worship of God and New Testament worship.
In this case it has to do with cleanliness laws. The Old Testament had several laws regarding what made someone unclean. Cleanliness and uncleanliness had to do with acceptability to enter into the assembly for the purpose of worship.
But the question of “ritual cleanliness” was settled by a different means in the New Testament times. Teachings throughout the New Testament show that cleanliness is now a function of having been cleansed by the blood of Christ. The food and body washing laws have been superceded in New Testament times as is taught in Hebrews 9:
Hebrews 9:9 … According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
You can see that the clear teaching of this passage is that the rituals around cleanliness have been overturned now that Christ has become the mediator of the New Covenant. If that passage is not clear enough that foods are clean, Romans 14 is unambiguous.
Romans 14:20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.
This helps us to understand the principle that God has made certain changes during the New Testament era in regard to what is required of the people of God. Not everything in the Old Testament literally applies to the people of God today. Rather, much of it is symbolic and meant to apply in a greater way after the Resurrection of Christ.
This principle becomes important later in the passage.
Men From Cornelius
17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. 19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” 21 And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” 22 And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” 23 So he invited them in to be his guests.
Peter is puzzling over what the message of the vision might mean when the men from Cornelius arrive. I don’t think he missed the obvious point about the clean and unclean distinction among food having been removed, but he probably wondered at the rationale behind it.
For our part, we interact with God primarily through His word and it is frequently the case that something strange will jump out at us. Through our rational minds, we are called upon to consider what the meaning of these things may be. For Peter, he was being shown that the unclean animals were now clean. It was then left to him to puzzle out exactly why that is the case, and what can therefore be deduced from it.
This is a common pattern in the parables. While many parables are paired with a specific explanation of their meaning, many are left without commentary. This is because we are not to simply stand on obvious statements of direct truth, but to allow the Word to transform our minds (Rom 12) so that the way we think is molded to the way Christ thinks about truth (1 Cor 2).
In this way our minds are renewed so that instead of having our foolish hearts darkened (Rom 1), we instead can have the “mind of Christ”.
To be clear, the most important doctrines of the Bible are clearly stated. We do not develop hard theological lines over a speculation as to the meaning of a single parable. Even when a doctrine, like the Trinity, is pulled from diverse sources, we seek out not a single passage or proof text that we speculate from, but a confluence of several sources that all point to some great truth that we can ascertain from thoughtful and faithful reflection on the Word (2 Tim 3:16, 1 Peter 1:10-12, Matt 22:37, Matt 13:11-17).
The Spirit seems to speak directly to him and let him know that these men were sent directly by God. Peter accepts their story and invites them to stay with him for the night. And in the morning he sets off with them.
Acts 10:23 (cont) The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. 28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.” 30 And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”
When they first arrive in Caesarea, Cornelius goes to worship Peter. This is an error that Gentiles repeat later in Acts 14. The Gentiles appear ready to believe that the gods are among them having taken human form, and perhaps Cornelius believed that Peter was the incarnated God. Peter rightly disabuses him of this notion.
Along with our discussion from the earlier section, Peter demonstrates that he had understood the deeper meaning of the original vision he was given earlier. It is clear that the further and more important meaning of the vision was not so much about clean and unclean animals, but rather about clean and unclean people.
There are many commentators that believe that this was due to pure racial animosity on Peter’s part, that he falsely believed that there was a distinction between Jews and Gentiles and had to be disabused of that notion by God in a dramatic fashion. There is some reason to go to this conclusion.
In the inter-testamental period, several of the Jewish writings had specifically called on Jews to keep themselves totally apart from Gentiles. The Talmud has strict rules for interacting with Gentiles, as it does for many other things. In John 18:28, as the Jewish leaders are handing Christ over to Pilate, they are careful not to enter Pilate’s house and thus “defile themselves”. However, the rules about interacting with Gentiles are not themselves directly from the Word of God. Nowhere in the Old Testament does God forbid interacting with Gentiles as such.
Then, it would seem that Peter should know that this isn’t a problem. Yet he claims “it is unlawful”. Why would this be? I think the answer is that this was unlawful according to the civil authorities, not according to the laws of God.
But there is probably more going on here than just that. Peter’s unwillingness to go to the Gentiles has some warrant from the actions and statements of Christ during His ministry.
When Jesus sent the twelve disciples out to preach the message of the Kingdom of Heaven, he specifically required that they not go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans:
Matt 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Further, when approached by a Gentile woman asking for healing Christ said the following:
Mark 7:26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”
However, Christ did heal the woman’s daughter, despite her being a Gentile. This is also somewhat amusing since most scholars believe that Mark is the memoir of Peter, and this event with the Gentile woman is paired with discussions of Christ about the nature of cleanliness. It’s as though Peter was understanding the importance of what Christ had been saying upon reflection. So it’s likely that, after having learned the lesson here, he retroactively understood what Christ was getting at during His ministry.
What’s happening is that Peter is starting to understand God’s plan. He already saw the Samaritans come to faith, so he knows that Christ is no longer restricting the preaching of the Kingdom to the Jews. But further he puts together that God is now calling him to preach to the Gentiles. Unlike his initial response in the vision, where he refused to follow the direct command of God because of his preconceived notions, this time he realizes that as the Spirit has sent him here, it must mean that God wishes the message to be preached beyond the cultural borders around the Jewish people.
Preaching the Message
Acts 10:34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Peter gives them the gospel. It’s clear that they had already heard part of the story, that Jesus had preached throughout Judea doing miracles. Peter fills them in on the rest.
John the Baptist had begun baptizing people for repentance.
Christ had the power of the Holy Spirit and began doing miracles, healing and expelling demons.
The Jews had put Christ to death “by hanging on a tree”.
But on the third day he was raised.
Now the eyewitnesses have been called to preach the gospel that Christ is in fact the Messiah.
And that forgiveness of sins is available through faith in Christ, as promised through the prophets of the Old Testament.
Jer 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
But the kicker is this. The Samartians were the descendants of the house of Israel, the Jews were the descendants of the house of Judah, so it made sense that they would be included in the New Covenant. There was much in the Old Testament that showed that God’s mercy is shown to all the nations, and Abraham was promised that all the peoples of the world would be blessed through him. Peter would have known that the Gentiles will benefit from the rulership and authority of Christ.
But the New Covenant itself was not given to Gentiles. Understanding that Christ had made payment for sin, Peter would expect them to be forgiven and thus “saved”, but the inclusion of the Gentiles to all of the other promises specifically given to Israel was not something anyone expected.
Acts 10:44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
You can see here that they are astonished that they received the Spirit. Ezekiel had promised that the Spirit would be poured out on Israel. Jeremiah had promised that Israel and Judah would have God’s “law inscribed on their hearts”. But nothing could have prepared them for the inclusion of the Gentiles as first-class recipients of the New Covenant’s promises.
And Peter immediately realizes the import of this event. They should indeed be brought into the covenant and baptized. (Baptism being the sign of the covenant).
This issue of the Gentiles’ status in the church is one that the church continued to struggle with throughout the New Testament era. Ephesians 2-3, Romans 4-5, 9-11 and essentially the entire book of Galatians are all dedicated to resolving this question of the status of Jews and Gentiles in the Kingdom.
The teaching of the New Testament is summed up in Galatians 3:
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Essentially the perspective of the New Testament is that the Jews and Gentiles distinction is irrelevant in terms of being an heir to the promises of the Old Testament. Being combined together in Christ has “broken down the dividing wall” (Eph 2:13-16) between Jew and Gentile and made them into one people.
This turns out to be the final frontier for the gospel, which is now understood by all to apply to every person, regardless of descent. Unlike in the Old Testament, when only Jewish men received the sign of the covenant, now Gentiles and women also receive the sign of the New Covenant: baptism.
The Jews had known that they would be granted dominion over the Earth, as Adam was intended, in the time of the New Covenant. As Paul puts it in 2 Timothy 2:
2 Timothy 2:11 The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him
This relates to why Christ is known as the “last Adam” (Rom 5). He fulfilled the requirements of God and was granted “all authority on heaven and on earth” (Matt 28). He shares this Kingdom with those of us who are called according to His purpose. As NT Wright says: “Forget happiness, you are called to a throne”.
The Word teaches throughout the prophets and the New Testament authors that Christ is headed toward victory and is carrying us all along with Him. We reign alongside Him as an act of his mercy.
For God does not want us to simply suffer in sin and alienation. He wishes to redeem his creation and set His people over it as the rightful rulers, Kings and Queens under the headship of our King, Christ. While we may not see victory on the horizon at the moment, and we may differ as to how we think it will come about, there is no question that the end of the world under the curse is redemption by Christ and enthroning of His people.
And He calls on all of us to participate. We should take the word that Peter spoke to Cornelius, that “anyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins”. We should turn, in our hearts to Him and away from our life of sin and alienation so that we may participate in His Kingdom, having been granted His Holy Spirit.
To those who have already turned to God and received the Spirit take heart! The story ends with our victory!
Conclusions
The word is clear, as in Matthew 13, with “to him who has, more shall be given” and in Matthew 25, with “well done, since you have been faithful in a small thing, I put you in charge of greater things” that God rewards his faithful with greater things. However, we must be careful not to allow this to pervert the order of grace.
While the reward for our faithfulness is very real, the faithfulness to God has its origin in the action of God. We cannot allow it to be confused to be the case that God’s grace is dependent on our human action. However, the blessing of obedience to God’s word is itself a gift of God, and he does reward those who are obedient to His commands. While Cornelius was blessed, as the angel makes clear, as a result of his prayers and generosity, the fact that he responds with the fear of God indicates that the actions he had taken had their origin in God-given faith. The good works themselves would have been worthless on their own, as Hebrews 11:6 says “without faith it is impossible to please God”.
The question of grace and reciprocity can be complex. The first note we must lay hold of is that no one may merit grace as a desert. We do not deserve any good thing from God, as nothing we do is acceptable to Him apart from His mercy and forgiveness. A child does not deserve a second bowl of ice cream because he said “thank you” for the first, and yet responsiveness inclines the giver to be ever more generous. As we are responsive to the grace already given us and we do not despise the gifts of God, we are blessed in still greater ways, not as a reward, but as a good thing that delights God to reward those who are responsive to His Spirit. We “press on to win the prize” as it says in Philippians 3:14.
Second, Christ has fulfilled the Law on our behalf. In some senses, He has accomplished the thing signified, as a shadow, as in the case of sacrifices (Heb 10:1) and therefore there is no need to perpetuate it. And further Christ has fulfilled the requirements of the moral law on our behalf, having been perfectly obedient to the will of the Father. While this allowed Him to claim Adam’s reward of full dominion on heaven and on Earth, and guarantees for those of us counted as Christ’s the assurance of adoption and Resurrection, it by no means removes the desire for God to see us be obedient to what he commands (Matt 28:20, 1 Cor 7:19). Our judicial standing before Him is not dependent on this, but it is His delight to reward those who are faithful to the call of Christ. (As an aside, it is open to question whether faith that does not result in good works is in fact salvific, based on Ephesians 2:8-10 and James 2:14-17. We cannot know what is in a person’s heart and whether is faith is authentic with certainty, but it is the normative expectation of Scripture that saving faith results in good works.)
But with regard to ceremonial law and the food and ritual washing laws, these have been fulfilled with Christ, who makes the unclean clean (1 John 1:7, Rev 7:14, Heb 10:22, John 13:8-10). There is no longer any need to protect against ritual uncleanliness.
Third, the Kingdom of God and the people of God is understood not to be made up of the Jews as an ethnic race, but of believers who are called after the pattern of Abraham’s faith. As explained in Romans 9:8 “In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring”. The promises given to the Jews adhered not to physical Jews but to anyone who follows the pattern of faith given by Abraham, whether they are Jew or Gentile.
Romans 4:13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless…
16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
Questions for discussion
When have you seen faithfulness to God lead to greater blessing and revelation about Him?
It would be convenient if we were able to hear direct commands from the Holy Spirit in specific situations as Peter does here. Why do you think we do not often receive such commands today? How do we discern the “voice” of the Spirit?
Even though God called both Jews and Gentiles to faith together as Christians, many still held on to their former national and cultural identity, which caused conflicts in the body of Christ. How could being too attached with one’s own culture and heritage become a block to unity between people?
Many people think they are saved because they were “raised Christian”, how would we respond to such a claim?