Acts 10 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, the risen Jesus said to Peter by the lake in Galilee, “When he had said this, he said to him, ‘Follow me’” (John 21:19).
Later, on the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and spoke to the crowd (Acts 2:14). Through the early chapters of Acts, Peter preached in Jerusalem and Judea.
This lesson takes place in Joppa by the sea and in Caesarea. A Gentile centurion is praying; a Jew named Peter is praying on a rooftop. God speaks to each of them.
1Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,
2a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God.
3At about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
4He, fastening his eyes on him and being frightened, said, “What is it, Lord?” He said to him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before God.
5Now send men to Joppa, and get Simon, who is also called Peter.
6He is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the seaside.”
7When the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on him continually.
8Having explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
9Now on the next day as they were on their journey and got close to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about noon.
10He became hungry and desired to eat, but while they were preparing, he fell into a trance.
11He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth,
12in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky.
13A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!”
14But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
15A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.”
16This was done three times, and immediately the thing was received up into heaven.
While Peter was still puzzling over the vision, the men Cornelius had sent were already at the gate. The Spirit told Peter to go with them. The next day Peter came to Caesarea. Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him; Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.” Many people were gathered in the house. (vv. 17–27)
28He said to them, “You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean.”
Cornelius told of the vision he had seen, and said, “Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God to hear all things that have been commanded you by God.” (vv. 29–33)
34Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism;
35but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.”
Peter went on to speak about Jesus: how God anointed him, how he went about doing good, how he was killed by being hanged on a tree, and how God raised him up on the third day; everyone who believes in him receives remission of sins through his name. (vv. 36–43)
44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word.
45They of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles.
46For they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying God. Then Peter answered,
47“Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.”
48He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.
To read the whole chapter: Acts 10, 48 verses.
Two men praying. Cornelius was “a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment” (v. 1). The passage says he “feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God” (v. 2). The angel said to him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before God” (v. 4), and told him to send for Peter. The next day at noon, Peter was praying too (v. 9). God went first to a Gentile, and then to a Jew.
Not so, Lord. In the vision Peter saw all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds, and a voice said, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!” (v. 13). Peter answered, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean” (v. 14). He called him ‘Lord,’ and in the same breath said ‘not so.’ This was a Peter who had already followed Jesus and already preached at Pentecost, and there was still something he had not understood.
Three times. The voice said a second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean” (v. 15). “This was done three times, and immediately the thing was received up into heaven” (v. 16). The passage goes on to say that “Peter was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean” (v. 17). He did not understand right away.
I am also a man. When Peter came to Caesarea, Cornelius “fell down at his feet, and worshiped him” (v. 25). Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up! I myself am also a man” (v. 26).
God has shown me. Peter said to the people in the house, “You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation” (v. 28). That was how he had always thought. Then he went on: “but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean” (v. 28). What changed him was what God had shown him.
Truly I perceive. After hearing Cornelius, Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism” (v. 34); “but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him” (v. 35). To ‘perceive’ is to see now what you did not see before.
The Spirit falls. Peter had not finished speaking when “the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word” (v. 44). “They of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter” (v. 45). Peter said, “Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us” (v. 47). In this lesson it is God who moves first every time: he sends the angel first, gives the vision first, sends the Spirit first. Peter is the one who comes to understand afterward.
Seven lessons done. By the lake Peter said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord” (Luke 5:8). On the water, sinking, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” (Matt 14:30). He said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16). In the high priest’s courtyard he denied the Lord three times (Luke 22:54-62). By the lake he was questioned three times (John 21:15-17). In this lesson he is still saying, “Not so, Lord” (v. 14). From the first lesson to the last, the Peter that Scripture shows us is a man still being changed.
When Peter went back to Jerusalem, the matter did not end there. “When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision contended with him” (Acts 11:2), “saying, ‘You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!’” (Acts 11:3). Peter told them the whole story from the beginning. When they had heard, “they held their peace and glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!’” (Acts 11:18).
For the Jewish believers of that time, that Gentiles too could receive the Holy Spirit was something they had to learn anew. Peter was the first one God brought into it.
Perhaps you too have a ‘Not so, Lord’ in your heart: a kind of person you feel God would not really accept, or something you feel God would never ask you to do.
This lesson does not say that from then on Peter understood everything. What it shows you is a man who had already followed the Lord and already preached, still being changed by God — and what changed him was what God did first.
Seven lessons: Depart from Me, for I Am a Sinful Man · On the Water · You Are the Christ · The Washing of Feet · Before the Rooster Crows · Do You Love Me? · God Doesn’t Show Favoritism.
This week: Think of someone you would not usually go near. This week, speak to them first, or pray for them once.
Scripture: World English Bible.