Act 10:1-16 | KingComments | STEP | In this chapter it becomes clear for the first time that salvation extends to the nations. This has already been preceded by God’s work among the Samaritans in Acts 8. Samaritans are not Jews either, but are still connected to them, even though they are a mixed population. The eunuch is also an example of someone who did not belong to the Jews, a true Gentile. Nevertheless, he had a certain connection with Jerusalem. He sympathized with the Jewish religion and because of this sympathy he had visited the city. In this chapter we see how the history of the church is continued by opening up the church to the nations that have no connection whatsoever with the Jewish people. The most characteristic of this new development is that the nations are incorporated into the church of Jesus Christ without being circumcised. While Saul, as the apostle of the nations, has already been converted, Peter is still used to open up salvation to the nations as well. After the conversion of the Samaritans and the eunuch, the conversion of Cornelius is proof of the entrance of the nations into salvation in the full sense. Cornelius is converted apart from Jerusalem. His conversion takes place in Caesarea, where he is visited by Peter and hears the gospel. The name Caesarea reminds us of the Roman emperor. Cornelius is also part of the Roman army. Here it is fully clear that God’s favor is not limited to the Jews and also that it is not necessary to become a Jew to participate in the salvation that is in Christ. The conversion of Cornelius does not yet reveal the truth of the church as a body united with the Head in heaven. It is the preparation for it because someone from the nations is accepted without becoming a Jew. A beautiful testimony is given of Cornelius. What is said of him is extraordinary for a Gentile. On top of that he is in a social position, where wickedness is practiced in the most brutal way, that is in the army. He is not a proselyte, but he sympathizes very much with the Jewish religion. His whole attitude indicates that he has already been converted, but that he has yet to be saved. So Peter says later in his account in Jerusalem ( ). His whole house is under his God-fearing influence. Personally he is pious. Toward God he is full of reverence. He loves the people of God, which is shown by the alms he gives to the people. His life is dominated by dependence on God, which is shown by the statement that he constantly prays to God. Such an attitude and prayer life do not remain without an answer from God. God shows Himself to people who pray. He uses a vision to address Himself to Cornelius. He does this at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer and of the evening burnt offering (see explanation at ). At that hour, Cornelius sees “clearly”, not vaguely, an angel of God coming to him. The angel greets him by mentioning his name. With this he says as it were that God knows him. Very surprised, Cornelius gazes at the angel, while a feeling of great fear overwhelms him. We see this fear more often in people when they see angels ( ). Then he asks the question about the reason for his coming. The angel reassures him. Not only his name, but also his alms and his prayers are known to God. These are all constantly before God. They are in His thoughts and in His time He goes to work with them. God never forgets anything that someone sincerely does for Him or says to Him. In His time He will also respond. For Cornelius that time has now come. God lets Cornelius know through the angel that he must now send men to Joppa to invite Peter. The angel can give directions to do something, but he cannot bring the gospel. The message of grace cannot be brought by an angel, but only by a man who himself has become the object of grace. The angel says where he can find Peter and that is in the house of a certain Simon. He tells him Simon’s profession and where the house is. The housing of a tanner does not immediately evoke the image of a luxury accommodation. It stinks a lot. Something has already been said about the symbolic meaning of the profession of tanner in the explanation at . Here something is added which also has a symbolic meaning. The house is said to be a house “by the sea”. The sea is a symbol of the sea of the nations. It is an indication that the gospel is for the nations and that Peter is the instrument to open the gospel for the nations. When the angel has left, Cornelius immediately takes action. He does not have to think about it. The task is clear. He calls two servants and a God-fearing soldier. As boss Cornelius must have been a very amiable person who had a confidential relationship with his staff. He informs them about the angel’s visit and what the angel said to him. The men leave without asking questions. Cornelius acts obediently to God and his men act obediently to Cornelius.

‏ Acts 10:1-16

Cornelius Is Visited by an Angel

In this chapter it becomes clear for the first time that salvation extends to the nations. This has already been preceded by God’s work among the Samaritans in Acts 8. Samaritans are not Jews either, but are still connected to them, even though they are a mixed population. The eunuch is also an example of someone who did not belong to the Jews, a true Gentile. Nevertheless, he had a certain connection with Jerusalem. He sympathized with the Jewish religion and because of this sympathy he had visited the city.

In this chapter we see how the history of the church is continued by opening up the church to the nations that have no connection whatsoever with the Jewish people. The most characteristic of this new development is that the nations are incorporated into the church of Jesus Christ without being circumcised.

While Saul, as the apostle of the nations, has already been converted, Peter is still used to open up salvation to the nations as well. After the conversion of the Samaritans and the eunuch, the conversion of Cornelius is proof of the entrance of the nations into salvation in the full sense. Cornelius is converted apart from Jerusalem. His conversion takes place in Caesarea, where he is visited by Peter and hears the gospel. The name Caesarea reminds us of the Roman emperor. Cornelius is also part of the Roman army.

Here it is fully clear that God’s favor is not limited to the Jews and also that it is not necessary to become a Jew to participate in the salvation that is in Christ. The conversion of Cornelius does not yet reveal the truth of the church as a body united with the Head in heaven. It is the preparation for it because someone from the nations is accepted without becoming a Jew.

A beautiful testimony is given of Cornelius. What is said of him is extraordinary for a Gentile. On top of that he is in a social position, where wickedness is practiced in the most brutal way, that is in the army. He is not a proselyte, but he sympathizes very much with the Jewish religion. His whole attitude indicates that he has already been converted, but that he has yet to be saved. So Peter says later in his account in Jerusalem (Acts 11:13-14).

His whole house is under his God-fearing influence. Personally he is pious. Toward God he is full of reverence. He loves the people of God, which is shown by the alms he gives to the people. His life is dominated by dependence on God, which is shown by the statement that he constantly prays to God.

Such an attitude and prayer life do not remain without an answer from God. God shows Himself to people who pray. He uses a vision to address Himself to Cornelius. He does this at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer and of the evening burnt offering (see explanation at Acts 3:1). At that hour, Cornelius sees “clearly”, not vaguely, an angel of God coming to him. The angel greets him by mentioning his name. With this he says as it were that God knows him. Very surprised, Cornelius gazes at the angel, while a feeling of great fear overwhelms him. We see this fear more often in people when they see angels (Lk 1:12 ; Lk 2:9-10).

Then he asks the question about the reason for his coming. The angel reassures him. Not only his name, but also his alms and his prayers are known to God. These are all constantly before God. They are in His thoughts and in His time He goes to work with them. God never forgets anything that someone sincerely does for Him or says to Him. In His time He will also respond. For Cornelius that time has now come.

God lets Cornelius know through the angel that he must now send men to Joppa to invite Peter. The angel can give directions to do something, but he cannot bring the gospel. The message of grace cannot be brought by an angel, but only by a man who himself has become the object of grace. The angel says where he can find Peter and that is in the house of a certain Simon. He tells him Simon’s profession and where the house is.

The housing of a tanner does not immediately evoke the image of a luxury accommodation. It stinks a lot. Something has already been said about the symbolic meaning of the profession of tanner in the explanation at Acts 9:43. Here something is added which also has a symbolic meaning. The house is said to be a house “by the sea”. The sea is a symbol of the sea of the nations. It is an indication that the gospel is for the nations and that Peter is the instrument to open the gospel for the nations.

When the angel has left, Cornelius immediately takes action. He does not have to think about it. The task is clear. He calls two servants and a God-fearing soldier. As boss Cornelius must have been a very amiable person who had a confidential relationship with his staff. He informs them about the angel’s visit and what the angel said to him. The men leave without asking questions. Cornelius acts obediently to God and his men act obediently to Cornelius.

Peter’s Vision

The hearers have been prepared by God; now the preacher has yet to be prepared. There is not only a praying seeker, there is also a praying servant. Peter seeks solitude with God. He devotes himself to prayer in order to serve with God’s Word (Acts 6:4). Peter also sees a vision through which God prepares him for the visit of the men of Cornelius. He gets that vision when he is hungry and desires food. God uses this practical need to make him receptive to the message He has for him.

While the food is being prepared, Peter sees the sky opened up. He sees something descending from it that is reminiscent of a great sheet. He also notices that the sheet is lowered by the four corners to the ground. Furthermore he sees in the sheet “all [kinds of] four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air”. The fish are missing. What he sees are the animals that also went into the ark with Noah, where also the fish were missing (Gen 7:14). All these animals came into the saving ark and were spared from the flood.

Noah had clean and unclean animals in the ark. God saved all those animals. Here God spans a great time arc through which He connects the history of the flood with this time in which the gospel is opened to all people, Jews and Gentiles, as the saving gospel. Just as all the animals that came into the ark were saved through their stay in the ark, so there is salvation for all who are in Christ. This is what Peter sees in the vision.

This vision contains several indications of the gospel by which the church is expanded. We see that it comes from heaven, which points to the origin of the gospel and also to the origin of the church. Attention is also drawn to the fact that the sheet is great, that it is lowered by the four corners and that the earth is the place on which it is lowered.

The fact that it is a great sheet reflects the size of the church: there is room for everyone. The four corners indicate the expanse of the gospel: it extends to everyone, to all corners of the earth. The whole earth is the area where it is preached. The mixing of pure and impure animals and birds shows that the distinction between pure and impure is gone. There is no partiality with God (Rom 10:12-13).

The order to Peter comes from heaven. He is ordered to get up, kill and eat. Peter reacts shocked. No matter how hungry he is, he doesn’t dare. As a pious Jew, he still keeps the food laws, which forbid the eating of unclean animals (Lev 11:46-47; Deu 14:3-21). The Jews had to keep these food laws in order to keep themselves clean from the nations. Food is what forms a human being. If Peter eats the food the nations eat, he will look like them.

But now the sheet descends from heaven. All those animals in the sheet together form the church, as it were, which consists of all people who have come to faith, both Jews and Gentiles. The barrier of the dividing wall has been broken down (Eph 2:14), food laws do not apply to the church (Col 2:20-21), because the church is from heaven and for heaven. The food laws are for the earth and an earthly people.

Peter must be led to see the new things as something that comes from the Lord. This will take him a lot of trouble. Old prejudices die only slowly, especially if they are prejudices that have always been part of the right religion. It is a problem of his conscience. We can also have our certainties about what is good and yet still not dare to implement it because our conscience contradicts it. The Lord understands this and makes sure that we do not have to do something with a bad conscience. However, if God says that we can or should eat, we should not say ‘no’ because of our conscience. Peter is now told that God is making a change in His earlier precepts.

The cross of Christ has changed everything and removed the distinction between Jew and Gentile. To the Christian, the food laws have no meaning at all. God can give the law of pure and unclean animals; He can also undo it for a certain group of people. This group of people includes all those who are in Christ, for whom there is therefore no more condemnation (Rom 8:1) just as there was no judgment for all in the ark.

For Peter to properly understand the meaning of the vision, he is told three times that what God has cleansed, Peter may not consider to be unholy. More things occurred three times in Peter’s life: three times he denied the Lord and three times the Lord asked him whether he loved Him.

After it has been said to him three times, the object is taken up into the sky again. Here we see the picture of the church confirmed. The fact that the sheet descends from heaven indicates that the church is of heavenly origin. The fact that the sheet is taken up into heaven again indicates that the destination of the church is also heavenly.