Acts 10:1 - Meaning and Application

The gospel going out to the Gentiles, and the bringing in of people who had once been strangers and outsiders to become fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, was such a mystery to the apostles themselves, and such a surprise (Ephesians 3:3, 3:6), that we should carefully notice every detail of how this great work began. This is part of the mystery of godliness, Christ preached among the Gentiles and believed in in this world (1 Timothy 3:16). It is possible that some Gentiles had already gone into a Jewish synagogue and heard the gospel there. But the gospel had not yet been intentionally preached to the Gentiles, and none of them had been baptized. Cornelius was the first, and here we are given an account of him, the first Gentile brought to Christ.

We are told that he was a great man and a good man, two qualities that rarely go together, but here they did. When they do, each one makes the other more honorable. Goodness makes greatness truly useful, and greatness gives goodness a wider reach. Cornelius was a military officer in Acts 10:1. At this time he was stationed in Caesarea, a strong city rebuilt and fortified by Herod the Great, and named Caesarea in honor of Augustus Caesar. It sat on the seashore, which made it a useful place for communication between Rome and its far-off lands. The Roman governor usually lived there (Acts 23:23-24; 25:6).

There was a band, or regiment, of Roman soldiers there, likely the governor’s bodyguard. They were called the Italian band because they were native Romans or Italians, chosen so their loyalty would be more certain. Cornelius held a command in this force. His name was common among the Romans, especially among old and noble families. He was a centurion, an officer in charge of about a hundred men. We read of another centurion in our Lord’s time who received high praise from Jesus himself (Matthew 8:10).

When a Gentile was to be the first to receive the gospel, God did not choose a Gentile philosopher, much less a Gentile priest. Philosophers and priests were often fixed in their own ideas and worship, and many were strongly biased against Christ. Instead, he chose a Gentile soldier, a man more open in thought. If such a man honestly hears Christian truth set before him, he will not fail to welcome it. The first Jewish believers were fishermen, uneducated and ordinary men, but the first Gentile believer was not like that. This showed that the gospel has something in it that can commend itself even to people of learning and good education, as Cornelius probably was.

Soldiers and officers should not think their work frees them from religion, or that military life gives them an excuse to live carelessly. Here was an army officer who embraced Christianity, and neither lost his place nor left it. It was also a humiliation to the Jews that the first Gentile received into the church was an officer in the Roman army, the power they hated as an abomination.

According to the light he had, Cornelius was a religious man, and a very good account is given of him in Acts 10:2. He was no idol worshiper, and he did not live in the immoral ways common among most Gentiles, which had come as a judgment on them for their idolatry. He had a real concern for the true and living God. He was devout and God-fearing. He believed in one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and he respected God’s glory and authority. He feared offending him by sin, and though he was a soldier, that did not lessen his honor to tremble before God.

He also kept up religion in his home. He feared God with all his household. He would not allow idolaters under his roof, and he made sure that not only he himself, but all who belonged to him, served the Lord. Every good man will do what he can to make those around him good too. He was also very charitable. He gave much alms to the people, meaning to the Jewish people, even though he was a Gentile and they had unusual customs in religion. He was ready to help someone who truly needed help, without first asking what religion that person held.

He was also a man of prayer. He prayed to God always. He kept set times for prayer and was faithful to them. Wherever the fear of God rules in the heart, it will show itself in both charity and devotion, and neither one excuses us from the other.

The next thing recorded is the orders given to him from heaven, through an angel, to send for Peter. Cornelius would never have done this unless God had directed him. Notice how these orders came. He had a vision, and an angel gave him the message. It was about the ninth hour of the day, around three in the afternoon, which was an ordinary hour for business and conversation. But because it was the time of the evening sacrifice in the temple, devout people also treated it as a time of prayer, showing that all our prayers are to be offered in the value of the great sacrifice.

Cornelius was praying at that moment, as he later tells us himself (Acts 10:30). An angel of God came in to him. From the brightness of his face and the way he entered, Cornelius knew he was more than a man, an angel sent from heaven. He saw him clearly with his bodily eyes, not in a dream or in his imagination, but in a vision seen with his eyes, so that the message would carry its own proof. The angel called him by name, Cornelius, showing God’s personal notice of him. This startled Cornelius, and he became afraid (Acts 10:4).

The wisest and best people have often felt fear at the appearance of an extraordinary messenger from heaven, and rightly so, because sinful people have no reason to expect good news from there on their own. Cornelius asked, “What is it, Lord?” He spoke as someone afraid something was wrong and eager to have that fear relieved by knowing the truth. He also spoke as one ready to learn God’s will and obey it, like Joshua asking, “What does my lord say to his servant?” and Samuel saying, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

The message he received was this: God accepted him in walking according to the light he had. “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God” (Acts 10:4). Notice that prayers and alms must go together.

We should follow our prayers with gifts to the poor, because the fast God chooses is to share with the hungry (Isaiah 58:6, 58:7). It is not enough to pray that what we have may be blessed to us. We must also give from what we have, and then, as Jesus said, all things are clean to us (Luke 11:41). In the same way, we should follow our gifts with prayer, asking God to accept them kindly and bless the people who receive them.

Cornelius prayed and gave alms, gifts to the poor, not to impress people like the Pharisees did, but honestly, before God. He is told here that his prayers and gifts had come up as a memorial before God. They were remembered in heaven, in the book of remembrance kept there for all who fear God, and they would be remembered for his good. In other words, his prayers would be answered, and his gifts would be rewarded. The sacrifices under the law were also said to be for a memorial, as in Leviticus 2:9, 2:16; 5:12; and 6:15. So prayers and gifts are our spiritual offerings, and God takes notice of them.

Cornelius believed and submitted to the divine revelation given to the Jews, as far as Gentiles were included in it. That revelation not only guided and improved the light of nature, the sense of God people have by creation, but also promised the coming Messiah. He acted in that faith, and God accepted him. Gentiles who had received the law of Moses were not required to become circumcised Jews, just as those who receive the gospel of Christ are to become baptized Christians.

He is also told to look for a fuller display of God’s grace, which had just recently been made known to the world (Acts 10:5, 10:6). He must send at once to Joppa and ask for Simon Peter. Peter was staying with Simon, a tanner, whose house was by the sea. If Peter were sent for, he would come, and when he came he would tell Cornelius what he ought to do, answering his question, “What is it, Lord?”

Two things here are striking. First, Cornelius prays and gives alms in the fear of God, leads religion well in his own home, and is accepted by God in all this. Yet there is still more he must do, he must embrace the Christian religion now that God has established it among people. This is not treated as something optional, but as necessary for his future acceptance with God, even though he had already been accepted in his earlier service. Anyone who believed the promise of the Messiah must now believe that promise fulfilled. Now that God has given a fuller witness about his Son than the Old Testament prophecies alone, he requires us to receive it when it comes to us. From that point on, neither prayers nor alms can come up before God as a memorial unless we believe in Jesus Christ, because that is the further duty we now have. This is God’s command, that we believe. Prayers and gifts are accepted from those who believe that the Lord is God and have no chance to know more. But from those to whom it has been preached that Jesus is the Christ, it is necessary for the acceptance of their persons, prayers, and gifts that they believe this and rest on Christ alone for acceptance.

Second, Cornelius has an angel from heaven speaking to him, yet he is not told the gospel of Christ by that angel. He is not given by the angel what he ought to do. The angel only says, “Send for Peter, and he will tell you.” This puts great honor on the gospel, and also on the ministry of the gospel. God gave this grace, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:8), not to the highest angels, but to those who were less than the least of all saints. That way, the greatness of the power would clearly be from God, and the dignity of Christ’s appointed work would be upheld. God has not put the world to come under the angels, but under the Son of man as ruler, and under the sons of men as his messengers and servants (Hebrews 2:5). They are not meant to frighten us or weigh us down, as this angel now did to Cornelius.

It was an honor to the apostle that he must preach what an angel might not. It was also another honor that an angel was sent from heaven just to arrange for him to be called. To bring a faithful minister and a willing people together is a work fit for an angel, and one that the greatest people should gladly serve in.

Cornelius obeyed these orders at once (Acts 10:7, 10:8). He sent quickly to Joppa to bring Peter to him. If only he himself had been involved, he would have gone to Joppa. But he had a family, relatives, and friends, a little group under his care (Acts 10:24), and they could not go with him. So he sent for Peter instead. As soon as the angel who spoke to him had gone, he obeyed the heavenly vision without argument or delay. He understood that more instruction was coming, and he wanted to hear it. He made haste and did not delay.

He sent two of his household servants, who also feared God, and a devout soldier, one of those who always attended him. A devout centurion often has devout soldiers. A little devotion can have a wide reach among soldiers, but there would be more of it among them if there were more of it among commanders. Officers who have such authority over soldiers, as this centurion had (Matthew 8:9), have a great chance to promote religion, or at least restrain vice and disrespect for God, among those under them, if they use their influence well. When this centurion chose servants to stay close to him, he picked devout men. He favored them so that others might be encouraged to be the same. He followed David’s rule, “My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me” (Psalm 101:6).

He also told them all these things (Acts 10:8). He explained the vision he had and the order to send for Peter, because Peter’s coming concerned them too. They had souls to save as well as he did. So he did not merely tell them where to find Peter, though he could have thought that enough, since “the servant does not know what his lord is doing.” He also told them why Peter was coming, so they could urge him to come.