Bible Study Lesson for Acts 10:1-8: Cornelius Calls for Peter

This chapter tells the story of the conversion of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and his friends and family. It can be broken up into three sections:

Verses 1-8: Cornelius has a vision of an angel telling him to send for Peter.
Verses 9-23: Peter has a vision of a sheet coming down from heaven.
Verses 24-48: Peter goes to Cornelius' home and leads the centurion and his friends & family to Christ.

In the last chapter we left Peter in Joppa. { Show Joppa on map from "Story of the Bible World", pg. 149.}

Read Acts 10:1. Caesarea is located 30 miles north of Joppa and was the headquarters for the Roman occupation of Palestine. We actually know quite a bit about Caesarea from historical excavations. We have an artist rendering of what the city and harbor might have looked like from the Feb. 1987 National Geographic. { Show picture from Feb. 1987 National Geographic, pgs. 262-263 } Creating the breakwater to protect the ships was a massive undertaking. { Show picture & read caption from Feb. 1987 National Geographic, 264-265 }

From my interactive Bible CD: "Cornelius. A Latin name made popular when Cornelius Sulla liberated some 10,000 slaves over 100 years earlier. These had all taken his family name, Cornelius. centurion. Commanded a military unit that normally numbered at least 100 men (see note on Lk 7:2). The Roman legion (about 6,000 men) was divided into ten regiments, each of which had a designation. This was the "Italian" (another was the "Imperial," or "Augustan," 27:1). A centurion commanded about a sixth of a regiment. Centurions were carefully selected; all of them mentioned in the NT appear to have had noble qualities (e.g., Lk 7:5). The Roman centurions provided necessary stability to the entire Roman system."

{ Show picture of legionary from "The Romans" by Macdonald, pg. 44 }

Read Acts 10:2. The term "God-fearing" here is used to represent a Gentile who is not a full Jewish convert, but believes in one God and is respectful of the moral and ethical teaching of the Jews. Cornelius clearly has a good reputation within his community and is known for helping others, as well as being a man of prayer. In spite of all of his good deeds, Cornelius still needed to hear the way of salvation from a human messenger. As we read on, we will see how God will arrange for Cornelius to meet that human messenger, Peter.

Read Acts 10:3. The time given here, about three in the afternoon, is another indication that Cornelius followed Jewish practices: three in the afternoon was a Jewish hour of prayer. The term "vision" here is somewhat misleading; this term is used to indicate a revelation given to an individual during prayer. In this case, an angel came to him and spoke his name.

Let's take a little rabbit trail and talk about what Cornelius might have seen when the angel appeared to him. Different people today have claimed to see angels, in different situations. One of my favorite books is "Angels on Assignment" by Ronald Buck. Pastor Buck gives a brief description of what the angels he claims to have seen looked like. { Read "Angels on Assignment" pg. 45. } In other passage he talks about how physically overwhelming being in their presence can be. { Read "Angels on Assignment" pg. 39 }

As we will see, it was perfectly natural for Cornelius to respond in fear when he sees the angel.

Read Acts 10:4. The words that the angel uses here also reinforces that Cornelius is familiar with Jewish practices. The angel tells him that his prayers and gifts to the poor have been like a "memorial offering." We can learn more about what this means in Leviticus 2:1-2. Cornelius' acts, therefore, were rising up to heaven, as it were, in "an aroma pleasing the Lord."

Read Acts 10:5-6. The angel gives Cornelius very specific instructions, telling him exactly who he should send for - Peter - and exactly where he is, in Joppa staying at the home of Simon the tanner. Notice that the angel's mission is not to tell Cornelius about Jesus, himself, but rather to bring Cornelius and Peter together so that Peter can tell the centurion about Christ. We have seen this pattern two times already, how God intervenes supernaturally to bring it about that human messengers bring the good news to specific people. The first time we saw this was in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Read Acts 8:26-27. The second time we saw this was in the story of the conversion of Saul and how God sends Ananias. Read Acts 9:10-12. We even have contemporary examples of this. { Read "Angels on Assignment" pg. 31 } I think this shows us, quite dramatically, that part of the angels' mission is to bring the non-believer to the believer and it is the believer's mission to tell the non-believer about Christ.

Read Acts 10:7-8. Cornelius doesn't waste any time, he immediately sends two servants and another soldier to find Peter. Notice that it says here that the soldier is "devout" which probably means that, he, too, is a "God-fearer." It makes sense that Cornelius would send someone who shared his faith on such a journey. I do not doubt if the angel had told Cornelius to go himself, he would have, but the angel specifically says to send men to bring Peter back to Caesarea. Joppa is about 30 miles south of Caesarea. It sounds like the men set out almost immediately. Assuming a 20 minute mile, it would probably take about 10 hours to reach Joppa on foot. (So one would expect to spend the night on the road.)

We now move to the second section of this chapter which describes Peter's vision.

To be continued...

Sources
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version
Editors. Reader's Digest Story of the Bible World
Editors. National Geographic, February 1987
Hunter, Charles and Frances (as told by Roland Buck). Angels on Assignment