Cornelius 1 - Acts 10:1-23

After raising Tabitha from the dead in Joppa, Peter stays there for a while in the house of Simon the tanner. In the nearby city “there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always.” I had a lot of questions about this guy, namely, if he was a Roman soldier, then which God was he devoted to? In the article “Who was Cornelius in the Bible?” on gotquestions.org, we learn just how that works, “despite being a Roman, Cornelius was a worshipper of God, a Jewish proselyte known and respected by the Jewish community. Cornelius was a devout man who regularly prayed and gave to charity.”

As a higher ranking Roman soldier, Cornelius probably had some stability in his station which meant that he probably spent a lot of time in the Jewish community, he would have learned about the God of Israel, and it resonated with him. I was still confused about what it meant for Cornelius to be a devout man who feared God, did that mean that he converted to Judaism? In another article discussing Acts chapter 10, on enduringword.com, we read, “Cornelius was in the category of what the Jews called god-fearers (one who feared God). These were Gentiles who loved the God of Israel; they were sympathetic to and supportive of the Jewish faith. Yet they stopped short of becoming full Jews in lifestyle and in circumcision. Jewish people of that time respected and appreciated these God-fearing Gentiles, but they could not really share their life and homes and food with them, because they were still in fact Gentiles and not full Jewish converts.”
This made a lot more sense to me, Cornelius had embraced the God of Israel, but could not convert totally probably because of his conscription in the Roman army. Maybe he could have converted after he retired, but at that point in his career, it was a no go. Maybe he was in a sort of cross roads with his faith, because he had apparently been fasting and praying for four days asking God was he should do. God did answer his prayer by sending an angel who told him to “send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter… he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.” But who would he send? As a centurion commander, there were probably several capable men that would have ensured that Peter returned with them, but sending Roman soldiers on personal business would have been a poor (and possibly illegal) use of resources.
Cornelius decides to send “two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually.” Cornelius doesn’t misuse his resources, and clearly doesn’t plan on taking Peter by force. The two household servants wouldn’t have been connected to him through his official Roman position, so they would have done their master’s bidding anyway. But he also didn’t want to just send them into the desert by themselves; he probably wanted everyone that encountered them to know that they had the might of the Roman army as backup if they caused the little group any problems. Cornelius also sent a Roman soldier, but one that was a devout believer as well, so he would have probably been excited to go meet Peter, instead of sending a soldier who didn’t care and was only going to cause problems.
As the servants of Cornelius are preparing and setting out on their journey, the Lord is preparing Peter for their arrival. Why would Peter need to be prepared? There are a couple of different reasons why Jesus would want to give Peter a heads up before they arrived. The Lord had promised Cornelius that Peter would tell him what to do, and what is he going to do? We know from history that the gospel does in fact go to the gentiles, but there needs to be some reconciliation there in Peter’s mind. First was that up until this point, only Jews could join the Christian church.
We know that the Ethiopian was baptized, but that might have been done at the same time or after Peter was informed of the rule change, or it might have been because he was a eunuch, there was no concern. Of course, when it comes to men, their junk is the most important thing. All Jewish men were circumcised, therefore all converts to Judaism had to be circumcised as well, but because the Ethiopian was a eunuch, he might not have been able to get circumcised, therefore it might not have been a concern with other people. So the first concern would be “can we baptize gentiles without the becoming Jews first?” The second concern would be “why are there Roman soldiers coming for me?”
So how does the Lord prepare Peter to both receive the Romans and give counsel to Cornelius? He doesn’t send an angel down to command him, and he doesn’t just let it come to his mind by itself. God sends Peter a vision, and a very abstract one at that. While praying, Peter “became very hungry” and saw a vision “wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him against the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” This vision came to him three times, and he did not understand it’s meaning.
The animals that were shown to Peter were not kosher, which means that they Jews would not have eaten them, but God is commanding Peter to go ahead and eat them. So is this really about food? No, of course not, it is instruction to take the gospel to the whole world, including the gentiles, Peter just hasn’t figured out the message yet. I think it’s interesting that the Lord doesn’t just show one kind of “unclean” animal, but several. If he had just shown one single species of forbidden animal, then it could have been equated with only one certain group of people with the ability to receive the gospel. Having several different species of animals helps us and Peter understand that the gospel isn’t just being expanded to include Jews and one other specific people, but that even though the reasons and the customs might be different, the gospel is to go to all the world, no matter what they look, sound, or act like.
Peter sits and “thought on the vision” and the Spirit comes to him again and says, “Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.” This is very valuable information considering that if these three men just showed up asking for Peter, he probably would have freaked out and run away. But now that he knows that they are sent from God, he can be more comfortable following them. The men spend the night in Joppa with Peter and then all four of them, plus “certain brethren from Joppa” all left to go to Caesarea to meet with Cornelius.