A test case was needed to show God’s will in this matter: Could Gentiles become Christians, and what was the path toward their becoming disciples? As it turned out, God used the Roman centurion Cornelius, his family and friends to break down the barrier to the Gentile world. The space Luke devotes to the conversion of Cornelius reveals how controversial it was in the church, and how important it is to the story of the spread of the gospel. Entire sections in chapters 10, 11 and 15 deal with the crisis precipitated by Cornelius’ conversion.

Three times in these chapters Luke discussed the conversion of Cornelius and its implication for the church. Luke narrated the original story of the event in 10:1-48. He again discussed it, along with the controversy it engendered, in 11:1-18. Then, for a third time, he recapitulated the implications of Cornelius’ conversion in 15:6-11.

The story of Cornelius, which ends with Peter’s speech to the assembly at Jerusalem, is the longest narrative in Acts... Judged solely on the basis of the amount of space Luke gives to the story, we know that we are dealing with a crucial concern of Acts, a pivot for the entire book, a turning point in the long drama of redemption. (William H. Willimon, Acts, page 95.

Caesarea was the setting for the conversion of Cornelius. It was an apt place for the calling of the first Gentiles to fellowship with Jewish Christians. The city was in the center of the coastal Plain of Sharon, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northwest of Jerusalem. Herod the Great had built a number of magnificent projects here, including an amphitheater, an aqueduct and a superb port. A garrison of soldiers protected the city, harbor and water facilities. The military guard included the Italian Regiment, of which Cornelius was a centurion.

During the New Testament period, Caesarea served as the Roman administrative capital of the province of Judea. As such, it was the residence of the Roman procurator (23:23-24). Josephus said the population was primarily Gentile (Wars 3:409). However, Caesarea also had a large minority of Jews. According to Josephus, the two groups feuded and brawled on a regular basis (Antiquities 20:173-178).

It was probably to the Jews of Caesarea that Philip had preached the gospel (8:40). Paul had also stopped there on his way to Tarsus (9:30), but there’s no indication that he evangelized the area. Now, Peter on his own missionary journey had gone as far as Joppa, 30 miles south of Caesarea.

Cornelius, the hero of the story, was identified as an army man, a centurion in the Italian Regiment or "cohort." A centurion was a noncommissioned officer. He had worked his way up through the ranks to take command of a group of soldiers within a Roman legion. A comparable rank in the American military would be captain, and in the British army, a company sergeant-major. When a cohort was at full strength, a centurion was in command of a hundred men. William Barclay gave the following description of Rome’s military units:

In the Roman military set-up there was first of all the legion. It was a force of six thousand men and therefore was roughly equal to a division. In every legion there were ten cohorts. A cohort therefore had six hundred men and comes near to being the equivalent of a battalion. The cohort was divided into centuries and over each century there was a centurion. The century is therefore roughly the equivalent of a company. (The Acts of the Apostles, revised edition, page 79)

The above would apply to regular legions of the Roman army. However, it is thought that there were no such legionary troops in Judea between A.D. 6 and 66. Roman governors in Judea would have commanded auxiliary forces, and its cohorts would have had somewhat smaller numbers. The Italian Cohort (Regiment) to which Cornelius belonged would then have been an auxiliary unit.

The historian Polybius described the qualifications of a centurion: "Centurions are required not to be bold and adventurous so much as good leaders, of stead and prudent mind, not prone to take the offensive or start fighting wantonly, but able when overwhelmed and hard-pressed to stand fast and die at their post" (History 6.24).

Cornelius may have been a descendant of one of the freedman of a man named Cornelius Sulla. In 82 B.C. he is said to have liberated ten thousand slaves. As was the common practice, the freed slaves would have taken their patron’s name.

As an aside, it’s interesting that centurions are generally pictured in a favorable light by Luke. The first Gentile with whom Jesus came into contact, so far as we know, was a centurion stationed in Capernaum. He was pictured as exhibiting extraordinary faith in Jesus (Luke 7:1-10). The centurion at Jesus’ crucifixion also recognized something special in him (Luke 23:47). Later, another centurion, Julius, will show kindness to Paul and spare his life (27:1, 3, 43).

Luke described Cornelius and his family as "devout and God-fearing" (10:2). The description of Cornelius as "a righteous and God-fearing man" best sums up his spiritual qualities (10:22). We might call him a "deeply religious man." He must have worshipped the God of Israel, perhaps attended the synagogue, and lived many of the standards of the Torah. Here was an individual who was a Gentile (10:28) but who was "respected by all the Jewish people" (10:22). He prayed at the designated hours of Jewish prayer (10:30), gave "gifts to the poor" (10:4) and was devout (10:2). But he was not a proselyte because he wasn’t circumcised (11:3).

Luke described the piety of Cornelius in traditional Jewish terms as one who engaged in prayer and almsgiving (Tobit 12:8-10). Specifically, he gave alms "to the people." Luke used the term "the people" to indicate the nation of Israel, or the Jews. This suggests that Cornelius aided Jews, as did the centurion of Luke 7:5.] "In sum, Cornelius was a noble and spiritually sensitive Roman army officer," says Richard N. Longenecker, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, page 385. And we may say of him with F. F. Bruce, "That he had every qualification, short of circumcision, which could satisfy Jewish requirements," The Book of Acts, revised edition, page 203.

While it’s not clear that the Jews had a technical designation such as "God-fearers" for people like Cornelius, it’s clear that there were many such Gentiles scattered throughout the Roman Empire. They along with full proselytes were found worshipping in synagogues in which Paul preached. They would ultimately constitute an important part of the church (13:14, 26, 48).

We notice too that his family, and even his military aide (10:8) were also said to be devout people. In that society, the entire household, including servants, would adopt the patriarch’s religion. Cornelius would have influenced them by his example. This fact, along with his reputation for good works (10:22), indicates that Cornelius was an older man who had been in Caesarea for some years. He may even have been a semi-retired army officer.

The fateful time of Cornelius’ calling was at hand. It began on a certain day about three o’clock in the afternoon, which was one of the statutory Jewish hours of prayer (3:1). Cornelius was praying at this time (10:30). He had a vision in which a messenger from God, an angel, said: "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God" (10:4).

The angel spoke in the language of sacrifice used in Jewish circles. The "memorial offering" mentioned here alluded back to the Old Testament flour offerings made from grain that were to be burned "as a memorial portion" (Leviticus 2:2). (The Greek word for "memorial" in Acts 10:4 was the same one the Greek Septuagint used in Leviticus 2:2.)

This offering would be burned on the altar and "an aroma pleasing to the Lord" would go up to God (Leviticus 2:2). Like the aroma of the sacrifice, the scent of Cornelius’ prayers and gifts had come "up" to God. God was signaling his pleasure with Cornelius, and he was now ready to reveal his salvation to him. In preparation for this, the angel told Cornelius to send men to Joppa to ask Peter to come to his home. Cornelius called two servants and a military aide, a devout man, and dispatched them to Joppa (11:7-8).

The scene in Luke’s drama switches to Peter, who was praying on the roof of Simon the Tanner’s house. The roof would have been a convenient place to get away from the activity in the house. The time was around noon, or the sixth hour, by the ancient method of reckoning. Noon was also one of the three appointed times for Jewish public prayer (Daniel 6:10; Psalm 55:17).

During the time of prayer Peter became hungry and asked someone in the house for something to eat. While the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance (10:11-12). Peter saw a large sheet held up by its four corners being let down to the ground. Inside the sheet he saw various four-footed animals, reptiles and birds. The three categories of living things Peter saw correspond roughly with the three divisions given in Genesis 6:20: animals, creatures that move along the ground and birds.

A voice told Peter to get up and eat. But Peter replied, "Surely not, Lord!...I have never eaten anything impure or unclean" (10:14). Peter’s strong negative — "Surely not, Lord!" recalls the prophet Ezekiel’s horror when he was told by the Lord to use human excrement as fuel for baking bread. He said: "Not so, Sovereign Lord!....No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth" (Ezekiel 4:14).

We saw earlier that Peter was not overly scrupulous in observing certain Jewish regulations. He stayed at the house of a leather worker, who would have come in contact with dead animal bodies. Perhaps he even worked with unclean animals (9:43). But Peter did apparently follow the Jewish dietary laws based on the Torah. He knew from Leviticus 11:47 that a Jew needed "to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten."

However, the sheet Peter saw contained "all kinds" of living things. Luke’s account implies it must have included both those fit to eat as well as the unclean. Perhaps Peter saw the living things he recognized as unclean touching the edible ones, thus tainting them. "While clean animals were represented in the sheet, Peter was scandalized by the unholy mixture of clean and unclean and by the fact that no distinctions were made in the command to ‘kill and eat,’" (Longenecker, page 387).

The Jews’ adherence to the dietary laws profoundly affected their relations with Gentiles. Food laws had the effect of keeping the two people separated from each other. A Jew visiting a Gentile couldn’t be sure he would be served a "clean" food, or that the food was prepared according to the requirements of the law, or whether it had been tainted by an idol. To eat with Gentiles was to risk defilement, and this was a strong inducement for Jews not to fellowship with them. Since food is at the center of social life, it was the thing that perhaps more than anything else created a barrier between Jews and Gentiles. And as an ideal, Jews had no dealings with Gentiles. Food regulations were a point of heated debate in the church (Romans 14:1-8, 17; Corinthians 8:1-13; Galatians 2:11-14).

It’s not surprising, then, that Peter was confused by the next statement of the voice in his vision. When he refused to eat, a voice said: "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean" (11:15). Luke says this happened three times, perhaps with the sheet being lowered each time, accompanied by a command to eat and not to call anything unclean which God had cleansed.

Peter was puzzled about the meaning of the vision, with its strange mixture of living things, and the odd commands from the voice (10:17). While Peter was mulling over what he had seen, the emissaries from Cornelius arrived at Simon’s home. They stopped at the gate, shouting to the occupants, asking whether Peter was staying there (9:17). This little scene with the Gentiles calling out from beyond the gate reflects exactly the situation the vision was meant to correct.

Devout non-Jews such as those who had come from Cornelius probably understood that Jews wanted no close association with Gentiles. Thus, it would have been quite rude for them to come to the door of a Jew’s home, with the desire of being allowed inside.

But at the exact moment of the exchange at the gate, the Holy Spirit said to Peter: "Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them" (10:20). The fact of the Spirit having to encourage Peter not to be hesitant reveals his reluctance to associate directly with Gentiles.

By now, however, Peter began to suspect that God was making some purpose known to him, so he invited the men into the house as his guests (10:23). (No doubt, this occurred with the tanner’s permission, since Peter himself was a guest.) The men explained they were here at the request of Cornelius, emphasizing that he was "a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people" (10:22). More than this, they said Cornelius had not decided on his own to contact Peter, but an angel from God told him to do so.

Peter must now have been doubly impressed that something of importance — something inspired by the Holy Spirit — was happening with the Gentile Cornelius. He now wholeheartedly agreed to go with the men. The next day Peter started out for Caesarea, which was 30 miles away. He took some of the disciples living in Joppa with him. We learn later that the contingent consisted of six people (11:12). They were identified as "circumcised believers," which is to say they were Jewish Christians who scrupulously followed the traditions of the Torah (10:45). In retrospect, this proved a wise move, as Peter would later be severely criticized by the Jerusalem church for meeting with Cornelius (11:3). The six would be important witnesses to the operation of the Holy Spirit in this momentous event.

Meanwhile, Cornelius had called together his relatives and close friends (10:24). Luke had earlier described his household as "devout and God-fearing" (10:2). Later, all of Cornelius’ family would share in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and be baptized (10:44, 48).

Peter arrived at the residence of Cornelius, and "entered the house" (10:25). Within this little phrase the passing of a momentous milestone lies hidden. Peter, in contradiction to all that Judaism stood for, entered the house of a Gentile. The church would never be the same again. Cornelius met Peter and fell at his feet in reverence (10:25). It’s understandable why he reacted this way. Having an angel specifically tell him to send for Peter may have made him think there was something holy or supernatural about the apostle.

Also, perhaps something of Cornelius’ former superstitious background was manifesting itself, in which humans were sometimes thought to be gods. Paul and Barnabas were similarly thought of and worshipped by the pagan Gentiles of Lystra (14:15). Peter, of course, would have none of this, and made Cornelius rise to his feet. Then he set the record straight about who he was. Luke’s simple phrase from Peter’s words said it all: "I am only a man myself" (10:26).

Peter went inside the house and began to explain to the group why he, a Jew, would be here in the home of a Gentile. He admitted that it was against the Jewish law for Jews to associate with or even visit Gentiles (10:28). We should point out that the "no contact rule" was probably the ideal Jewish position. There were, for example, provisions in Jewish law that allowed business partnerships with Gentiles. But any such contacts, of either a business or social nature, made a Jew ceremonially unclean.

Various Jewish religious groups debated the degree of separation a Jew need to maintain vis á vis Gentiles in order to remain loyal to the regulations of the Torah. Some groups, such as the Essenes, seemed to maintain an almost complete separation. The Pharisees would have been more moderate in such matters, and the common folk the least observant. Peter was probably on the more liberal end of the spectrum regarding the wall of separation. Yet, he had been having great difficulty understanding the new direction the church was taking (even with the leading of the Holy Spirit).

Though Peter was not by training or inclination an overly scrupulous Jew, and though as a Christian his inherited prejudices were gradually wearing thin, he was not prepared to go so far as to minister directly to Gentiles. A special revelation was necessary for that, and Luke now tells how God took the initiative in overcoming Peter’s reluctance. (Longenecker, page 387)

By now Peter was quite clear about what God was trying to teach him. He told the people assembled in Cornelius’ home: "God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean" 10:28).

After Peter explained to his audience why he was in the house of a Gentile, he said to Cornelius: "May I ask why you sent for me?" (10:29). Cornelius then described the details of the vision he had received. He explained that an angel ("a man in shining clothes") told him he had been chosen to receive God’s grace (10:31). Cornelius then described how he had been commanded by the angel to send for Peter.

Cornelius appreciated Peter having come to see him, a Gentile. The whole group was now ready to hear him. Cornelius said, "We are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us" (10:33).

In the second retelling of the Cornelius event, Luke made it clear that Cornelius already knew why Peter was coming to see him. The angel had told Cornelius that Peter "will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved" (11:14). Cornelius, then, was expecting the gospel of salvation to be preached to him.

Peter began to speak to the group about the importance of Jesus’ work in repentance and conversion. This speech was similar in content to the first one he gave on Pentecost (2:14-40). As with all the sermons and speeches in Acts, we are here reading only a summary of what Peter said. No doubt it originally contained examples that elucidated his main points. For example, Peter may have given illustrations of Jesus’ healing and power, similar to those found in the Gospels.

The speech followed a familiar pattern, which we now expect from Luke’s summaries. In this case, Peter began by describing John the Baptist’s mission, and then the work of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. The speech then moved into a discussion of the crucifixion and resurrection. Peter said the apostles were witnesses to these facts, and had been commanded to preach the gospel of peace. He also talked about the judgment to come, but especially that "everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (10:43).

This speech probably represented a summary of the standard apostolic preaching to Jews and Gentiles attending synagogues who would be familiar with the Old Testament message. The synoptic Gospels themselves follow this general pattern in presenting their material on Jesus’ ministry. (Acts gives us only two examples of the form of apostolic preaching to purely pagan audiences. One was at Lystra (14:14-18) and the other at Athens (17:23-31) In such cases, the speaker needed to explain who the one true God was before moving on to his purpose in Jesus Christ.)

As devout people, Cornelius and the others would have been familiar with the Jewish scriptures, and the hope of a Messiah and the kingdom of God. As well, they may have heard at least something of Jesus’ life and work from having lived in Judea during his ministry. Peter admitted that they did know something of "the message God sent to the people of Israel" and "the good news of peace through Jesus Christ" (10:36-37). To some degree, then, Cornelius and his family were prepared for what Peter was telling them.

Peter began his speech with the point that there are no impure or unclean people in God’s eyes in terms of their receiving salvation. God "accepts men [and women, of course] from every nation who fear him and do what is right" (10:35). Peter himself was being educated on this point, as well as his audience. He was summarizing his own experience of God during the past few days, since seeing the vision of the sheets.

Peter’s words — "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism" (11:34) — registered his own surprise at the new understanding he had just received, and which he could now pass on to others. The light was dawning in Peter’s mind that people were not acceptable to God simply because they were members of a particular nation, a nation that sought to express its uniqueness in protective cultic observances. God accepted people of all nations "who fear him and do what is right" (19:35), that is in simple terms, have faith in him.

God’s choice of a people who would experience his saving grace — whether the nation of Israel or individuals for salvation — rested on his unmerited act of grace. This included receiving the Holy Spirit now and eternal life in the future. However, such grace, if it was accepted, called forth a response of obedient service and faith toward God. That is, the people of God would respect him and "do what is right."

The prophets had made clear that grace would one day be extended to all nations. For example, Isaiah spoke of a time when God would call Egyptians and Assyrians (two dreaded enemies of ancient Israel) as his people, along with the Israelites (19:25).

But somehow God’s purpose became lost to the struggling Jews who returned to Palestine in the 6th century B.C. after their nation had been defeated in war (by the Babylonians) and sent into captivity. Upon their return the Jews felt the need to protect their identity as Torah torchbearers against idol-worshipping Gentile paganism. Thus, the notion developed that Gentiles could become part of the people of God (whether nation or church) only if they first became pious, God-fearing Jews.

But now a new thing was happening. It was, said Peter, the promulgation of the "good news of peace" through Jesus Christ" (10:36) — and it was being sent to Gentiles directly.

The apostle Paul would explain this peace as a two-fold endeavor. God’s purpose was to "create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace" (Ephesians 2:15). The true gospel of salvation was meant to break down the enmity and differences between Jews and Gentiles, creating a single new people of the Spirit. Thus, spiritually speaking, there was no such thing as a "Jew" and a "Gentile." They were all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28).

Jesus’ gospel of peace was meant "to reconcile both of them to God through the cross" (Ephesians 2:16). Thus, Jesus’ work established peace between humans and God. As Paul explained it, Jesus "came and preached peace to you who were far away [Gentiles] and peace to those who were near [Jews]" (verse 17).

Of course, Cornelius and his family had not fully understood what the good news of peace meant to them specifically, as Gentiles. Peter was here to relate the meaning of the gospel to their lives — that they could share in the promise of salvation.

Though Peter assumes that his hearers already know something about this ministry through living in Palestine, he proceeds to summarize it in greater detail than anywhere else in his recorded preaching. In scope and emphasis, the account is much like the portrayal of Jesus’ ministry in Mark’s gospel. (Longenecker, page 393)

Since Peter had been one of the witnesses of everything Jesus did in Jerusalem, Judea and Galilee (10:39), his hearers could have confidence in what he said. The task of witnessing included giving the meaning of Jesus’ work during his ministry (10:39) and explaining the significance of his death and resurrection (10:41). Peter began his accounting of Jesus’ ministry by first referring to the work of John the Baptist. Luke consistently made John’s work of baptism as the turning point in God’s purpose with humanity, and the beginning point of Jesus’ ministry (Luke 3:3; 16:16; Acts 1:22).

Peter characterized that ministry in terms of Jesus doing good and healing all those who were under the power of the devil (10:38). The work of the Holy Spirit is central to Acts, and Luke here showed that the liberating works of Jesus were possible because God had anointed him with the power of the Spirit (10:38). Peter went on to explain that the glorified Jesus had been given the authority to judge both the living and the dead. However, he didn’t emphasize condemnation. Rather, as Hebrews tells us, Peter spoke of Jesus as the "author" of salvation and as a merciful and faithful high priest who made "atonement for the sins of the people" (Hebrews 2:10, 17).

Peter must have then cited texts from the Old Testament as evidence, because he insisted that "all the prophets testify about him" (10:43). And what they testify explains in what way Jesus is the judge of both living and dead: "That everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (10:43).

As Peter was making this point, an extraordinary happening interrupted his talk. All those who were listening to his message suddenly received the Holy Spirit (10:44). (In Peter’s later summary of what happened at this moment, he said the interruption occurred, "As I began to speak..." (11:15). But it’s obvious that when Peter had made the point that Jesus is the one who forgives sins, he had said all that was necessary.)

When the group heard Peter talking about faith in Christ, they must have believed what they heard. They had faith — accepting their need for Jesus as Savior — and had repented. This belief and trust in Jesus — accepting him as Lord and Savior — demonstrated their repentance and conversion. Their prior good works, on the other hand, did not make repentance possible. (In fact, repentance is made possible or granted by God only through the Holy Spirit.)

As mentioned earlier, Cornelius and his family (and presumably the others present) had been devout and God-fearing folks for some time. They were praying people, and ones who did good to others.

But they were not converted. They had not yet "repented" in a very important sense. They were not saved because they had not received the Holy Spirit, which is the "sign" of those who are God’s people. When they responded positively to the news that Jesus Christ was their Savior and the hope of the world, they received the Holy Spirit. Now, it could truly be said that they repented and were converted. But repentance came and the Holy Spirit was granted only when Cornelius and the others were confronted with making a choice about Jesus Christ. That’s the fascinating "rest of the story" of conversion.

How did Peter and the others know that Cornelius’ group had received the Holy Spirit? It was evident by a miraculous sign — "they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God" (10:46). In fact, the Spirit had come on these people in more or less the same way as he had upon the Jewish converts at Pentecost. For this reason, this event has been called "the Pentecost of the Gentile world."

There could be no mistaking the momentous nature of this event. "Just as the first Jewish believers had received the Spirit and praised God in other tongues on the day of Pentecost, so now these Gentiles received the identical gift of God" (I. Howard Marshall, Acts, page 194).

The Holy Spirit is given only to those who believe in Jesus (Acts 11:17; Galatians 3:2). It was therefore an irrefutable sign that God had accepted these Gentiles. Cornelius and the others had responded to Peter’s message in faith and God had accepted them, sealing them as his people with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The six Jewish believers were astonished at this turn of events — "that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles" (10:45). But there was no refuting what had so obviously occurred. The Jewish Christians knew the Spirit had been given to the group because they "heard them speaking in tongues and praising God" (10:46). The gift of tongues at Pentecost was clearly to be understood as the speaking in distinguishable languages. Here it is not so clear what was in view.

If the group was speaking in known languages, which ones were they speaking in? Perhaps what was being described here were ecstatic utterances of a sort that would be understood as praise to God. This may have been, at least in part, the "tongues" that Paul described in his letter (1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 28; 13:1; 14:1-28). In any case, these miraculous tongues and praises were given for the sake of the Jewish believers who had come with Peter. They would later verify Peter’s contention before a board of Jerusalem believers that God had accepted Gentiles into the church.

Cornelius and the others had repented and received the Spirit, but they had not yet been baptized. Acts 2:38 had shown the close connection between the three. (However, we should note that the laying on of hands was not mentioned there, nor is it here in this account.) Baptism is only a rite that symbolizes an individual’s having been cleansed of sin and "resurrected" to newness of life. It can also function as a sign to the believer that he or she has been received into the community of believers.

We should be careful about thinking in terms of a formula as though one receives the Holy Spirit only after being baptized. This was obviously not the case here, as everyone had already received the Holy Spirit without having been baptized. However, baptism is an important ceremony to the individual’s converted life in the same way that a marriage ceremony is a vital beginning point of a marriage. (But the ceremony doesn’t make the marriage.) Although people are saved by faith, not baptism, the New Testament pattern is that all who have faith are also baptized in water.

With this in mind, when Peter saw that the group had already received the Holy Spirit, he said, "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water?" (10:47). He then ordered that they should be baptized in Jesus’ name, in effect saying he (and the church) had accepted what God had already done.

We should state once again what the Cornelius event meant to the church. Gentiles could now be directly evangelized. They could now become disciples in every sense of the word without first having to become fully observant Jews. The Spirit baptized people, whether they were Jews or Gentiles, into one body, the Israel of God (1 Corinthians 12:13).

The Jewish believers seemed to understand this reality — that God had accepted the Gentiles as they were. This is indicated in the fact that no one seemed to suggest that Cornelius should be circumcised. However, the issue of circumcision for Gentile believers continued to plague the church for decades to come. As well, the question of whether Gentiles should live like Jews in such things as their eating habits would also continue to trouble the church.

In conclusion, we should summarize the critical importance of the conversion of Cornelius, his family and close friends. Conversion and repentance is not something we personally initiate. Neither is it the result of a church program to increase membership.

In Luke’s account we find that Cornelius did not initiate a request to be baptized. Neither did the church (Peter) of itself ask him if he was interested in fellowshiping with the body of believers, hoping for a later conversion. From start to finish, God was operating his salvation upon what must have been a somewhat bewildered Cornelius. William H. Willimon correctly says:

Cornelius is surprisingly passive in this story, as if he is someone who is being swept along, carried by events and reacting to actions quite beyond his power to initiate or control. This is the way it is with repentance. It is more than a decision we make (‘since I gave my life to Christ’; ‘since I took Jesus as my personal Savior’) or some good deed we offer to God; repentance is the joyful human response to God’s offer of himself to us. Acts, page 100.

In fact, all conversion accounts in Acts begin with God’s initiative through the Holy Spirit. God is always pictured as the one who begins and completes the process of repentance.

God is the chief actor in all Lukan accounts of conversion. Even the smallest details are attributed to the working of God. Conversion is not the result of skillful leadership by the community or even of persuasive preaching or biblical interpretation. In many accounts, such as those of Philip’s work with the Ethiopian, the mysterious hand of God directs everything. In other stories, such as the story of Peter and Cornelius, the church must be dragged kicking and screaming into the movements of God. Manipulation, strategic planning, calculating efforts by the community aimed at church growth are utterly absent. Even our much beloved modern notions of "free will" and personal choice and decision appear to play little role in conversion in Acts. Conversion is a surprising, unexpected act of divine grace. (Willimon, page 104)

Before we leave Cornelius, we should note that he leaves Luke’s account as abruptly as Ananias did. Johannes Munck observed that "the narrative about Cornelius seems, from an historical point of view, to be left hanging in midair as a detached fragment" (The Acts of the Apostles, page 107).

We would like to know more about Cornelius’ subsequent history. How did he live out his life as a Christian? Did he continue in the military? Did he get caught up in the church’s squabble over whether Gentiles should live like Jews, and what was his reaction? But Luke tells us nothing further about Cornelius, except that Peter stayed with him for some time (10:48). Then the apostle went to Jerusalem to answer his critics, and Cornelius became lost in the mist of history.

Luke had other interests than recounting the converted life of Cornelius. He wanted to tell the story that for the first time God had opened salvation to the Gentiles. Once he told the tale, Luke moved on to narrate other events that showed the growth of the church and the gospel being preached further afield.

To commentary on Acts 11

Paul Kroll, 2002