ACTS: Church On Mission | Lesson 10 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points
Read Acts 10.1-48
INTRODUCTION / CONNECTIONS / CONTEXT
1/ In our last lesson, we noted how the conversion of Saul/Paul to be Christ’s apostle to the Gentiles [ch 9.15] was the ‘starting block’ for the marathon mission of world-wide Gospel evangelism to the Gentiles that will commence in ch 13. However, even though Paul has been converted to the faith of Christ, his missionary outreach to the Gentile nations of the world is still a few years in the future. See the timeline and itinerary of Paul’s post-conversion travels again in Lesson 9.
2/ Meanwhile, Luke’s narrative picks up again with Peter’s ministry in the environs surrounding Jerusalem [see ch 9.32-43]. Jerusalem is still the matrix of church growth and outreach, and Peter is still the preeminently influential apostle among the believers and churches that are concentrated in that region. That will change in ch 13, but we’re not there yet. So when Saul leaves Damascus and goes off into Arabia for three years [Galatians 1.17], life and church ministry still goes on in the environs around Jerusalem, and Peter is their most influential leader.
3/ So Luke wants to show us Jesus’ purposes and plans to prepare the Jewish believers and church members in the Jerusalem regions to recognize and receive the Gentile converts whom He plans to call and bring into His New Covenant Kingdom and church – as equal members of the body along with the Jews. And He must prepare Peter to be the leader of that welcome of the Gentiles when the time comes [see ch 15.6-9, 12-18]. So that is at least one of Jesus’ primary purposes for choosing Peter – and radically changing Peter’s Gospel worldview by this encounter with and ministry to the Gentile Cornelius.
4/ Ch 10 will give us scene by scene how this transformative conversion in Peter’s Gospel perspective came about…
I / vv 1-8 | Scene 1: Jesus gives Cornelius a vision – “Send for a man called Peter”
1/ vv 1-2 / Meet Cornelius, a Gentile, and learn of his spiritual interest and religious character. Caesarea was about 30 miles north of Joppa where Peter was staying at that time. Caesarea was the center of Roman government in those parts. The Roman rulers of the region lived there, and their military headquarters was there. Cornelius was a centurion – a commander of about 100 soldiers of the Roman occupying army in those parts. He is described as a very devoutly religious man, one “who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.” What all this means is that Cornelius had embraced the worship of the One True God of the Jews and observed their religious practices. But he was not a ‘proselyte’ – he had not been circumcised and become a member of the Jewish community; though he generously befriended and contributed to them [v 22]. And, we must note: Cornelius was not saved, as Peter will later reveal in ch 11.13-14. He was not saved until Peter came and preached the Gospel of Christ to him and his household. Then, he did believe and was saved.
2/ vv 3-6 / Jesus sent an angel to Cornelius in a vision, giving him specific instructions to send to Joppa and call for Peter to come and tell him how to be saved. NOTE: Cornelius received this vision as he was observing the Jewish hour of prayer – 3pm. Jesus spoke to Cornelius favorably, telling him He was pleased with his religious devotions. Jesus gave Cornelius specific instructions – like a Heavenly GPS: “And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” That Peter was living in the house of a tanner is a significant sign that Peter is already ‘re-learning’ his views of the Old Covenant restrictions [a tanner’s trade requires him to be ‘unclean’ all the time since he makes his living preparing the skins of dead animals].
3/ vv 7-8 / Cornelius immediately obeys Jesus’ vision and sends his servants to fetch Peter…
II / vv 9-16 | Scene 2: Jesus gives Peter a corresponding vision – “Go with the men I have sent!”
1/ v 9 / While Cornelius’s servants are making the two-day journey from Caesarea to Joppa [vv 23b-24], Peter himself is also praying at the 12noon prayer hour. Be encouraged to know that God hears and answers our prayers in His own sovereign and mysterious ways – as only He can. Cornelius had no way of knowing how God would be speaking to Peter to prepare him to answer his prayers. And Peter had no way of knowing that the vision he was about to receive would be God’s answer to another man’s prayers for his witness. But both Cornelius and Peter were obediently praying – and God was faithfully hearing and working on His answers to their prayers! Keep on praying!
2/ vv 10-16 / Jesus gave Peter this vision of ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ animals to show him that He had accepted those persons whom Peter would traditionally consider ‘unclean.’ Peter had grown hungry – it was lunchtime. God wanted to show Peter he must be as hungry for the salvation of those whom Peter would have traditionally considered ‘unclean.’ Both Cornelius and Peter ‘saw clearly’ the unmistakable visions God wanted them to see [vv 3 & 11]. Both of their visions came from the same source: The Lord in heaven. Christ is orchestrating and directing His Gospel outreach and Kingdom from Heaven! The vision Peter saw was “something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, ‘Rise, Peter, kill and eat.’” This goes against everything Peter had been taught and scrupulously practiced in keeping with the Levitical dietary laws [see Leviticus 11, et. al.]. “But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.’” But as Peter will learn and later confess to Cornelius, Jesus was not talking at all about culinary and dietary laws and animal menus – all of those Old Covenant laws had been fulfilled, perfected, and ‘retired’ by the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ [Matthew 5.17-20]. A New Covenant was now at work – a Covenant of Grace for all peoples. “And the voice came to him a second time, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’” God was talking about His Grace to be given for the salvation of Gentiles. We’ll see this Gospel message in vv 28, 34-35, 43. Maybe the three times this vision had to be repeated is a memory of the three times Peter denied the Lord before he learned to trust Jesus’ admonitions and instructions.
III / vv 17-33 | Scene 3: Peter obediently responds to Jesus’ mission – he goes to Cornelius
1/ vv 17-20 / Even while Peter was pondering what in the world this vision might mean, Cornelius’s servants had arrived and were outside at Simon the tanner’s gate, asking for him. Jesus works with perfect timing in His response and answers to our prayers. His Providence is always working in our lives and the world around us to bring His salvation purposes to pass. The Holy Spirit instructed Peter to go downstairs from the rooftop where he had been praying: “Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” Jesus was removing all doubt from Peter’s mind that HE was the One who was arranging this encounter and mission.
2/ vv 21-23a / Peter went down to greet the servants of Cornelius and announced he was the one they were looking for. When he asks them why they have come, they repeat again the vision that Cornelius had seen. This is now the second of three times Cornelius’s vision will be repeated in this chapter. Then a fourth recounting of Cornelius’s vision will be given by Peter when he is interrogated by the skeptical ‘circumcision party’ in Jerusalem when he gets back home [ch 11.13-14]. Luke obviously repeats this vision Jesus gave Cornelius these four times as Divine testimony and evidence that this is from God! And then, Peter does something else to show that is ‘coming around’ to Jesus’ gracious acceptance of Gentiles: “So he invited them in to be his guests.” He will tell Cornelius when he gets to his house that, before this vision, he would never have fraternized with Gentiles with fellowship this up-close, in-touch, and personal [vv 28-29].
3/ vv 23b-29 / Peter obediently answers Jesus’ call to go to Cornelius, accompanied by six [ch 11.12] of his Jewish brothers from Joppa. It was a two-day journey from Joppa to Caesarea. We can be sure that this ‘mixed company’ of the three messengers from Cornelius along with Peter and his six companions had some very interesting – and maybe uncomfortable – conversations along the way. But Jesus was preparing Peter for the Gospel encounter he will have when he gets there. Cornelius was waiting for Peter with all his household [relatives and household servants and attendants…and close friends], eagerly anticipating what Peter would tell him! Cornelius showed great humility by even falling down at Peter’s feet to worship him. But Peter wouldn’t have that! “Stand up; I too am a man.” Peter had worshiped Jesus like this more than once [e.g. Luke 5.8], but Peter also was serving as Jesus’ servant. He was already learning to accept the Gospel equality between himself as a Jew and this Gentile. Then after relating to Cornelius the vision he himself had seen and what he had learned from it, he asked the all-important question: “So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”
4/ vv 30-33 / Cornelius once again, for the third time in this narrative, repeats to Peter the vision he had seen from God … and was responding to: “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.” As we can imagine, Peter, after hearing again how God had appeared to Cornelius and then syncing that with the corresponding vision he had seen – and how all the details perfectly matched and meshed with one another – once again Peter realized God had ‘cued him up’ to deliver the Gospel message about Jesus! He got it! “So Peter opened his mouth and said…”
IV / vv 34-43 | Scene 4: Peter preaches Christ to the Gentiles
1/ v 34 / “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality…” – or, as Peter has already announced when he first greeted Cornelius and his Gentile household: “but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” by judging any person on the basis of their ethnicity, nationality, language, cultural background, socio-economic status, skin color – none of those differences among us influence God. Jesus is an ‘Universally Equal Opportunity Savior’! As Peter will tell his Jewish brethren in Jerusalem when they call him in for questioning about this encounter, “And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction” [ch 11.12]. We can’t really comprehend or relate to what a seismic sea-change this was to the Jewish way of thinking. From Abraham on, there had been a distinction or partiality in who could be the accepted people of God – they had to be circumcised to belong to the covenant nation. But now, “in Christ,” “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” [Galatians 3.28-29].
2/ v 35 / “…but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.” This is in no way a ‘works for salvation’ proclamation. ‘Fearing God’ and ‘doing what is right’ are expressions of faith apart from human works. And this has always been the case. No one under the Old Covenant was justified from their sins and acceptable to God by any human works of merit they had done. Even under the Old Covenant, if any Israelite/Jew had kept every detail of the Law as was humanly possible [which wasn’t possible at all], they were not acceptable to God by doing so. Every believer, in every age from Adam on, was justified and acceptable to God by believing and trusting in God’s mercy, grace, and righteousness imputed to them by trusting in the innocence of the sacrifices God had provided and commanded they offer. AND, every one of those sacrifices were pointers and ‘pre-enactments’ of the one perfect, sinless, satisfactory offering Christ would come and make by giving Himself on the Cross! The sacrifice that God accepts has always been “a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart [Psalm 51.17]” over our sin and the mercy of God to forgive us. [See Jesus’ testimony in Luke 4.23-27.]
3/ v 36 / “As for the word that He sent to Israel, preaching Good News of peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)… Even though God had related to the nation of Israel exclusively in the Old Covenant, and Christ came first “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” [Matthew 10.6; 15.24], God has always been Lord over all the nations of the world. He is God, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles [Romans 3.29]. And, now in Christ, the Good News is that God is making peace [a grace relationship with God] with every ethnic/nation people group. Christ makes peace by saving us all – without distinction – and joining us into one indivisible Kingdom of people in Him. See Ephesians 2.11-22. God’s redeemed people will include believers “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” [Revelation 7.9]. See also Acts 2.21 & 39.
4/ vv 37-38 / “…you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 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.” Peter’s focus lasers in the Gospel that is in Jesus Christ. His emphasis here is on how God recognized Jesus as His anointed Messiah and Savior. Jesus demonstrated and evidenced that He had come from God – as God – by the works of mercy and power that He performed, especially over the kingdom of sin and darkness ruled by the devil. That “God was with Him” was publicly proclaimed when the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven and remained upon Him at His baptism.
5/ vv 39-41 / “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, but God raised Him on the third day and made Him appear, 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.” This is another account of the guilt of those who rejected Christ by crucifying Him and putting him to death – and how God raised Him from the dead. The difference here is that in the previous accounts, Peter had been facing those who had put Him to death with their own hands. Here, since he is speaking to a Gentile audience, Peter refers to them as “they.” But Peter wants them to understand that Christ’s death was for the salvation of them – Gentiles – also.
6/ v 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.” Peter says that Jesus commanded them to preach and testify to His absolute sovereignty and authority to be the final Judge of every human being on the Last Day. Although there are no expressions of exercise of judgment against sin in any of the Great Commission narratives, Jesus Himself spoke of His judgment authority numerous times during His ministry [e.g. John 5.19-29]. Paul will also apprise the pagan Gentile audience of philosophers at Areopagus of the same truth [Acts 17.30-31]. So this too is a universal, immutable truth. After all, the message of judgment is always the precursor of the message of salvation because we are saved from the judgment and wrath of God.
7/ v 43 / “To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.” Now Peter begins to proclaim the Gospel’s promise of forgiveness of sins through faith in the Name of Christ. This is the message of salvation Jesus had sent Peter to proclaim to the Gentile Cornelius and his household – and indeed to the whole Gentile world. Cornelius had not believed the Gospel of Christ until it had been proclaimed to him. He was saved when he did receive it [ch 11.14] as he received from Jesus – through the Holy Spirit – the gift of repentance, faith, and the forgiveness of sins [chs 10.43 & 11.18].
V / vv 44-48 | Scene 5: The Gentiles believe the Gospel and the Spirit is poured out them also
1/ vv 44-46 / Jesus poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit upon these Gentiles just as He had done on the Jewish believers on Pentecost [chs 2.32-33; 11.15-17]. In fact, this was now the third phenomenon of the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit that Peter had participated in and witnessed: Pentecost upon the Jews; on the Samaritans [ch 8.14-17]; and now on the Gentiles. Through these ever-widening spheres of Holy Spirit anointing, Jesus was demonstrating that, in the New Covenant, all peoples and nations without distinction, difference, or discrimination are equally accepted by God in Christ and made one in Him. Peter and his six companions were amazed, and to their credit, they recognized and accepted their Gentile brothers and sisters. It is also the fulfillment of the Mission Agenda in ch 1.8.
2/ vv 47-48 / These Gentiles were baptized in the Name of Jesus in whom they had believed – and with that, they were received into the ‘one body’ that Christ had created by His redemption [see Galatians 3.26-29]. As Peter says here and again later when he was questioned by His ‘circumcision party’ Jewish brethren in Jerusalem, “If then God gave the same gift to them as He gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
~Dave Parks 