God Salvation is Opened To All - Part One (Acts Chapter 10: 1-23)

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Today, we look at Acts 10:1-23, a pivotal chapter in the New Testament that shatters centuries-old barriers and opens the floodgates of grace to the entire world.

In this episode, we witness Cornelius, a Roman centurion who is devout and God-fearing, receive a vision from God instructing him to seek out Peter. Simultaneously, Peter, a devoted Jew, has a vision that challenges his deeply held beliefs about purity and the Gentile world. When these two men meet, it is more than a clash of cultures; it’s a divine appointment that redefines the scope of God's kingdom. Peter proclaims the gospel, and the Holy Spirit falls upon Cornelius and his household, erasing all distinctions between Jew and Gentile.

Study Notes

Overview:

1. Introduction to Cornelius:
   • Cornelius is a centurion in the Italian Regiment, living in Caesarea, a Gentile city. Despite being a Gentile, he is described as devout and God-fearing, known for his generosity and regular prayers.
   • Cornelius receives a vision from an angel of God instructing him to send for Peter, who is staying in Joppa.
2. Cornelius Calls for Peter:
   • Cornelius obeys the vision and sends two of his servants and a devout soldier to Joppa to find Peter.
3. Peter's Vision:
   • As Cornelius's men are on their way to Joppa, Peter has a vision of a sheet descending from heaven, filled with all kinds of animals, both clean and unclean according to Jewish dietary laws.
   • A voice tells Peter to kill and eat the animals, but Peter objects, having never eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice responds, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." This happens three times, emphasizing the importance of the message.  Peter is left wondering about the vision's meaning when Cornelius's men arrive.
4. Peter's Obedience:
   • The Holy Spirit instructs Peter to go with the men without hesitation. Peter meets them and learns about Cornelius's vision.

Key Themes:

• God's Impartial Love: The visions given to Cornelius and Peter illustrate that God's love and salvation are available to all people, regardless of their cultural or religious background.
• Breaking Barriers: Peter's vision challenges the deeply entrenched Jewish beliefs about purity and the separation from Gentiles. God is making it clear that the old divisions are no longer valid in the new covenant.

Application:

• Inclusiveness of the Gospel: We are reminded that the gospel is for everyone, and we should not let cultural or societal barriers prevent us from sharing God's love.
• Obedience to God's Call: Both Cornelius and Peter show obedience to God's direction, even when it challenges their understanding. We, too, should be open to God's leading, even when it takes us out of our comfort zones.
• Seeking God: Cornelius is an example of a true seeker of God, illustrating that God will make Himself known to those who earnestly seek Him.

For further reflection, download our study notes and questions from our website or the Patreon Page.

Transcript

God Salvation is Opened To All - Part One. 

(Acts 10: 1-23) 

Transcript: 

Today we arrive at a moment that shatters centuries-old barriers and opens the floodgates of grace to the entire world. Today in Acts chapter 10, we encounter such a transformative event.

Cornelius, a Roman centurion, devout and God-fearing, receives a vision from God telling him to seek out Peter. At the same time, Peter, a devoted Jew, experiences a vision that challenges his deeply held beliefs about purity and the Gentile world. 

When these two men meet, it’s more than a clash of cultures; it’s a divine appointment that redefines the scope of God's kingdom. Peter proclaims the gospel, and the Holy Spirit falls upon Cornelius and his household, erasing all distinctions between Jew and Gentile. 

This groundbreaking chapter teaches us about God's impartial love and the inclusiveness of His salvation. 

In todays episode we look into Acts 10, and explore how this pivotal moment in church history continues to challenge and inspire us to embrace God's boundless love for all people.

Welcome….

The long story today but what's going on here is relatively simple. I'm not going to explain all of the verses—they’re self-explanatory—but I would like to outline it and simply convey to you what's going on because what happens here is important.

One way to do that is to suggest that this is really a drama that could be divided into a three-act play. So, let me use that analogy and suggest that we first are introduced to the main character. His name is Cornelius, and we're told in the opening verses that he was in a city called Caesarea.

Cornelius Calls for Peter

10 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

(Acts 10: 1-8)

Now, Caesarea was in Palestine, which was a Jewish nation, but Caesarea was a Gentile city. In fact, it was the residence of the Roman governor of all of Palestine. So, we’re told upfront that this has to do with Cornelius, who was a resident of this Gentile city. 

But let's focus on Cornelius for a moment. He is clearly a Gentile. We're told that he was a Roman officer in the army, a centurion, which means he was over 100 men. But we're also told that he was a devout man, one that feared God with his household, and who gave alms generously to the people. 

So, here is a deeply religious man and apparently, he was something of a convert to Judaism.

Now, let me explain. Jews were born Jewish, but they did allow Gentiles to join, provided they became Jewish in a religious sense. There were two ways you could do that. One is you could become a proselyte. If you became a proselyte, you had to be circumcised and commit to obeying all of the laws of Moses. 

Then there was another level called the  ‘God-fearer’. You weren't exactly a proselyte, but you embraced Judaism, accepted the creed that there's only one God, and observed some of the customs of the Jews. At that level, you were allowed to attend the synagogue. 

Based on what is stated here it seems Cornelius had embraced Judaism at least as far as being a God-fearer, which is a technical term. But he was clearly still a Gentile.

One conclusion that you can come to is this. Here is a man who is seeking after God. Look at verse 2: he was a devout man who feared God with all of his house, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. Now, those words could describe anybody who was religious in any religion. 

But as we see in the rest of the story, it becomes evident that here is a man who is genuinely seeking to know the one true living God. There is a term that's used in a lot of churches there days and that is the word seeker. 

The idea is simply that you are seeking. Not everybody is seeking, but some people are not just curious—they really want to know. And that, I think, describes Cornelius.

Later in this book, which we'll get to eventually, Paul says in Acts 17 that some are groping after God. I think that phrase describes Cornelius. Here is a man who is practicing religious things, but he doesn't know God. He doesn't know his sins are forgiven, as we will see later, and so he wants to know that. From all that is within him, he is groping after God.

So, we're told that he’s praying about 3:00 in the afternoon, and all of a sudden, he gets a vision. That would be a startling thing—that didn’t happen every day. This angel appears before him and tells him to go send for a fellow named Peter. Cornelius is just a little bit shocked.

Cornelius has been praying, perhaps wondering who’s listening. Then suddenly, God sends him an angel and says, "Got the message. Now go send for Peter, and he will tell you what you must do."

The next part is a little odd. An angel appears to Cornelius. God sends him an angel, and instead of the angel telling him what to do, the angel says, "Go get Peter." God uses people, not angels, to deliver His message. So, Cornelius dispatches a few people to Joppa, which was about 30 miles away. We are first introduced to the man Cornelius, and simply put, he’s a seeker.

Let me pause here and introduce the second character in this play. That would be Simon Peter. He’s down in Joppa, 30 miles away. The text tells us that about noon, he goes up on the top of the house to pray. 

We might wonder why he’d go on the top of the house to pray, but they had flat roofs back then. They often went up there to relax, to have recreation. Peter is on the top of the house, and the text tells us that he was hungry. It was lunchtime, and Peter is getting hungry. They tell him lunch isn’t ready yet, so he’s up on the rooftop, and all of a sudden, he falls into a trance.

This story illustrates an answer to a very difficult question, a common objection to Christianity: "What about those people who have never heard about the name of Jesus?" The Bible teaches that if somebody really wants to know God, God will see to it that they find out what they must do to really know Him. Cornelius is an illustration of that. Here is a man who really wants to know the Lord, and so God sends him an angel and tells him where he can get the information.

There are many stories of people all over the world who have said, "I really want to know. I don't want to just be religious; I want to know the true God." God has done all kinds of interesting things to get them the information they need. That’s what happened to Cornelius.

In the next part of the story, or Act 2, we are introduced to the other character, Simon Peter. He’s in Joppa, and about noon, he goes up on the rooftop to pray. He’s hungry, and while they’re preparing lunch, he falls into a trance. 

Peter’s Vision

9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three[a] men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”

22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

In his vision, Peter sees a sheet coming down from heaven with all kinds of wild animals, birds, and creeping things. What in the world is that all about? You need a little background to understand this. In the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament, as we call it, God told Moses that there were certain things Jewish people couldn't eat. For example, they were not to eat pork—that was one of their main rules.

Now, this sheet that came down included what a Jew would call clean and unclean animals. This means some of these things they could eat and some they could not. In this trance, the vision says, as if to say, "I want you to eat anything that's in this sheet." Peter objects and says, "I have never done anything like that in my life!" Look at verse 14: "Peter said, 'Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.'" No way am I going to do that now!

This is more than just about food; it really has to do with people. Because of these dietary laws, Jews would not eat with Gentiles, as they would have to violate those dietary laws. 

Over the years, this separation got worse and worse, until the Jews further and further separated from the Gentiles. We don't have anything quite like that going on today, but that was the reality in the first century. It would be like asking Jews and Arabs to sit down and eat together. It was that significant. In fact, in those days, the Jews said if a Gentile woman is having a baby and needs help, don’t help her because you’d bring another Gentile into the world.

Peter said, "I'm not going to eat unclean food," and the implication is, "I'm having nothing to do with this." 

That’s really what’s going on. What he's being told is that he needs to start accepting people he hasn't accepted before. He needs to accept Gentiles. 

Let me ask you a question: If you got a message like that straight from heaven, don’t you think you would get it? I mean, is that dramatic or not? But Peter didn’t get it. Look at verse 15: "The voice spoke to him again a second time." He didn’t get it. And in verse 16, "This was done three times." This idea was so ingrained in him that he just didn’t get it. He had to be told three times, "Take and eat."

Now, I think we shouldn’t be too hard on Peter. Have you ever found something in the Scripture,. Has God ever told you something in His book and you said, "Well, I'm just not... you know," and you had to hear it three times? Don’t raise your hand, but we've all been there, right? So, let's not be too hard on Peter. Remember, this is what he’s been like all his life.

So, here we have Act One: the main character Cornelius, who wants to know who the true God is. Here we have Act Two: Peter, who wouldn’t have anything to do with Gentiles, and God says to him, "I don’t want you to consider anybody different, clean or unclean. I want you to accept everybody on the same basis." This is revolutionary socially.