Cornelius’ Servants Arrive

We noted in our last study that Peter’s vision commanding him to eat animals that are unclean in the law of Moses (Acts 10:9–16) was part of God’s announcement that a change was taking place in the redeemed community. No longer would the church be made up primarily of ethnic Jews as it was under the old covenant. Instead, the church under the new covenant would also include scores of gentiles as full members of the people of God. We rely mainly on Peter’s interpretation of his vision in Acts 10:34–48 to draw this conclusion definitively, but even before Peter understood what the Lord was saying, God was preparing him to comprehend the vision. For instance, the Lord’s making foods clean that were formerly unclean to the Jews means that God could also make gentiles clean even though they had been considered unclean because they were outside God’s covenant people. Many early church fathers saw significance in the fact that the sheet of animals that Peter saw had four corners. Several of them said that the four corners are related to the notion of “the four corners of the world” and thus that the sheet indicated that people from the whole world would come into the church. This is a sensible conclusion, for Christ did command us to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18–20).

As noted, Peter did not understand his vision initially. While he was pondering what he had seen, perplexed by it, the men from Cornelius arrived at the house of Simon the tanner, where Peter was staying (Acts 10:17; see 9:43). As the men inquired after the Apostle, the Holy Spirit told Peter that He had sent the men and that he was to receive Cornelius’ servants and then go with them (10:18–20). Meeting Peter, the men from Cornelius said that an angel had sent them to the Apostle. Their reference to Cornelius’ being “well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation” (v. 22) indicates that Cornelius was well known among the Jews. It is possible, then, that Peter had heard of Cornelius before. No doubt the reference to Cornelius’ upright and God-fearing character also helped Peter welcome the men, and he likely would have begun to understand that his vision and the visit of Cornelius’ men were connected.

Apparently, it was too late in the day to travel back to Caesarea, so Peter invited Cornelius’ servants to stay the night (v. 23a). Peter, a devout Jew, could host those gentiles because Jesus brings Jews and gentiles together into fellowship.