Cornelius and God’s Vision for All Nations — Acts 10:1-16 Daily Word

Today’s passage introduces us to Cornelius, a man living in Caesarea.

In contrast to Joppa — the setting of chapter 9, where most residents were Jewish — Caesarea is a coastal city whose population was predominantly Gentile. This was the city where Philip had preached the gospel (8:40) and where Saul had briefly passed through on his way back to his hometown (9:30). Caesarea was also a sizable city, home to an amphitheater, a hippodrome, and a temple dedicated to the Roman emperor.

Cornelius is stationed here as a centurion of the Italian Regiment. A Roman cohort consisted of roughly 600 soldiers, and a centurion commanded one of its sub-units of about 100 men.

Roman citizens were typically known by three names: the praenomen (personal name), the nomen (the name of the gens, or clan), and the cognomen (the family surname). “Cornelius,” therefore, refers not to a personal name but to the clan name — the nomen. The praenomen was the individual’s given name, the nomen identified the clan, and the cognomen distinguished the particular family line.

We are told that Cornelius was a devout man who feared God along with his entire household, gave generously to those in need, and prayed to God regularly. Like Tabitha, who had been raised back to life, he had not been circumcised or formally converted to Judaism, yet he attended the synagogue regularly, lived according to Jewish law, and revered God. The “people” to whom Cornelius gave generously typically refers to the Jewish people in this context.

# Cornelius received a vision at the ninth hour.

The ninth hour was one of the designated Jewish prayer times, corresponding to 3:00 in the afternoon.¹The third hour (9:00 a.m.), the sixth hour (noon), the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.), and at sunset. Prayer was ordinarily offered at the temple, but Cornelius prayed at home. In the vision, he clearly saw an angel of God, who called out to him by name: “Cornelius.” The angel then declared, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have ascended as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa and bring a man named Simon who is called Peter.”

God’s angel did not explain to Peter why he needed to be brought to Caesarea. Nevertheless, Cornelius immediately obeyed the word and sent two of his servants and one devout soldier to Joppa to bring Peter back. The next day, as those messengers were drawing near to Joppa, Peter went up to the rooftop to pray. It was the sixth hour — noon. The rooftop Peter climbed was flat and free from the coming and going of people, making it an ideal place for prayer. While praying, Peter fell into a trance and saw a vision. Whereas Cornelius had seen a vision earlier, Peter experienced something more like a dream.

# In the vision, Peter saw heaven opened.

He saw something like a great sheet descending from heaven, let down by its four corners to the earth. Inside it were “all kinds of four-footed animals and creeping things of the earth and birds of the air.” ²Gen 1:24 (livestock, creeping things, and beasts of the earth) and Gen 6:20 (birds, livestock, and every creeping thing on the ground) From a Jewish perspective, this was a state in which the clean and the unclean were not distinguished from one another (Lev 11:1–47). Yet in this situation, a voice said, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” (v. 13)

Peter immediately refused, saying, [14] But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” (Acts 10:14, ESV) Although he could have eaten only the clean animals among them, Peter refused because he considered the clean animals defiled by their association with the unclean ones.

Then a second voice came to him in the vision: “What God has made clean, do not call common.” (v. 15) The record states that this happened three times, after which the sheet was taken up again into heaven (v. 16). Because Jewish people had long regarded Gentiles as unclean, they naturally considered any food that Gentiles prepared apart from the Law to be unclean as well.

# God desires all people to be saved. (1 Tim 2:4)

The gospel is, in truth, the power of God that transcends nations, ethnicities, and cultures. Therefore, all of our judgments and standards must be grounded not in ourselves, but in God. Let us remember that God’s gospel can only be made complete when His will stands firm within us — and with that, I invite us to pray together, asking the Lord that we may be a people who live within His will.