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Acts 10:1–8
“At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God” (vv. 1–2).
Today we return to the book of Acts and pick up our study in chapter 10. This chapter features Luke’s account of the conversion of the gentile Cornelius, one of the most significant events in the early church. Although we have already read about the conversion of one gentile—the Ethiopian eunuch (8:26–40)—that conversion did not occur under the ministry of an Apostle, and Luke does not say much more about the encounter than that the eunuch believed and was baptized in water. As we will see in our study of Acts 10, however, Cornelius’ conversion happened under the preaching of Peter, and the Holy Spirit made Himself known plainly in the episode. These factors confirmed that God was indeed going to bring the gentile nations into His church.
Luke tells us that Cornelius lived in Caesarea, an important town that featured a large Roman military presence because the Roman prefect or governor lived there. Cornelius was a centurion, an army official in charge of about one hundred soldiers, and his unit was part of a larger battalion known as the “Italian Cohort” (10:1). That God would convert him to Jesus without telling him to leave the army implies that military service can be compatible with Christian faith.
In any case, we see more significantly that Cornelius was “a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God” (v. 2). This allows us to conclude that Cornelius belonged to a class of individuals known as “God-fearers”—gentiles who believed in the God of Israel and adopted the ethics of the Jews but who did not take on the full yoke of the Mosaic law with all its ceremonial requirements. The way that Luke describes Cornelius makes it likely that he did not go up to the temple with any regularity, unlike the Ethiopian eunuch, who was also a God-fearer.
Yet remaining only a God-fearer was insufficient now that Jesus had come. Cornelius was truly seeking the Lord, but his faith was not yet completed in and through Jesus. So the Lord sent an angel to tell him to send men to the city of Joppa and request a visit from Simon Peter (vv. 3–8). God by His Holy Spirit had already drawn Cornelius close to His kingdom, for no one seeks God apart from the Spirit’s effectual work (John 3:1–8), and He was about to make the centurion a full citizen of the kingdom through the gospel.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
God tells us that those who truly seek Him will find Him, but of course we know that a person can truly seek Him only if the Holy Spirit is drawing him to Christ. The Lord is sovereign in salvation, so we should pray that He will draw our friends and family to Himself and enable them to find Him.
For further study
- Psalm 119:2
- Jeremiah 29:13
- John 6:44
- Romans 9:30–33
The bible in a year
- 1 Kings 4–5
- Luke 23:1–25