Acts 10:1-16(ESV)
Journal
Please use one of the prompts below to get your journaling started.
- Explore your fears and what’s behind them.
- Write about a relational conflict you are experiencing.
- List out all that you are grateful for.
- Recall a significant reaction, conversation or event.
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Commentary
INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS
vv.17-19: “Grappling with what we are uncomfortable. In verses 17 and 19 Peter was grappling intensely regarding the meaning of the vision when the Holy Spirit spoke to him. At first Peter vehemently refused to be open to change […] He had strong convictions. But when he sensed that God was indeed teaching him something new, he seriously considered the implications of the vision. Thus, both divine guidance and Peter’s willingness to grasp what God was showing him combined to produce a change in his thinking, even though it was something he was uncomfortable with. A passion for obedience makes God’s servants open to changes with which they may at first be uncomfortable.” [1]
vv.23b-24: “Six of the Joppa believers accompanied Peter to Caesarea the next day (cf. 11:12)–a wise action in view of the questions that would later be raised at Jerusalem.”[2]
vv.25-28: “Cornelius shows great humility for a centurion, for like the centurion whom Jesus encountered (Luke 7:6), he ‘fell at [Peter’s] feet in reverence’ (v.25). But Peter will have none of this, as such reverence is reserved only for God. (v.26) Such Acts of reverence to respected people were not unusual in the Near East in those days. In fact, it was ‘typical of the welcome a hero receives in the Greek novel.’ But Peter will not risk anything that might suggest that he is accepting the type of respect that is due to God alone.”
“Peter’s discovery, as he explains to his audience, is the pivotal message of this whole passage: ‘God has shown me that I should not call any man impure [koinos] or unclean’ (v.28). Here it has the idea of ‘being ritually unacceptable either as a result of defilement or because of the very nature of the object itself.’ A big shift has taken place in Peter’s thinking, for he now realizes that no longer are the typical Jewish distinctions among people significant. They have been rendered void once and for all. In this episode Jew and Gentile have come together.
An attitude of repentance. When Peter realized that he had been wrong about his earlier prejudices, he readily admitted that in his conversation with Cornelius (v.28). When he preached to the crowd, he again publicly confessed the lesson he had learned: God shows no favoritism.” [3]
v.45: “What was so amazing to Peter’s friends? What they saw with their eyes, they could not grasp with their minds. They had always been taught that the promises of Scripture were only for God’s chosen people. They could not imagine how Gentiles could be made righteous without first becoming Jews. It confused them to see God take the initiative and give the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles before they could earn his favor by following the Law.” [4]
Bible Text: Acts 10:1-16 (ESV)
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.
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.
Go Deeper
Acts 10:1-16
- What are some observations and lessons I can draw from a character study of Cornelius?
- What is the role of prayer in this chapter? What lesson is here regarding how God can lead my life to those who seek him?
[1] Fernando, Acts, The NIV Application Commentary Series.
[2] Gaebelein, Gen. Ed. Expositor’s Bible Commentary CD, notes for vv.23b-24.
[3] Fernando, Acts, The NIV Application Commentary Series.
[4] Quest Study Bible, study notes, 1521.
Prayer