Bible Study Lesson for Acts 10:24-48: Peter Goes to Cornelius' House

Read Acts 10:24. Here we see an example of how great Cornelius faith was. He has absolutely no doubt that the message he received from the angel was true and that his men would bring back this man called Peter. He is so sure, in fact, that he tells all his friends and relatives and has them come to his house because he wants them, too, to hear what Peter has to say.

Read Acts 10:25-27. It is possible that Cornelius fell to his feet simply to show that he saw Peter as of superior rank to him, since he was God's messenger. However Peter makes sure that there is no misunderstanding; he doesn't want to be worshipped and wants to make sure that every one understands that he is just a man.

Let's take a break and look at a picture of what Cornelius' house might have looked like. { Show picture of "a rich man's villa" from "The Romans" by Macdonald, 14-15. } This is an artist's rendering of a villa at excavated in Pompeii. We don't necessarily know if this was the kind of house he lived in, but it as a centurion he may have had the money for such a house, and we do have hints that he was wealthy, since he was generous to the poor. Also, he was able to have a large number of people in his home at one time to hear Peter speak. From this floor plan I would expect that the crowd would be in the atrium or main living room, as Peter came into the house.

Read Acts 10:28-29. Here Peter makes it clear that he understands God's vision. The fact that he was immediately given an opportunity to visit a Gentile's house would have made it clear to him that God was speaking primarily about people, not unclean food. Paul will spell this out very clearly in his letter to the Ephesians. Read Ephesians 2:11-22. Praise God! For otherwise all of us gathered hear to do this study would be excluded from God's grace! The barriers between Jew and Gentile have been destroyed.

I think Peter brings up the fact that he is a Jew in a Gentile's home to make a point to both the fellow Jews traveling with him and the group of Gentiles standing before him. I also think that he asks Cornelius to tell his story not because he doesn't already know it (I would expect the men Cornelius sent would have told him about the angel) but in order to make sure that his entire audience, both Jew and Gentile, here's it first hand, from the centurion himself.

Read Acts 10:30-33. Cornelius tells his story, and here we get a little more information: the angel that appeared had shining clothes. This should remind us of what we read in "Angels on Assignment" about how the angels usually had a glow about them from being in the presence of God.

A couple things jump out at me from verse 33, first off Cornelius is courteous in that he thanks Peter for coming all that way from Joppa. He understands that God is in control and that they are in God's presence, which may have been an unique concept for him. He also understands that Peter is to be God's messenger and that God has given him something very important to pass on to Cornelius and his friends and family. They are all pumped and excited, willing and open to hear from Peter is going to say.

Read Acts 10:34-35. Peter now understands that God does not show favoritism toward an individual based on his station in life, material possessions, or nationality. What God does respect and care about is a person's character and what he does. James will later write about how the church needs to be careful about falling into the sin of favoritism. Read James 2:1-4. Peter has come to realize that the gospel is for the Gentiles, as well as the Jews. Cornelius is a good man and has pleased God with his actions, but he does not know Christ yet.

Read Acts 10:36. I personally think that the NIV translation here may be a little bit off - I think the reason Peter had to come and speak to Cornelius and this group was because they didn't understand the message of Jesus' coming. I prefer the King James which simply says "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all)." In the King James translation Peter is stating a fact that God sent a message to the Jews, that peace (or reconciliation) was possible through Jesus and that this God is the God of everyone, both Jews and Gentiles. I don't think Peter's audience understood that until he said it right here.

Read Acts 10:37-38. With these two verses I think Peter is now reminding his audience of what they already know and would have heard about, starting with John the Baptist, and then moving on to how Jesus did miracles including healing and casting out demons. This would have been common knowledge. He does include something which they might not have understood, that Jesus was anointed by God. If they were knowledgeable of the Old Testament, this may have made them think of Isaiah 61:1-3.

Read Acts 10:39-40. Peter now moves on to talk about what his audience may not know, that Peter and his six companions were all witnesses to what Jesus did. They can verify that all these stories of Jesus healing people and casting out demons was true. They probably knew that Jesus had been crucified (ie. hung on a tree) but not that He had risen from the dead. This is probably the most important point of Peter's entire sermon, that Jesus rose from the dead.

Read Acts 10:41. Peter makes sure that his audience understands that there are people who will verify that yes, they saw Jesus alive, and that they even ate and drank with him, something only a living person could do. As we saw way back in chapter 1, this was one of the pivotal missions of an apostle, to be witnesses of Jesus' resurrection. Read Acts 1:21-22.

Read Acts 10:42-43. The phrase that I think would have jumped out to Peter's audience was "everyone who believes in him." Not "every Jew" but "everyone." The good news was for them, as well.

Read Acts 10:44-46. Now we understand why God wanted these other six Jewish men to come with Peter - they all needed to understand that the gospel was for the Gentiles, as well as the Jews and that all people could share in this redemption. Up to this point, only Gentiles who had converted to Judaism, then come to accept Christ, had been widely accepted within the church. We see this in how one of the seven deacons chosen with a convert to Judaism. Read Acts 6:5. As we will see in the next chapter, Peter is going to get a lot of flack from his fellow Jewish believers for instigating this change in church policy. But now Peter has witnesses that the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit, as well, since they started to speak in tongues, just like at the Jewish Pentecost.

Though we have no specific declaration that these people spoke verbally that they accepted Christ, the Holy Spirit's actions demonstrate clearly that when Peter told them what they needed to do - believe in Jesus - they immediately did.

Read Acts 10:47-48. As a final demonstration and witness, Peter has the new believers water baptized. This gives them all an opportunity to publicly proclaim that yes, they have accepted Christ. Remember the picture of the Roman villa from "The Romans" by Macdonald? { Show picture from "The Romans", pg. 14 } There is a small pool right in the middle of the atrium or living room. If this was what Cornelius' house was like, they would have had ready access to a small pool to do the baptisms. Cool, huh?

Blessings!

Sources
Macdonald, Fiona. The Romans.
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version
Hunter, Charles and Frances (as told by Roland Buck). Angels on Assignment