Daily Thoughts from Acts: Impartial God (Acts 10:24-43)

And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”

And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 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.”

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 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. 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 to 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. 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. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”  (Acts 10:24-43 ESV)

It is no doubt hard for us to imagine what Cornelius was feeling when Peter came to his home, a Jew who had formerly considered him unclean and yet whose faith in Yahweh he had embraced.  He was a second-class believer in the eyes of the Jews, but he loved the nation and the faith and had given of his means to support it.  But now, Peter has come as a result of an angelic appearance to Cornelius and he has so built up its significance in his mind that he bows and worships Peter, who then rightly corrects him.  And Peter goes further and declares that Cornelius is not considered common or unclean by God and therefore cannot be considered so by Peter.  Oh glorious day!

Peter’s eyes have been opened to the truth that God wants to save people from every nation, not just Israel.  As he preaches the gospel to Cornelius and his household he can leave a lot unexplained because they know about Jesus, have seen and heard what happened as Jesus preached in Galilee and Judea in the power of the Spirit.  He does not relate how Jesus grants forgiveness, that is, on the basis of his sacrificial death, but does affirm that total forgiveness is a gift to all who receive it by faith.  He relates that Jesus is appointed as judge of all as the resurrected Messiah, and yet that judgment will be favorable on Cornelius and his family and friends should they receive Jesus’ forgiveness.

The time and even repetition devoted to the recounting of this event shows how important Luke considered it in the plan of God for the church.  The inclusion of the Gentiles in the church was even more extraordinary than the inclusion of the Samaritans.  We may struggle a bit with the way Peter expresses this reality when he says, “God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”  Fearing God is a typical Jewish way to express trusting in God, believing His promise, and clinging to Him as the only true God.  Doing what is right is what naturally follows in the lives of those who so believe or fear God.  Cornelius had responded in faith to the way of salvation as it had been revealed until then, and his good works were a result. 

The gospel says that we are saved by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8,9) and not by our works of righteousness, but that the faith that saves is never alone, but is accompanied by good works (Ephesians 2:10).  This is also why the test of true belief is often expressed in the New Testament in terms of moving away from habitual sin to obedience and love (1 John).  As Jesus taught us, you will know a tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:15-20).