Acts 10:23, commentary and pictures

Peter courteously received and lodged overnight the three men sent from Cornelius, then set out the next morning with them for Caesarea accompanied by six brethren from Joppa. He went in obedience to the Spirit's command to go with them doubting nothing, putting aside his own feelings and Jewish prejudice against associating with Gentiles. He took the brethren as witnesses because he knew he would be called to account for crossing Jewish social and religious boundaries. His journey began the first major work among the Gentiles, breaking down the barrier between Jew and Gentile so that Gentiles received the gospel on equal terms without circumcision or the ceremonial law. It proves that God is no respecter of persons but accepts in every nation him that fears Him and works righteousness, using chosen human messengers to carry light to sincere seekers like Cornelius.

Lodging, Journey and Witnesses

Peter called in the men sent from Cornelius and lodged them overnight, entertaining them courteously and with great respect, and on the morrow he set out with them for Caesarea. He received them after they communicated their errand to him and promised to accompany them the next day, putting aside his own feelings despite the challenge their Gentile mission posed to Jewish custom. Those he took in and lodged were the three men sent from Cornelius at Caesarea.

Certain brethren from Joppa accompanied Peter on the journey toward Caesarea. They were six in number, six fellow believers going with him. The six went as witnesses of all he should say or do while visiting the Gentiles. He took them because he knew he would be called to account for crossing Jewish social and religious boundaries in direct opposition to Jewish faith and teachings.

Peter's Obedience and Conversion

The lodging overnight and the journey on the morrow were obedience to the Spirit's command to arise and go with the men doubting nothing because God had sent them. The voice of the Spirit that Peter understood told him three men sought him, and having just received that direction he at once agreed to accompany them on the morrow and in the morning set out with them for Caesarea. Every step of that going was directed by God and His angels. It was not presumption but obedience to God's direct command given through the vision, which ended the ceremonial distinction and sent him to preach in a Gentile house.

Peter obeyed against his own feelings and put aside his prejudice, courteously receiving and entertaining the Gentile messengers despite the challenge to Jewish custom. He did not act according to his own feelings but received the men sent by Cornelius, promised to accompany them on the morrow, and courteously lodged them that night before setting out with them for Caesarea. He undertook at every step with reluctance a duty laid on him by divine command.

The act shows Peter's own conversion from Jewish training that it was unlawful to keep company with another nation and to call Gentiles common or unclean. God carefully taught him not to belittle those who had had no opportunity of hearing the truth, and more than one man was converted in the transaction as Peter was appointed to become the human instrument in the hands of heavenly agencies. The vision ended the viewing of Gentiles as unclean by the ceremonial distinction of circumcision and uncircumcision, directing him to treat Gentiles as no longer unclean and to go with them.

Peter afterward defended his action not on general principles but as an exception done because of divine revelation. The result was a great surprise to him.

Gospel Opened to Gentiles

Peter's lodging of the messengers and setting out the next day for Caesarea with believers from Joppa begins the first work among the Gentiles and the first major conversion among them, opening a new phase of the church's work and carrying the gospel beyond the Jewish people to the world. That journey helped carry the gospel across the barrier that had kept Gentiles from its privileges, as God prepared Peter and the apostles to recognize that Gentiles could share in its blessings. The meeting and conversion of Cornelius that followed was that first major breakthrough.

The conversion of Cornelius and his household was only the firstfruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world. From that home in a heathen city a widespread work of grace was carried on.

In that transaction the barrier between Jew and Gentile was taken away, so that Gentiles who had been strangers and foreigners were made fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household. Gentile believers were to receive the gospel's blessings on equal terms with Jewish believers, accepted as equal to Jewish disciples without being required to be circumcised or to keep the rites of the ceremonial law. The ceremonial distinction of circumcision and uncircumcision and the viewing of Gentiles as unclean was ended, and Jews and Gentiles are by faith to be joined to Jesus Christ. More than one man was converted in the transaction, for Peter himself was converted to God's purpose and appointed to become the human instrument in the hands of heavenly agencies, with heaven and earth united in the work.

The lodging and journey prove that God is no respecter of persons but accepts in every nation him that feareth Him and worketh righteousness. This first work among the Gentiles was given to Peter, the apostle of the circumcision, because he was best able to do it without friction and to remove the prejudice existing among the Jewish Christians, leaving the Gentile converts free from the rites of the ceremonial law. His course in receiving the messengers and going to preach in a Gentile house fulfilled God's plan to grant the Gentiles repentance unto life and to destroy Jewish prejudice and exclusiveness by the gospel. It silenced the offended brethren in Judea and opened the way without controversy for the work to be carried on among the Gentiles.

Heavenly Direction and Human Agency

Acts 10:23 belongs to instruction given by God in vision in the night season, showing what should be spoken, to be repeated again and again, and to be obeyed in taking in the messengers overnight and going with them on the morrow. The lodging and setting out were obedience to the voice of the Spirit understood by Peter, telling him three men sought him and to go with them doubting nothing because God had sent them. Every step toward Caesarea was directed by the angels of God, who served as guides and powerful helpers of God's chosen messengers on earth. This is an example of God employing immortal messengers to communicate with human beings, with holy angels opening the mind of Cornelius to receive the gospel and directing Peter to go to him. It shows that heaven is much nearer to the Christian engaged in soul-saving than many suppose, and teaches God's regard for every human being as one of the Lord's instrumentalities for accomplishing His work in the earth.

God set in operation a train of circumstances by angel ministration to bring Peter into connection and cooperation with Cornelius, that Cornelius as an inquiring soul with all things in readiness might learn the truth and receive advanced light. God knew Cornelius by name and worked through His angel and through a human agent to reach him. God in heaven knew just where Peter was lodging with Simon the tanner and told Cornelius in every particular just where Peter was to be found and where to find him. The Lord knows every person by name, just where each lives, the spirit each possesses, and every act of life, while ministering angels pass through the churches noting faithfulness in each individual line of duty. In this way God worked out the meeting in every detail to join His church together and bring light from one to another.

The angel could have told Cornelius the gospel message directly, but God would not work that way. His way is to use chosen human messengers to bring people who need gospel truth into connection with those who can teach it. The light He had given to Peter was to be given by Peter to Cornelius and to all his family, so members of His church must connect together. God knew exactly where Peter was and told Cornelius where to find him precisely so that Peter's lodging of the messengers and going with them would join Peter and Cornelius together for the truth Peter had to be shared with Cornelius. The Lord answers prayer for further light by directing the seeker to human teachers, and this work also carried the gospel to the Gentiles.

The visions connected with Peter's visit to the Gentiles were given to comfort God's people and to correct those who stray from Bible truth. God was correcting Peter as he was about to preach to the Gentiles. They were not given to establish a new rule of faith.

Bringing Light to Seekers

Peter's lodging of the messengers and setting out with them the next day brought him into contact with Cornelius and opened the way for the gospel to reach the Gentiles. It joined an inquiring soul with everything in readiness to people who could share the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, and the advanced light he still needed. His willingness to go followed instruction given through the angel and led him to people ready to hear the message he had been directed to share. More than one man was converted in the transaction, for Peter himself was being converted to God's purpose for the Gentiles and appointed as the human instrument in the hands of heavenly agencies, with heaven and earth united in the work. Peter's visit therefore shows God's compassion in directing him to bring spiritual light to one living according to the light received, and it illustrates the simplicity of God's plan in which heavenly agencies cooperate with human agencies through personal effort.

Cornelius, though already accepted of God in devout piety, prayer, and almsgiving, needed to advance in faith to a new experience. He was to receive the fulfillment of the promised Messiah and to do his work intelligently through Jesus Christ, in whom all fullness dwells and without whom prayer and almsgiving cannot suffice. He was a Roman officer in a high position who lived according to the light he had received. He sincerely sought truth and had been longing and praying for light from heaven, and when Christ was revealed to him he received Him gladly.

The account teaches God's regard for every human being, and that each should treat his fellow man as one of the Lord's instrumentalities for accomplishing His work in the earth. God knew Cornelius by name and worked through His angel and through a human agent to bring him into connection with Peter so he could receive greater light. The Lord knows every person by name, just where each lives, the spirit each possesses, and every act of life. Ministering angels pass through the churches noting faithfulness in each individual line of duty, showing heaven is much nearer to the Christian engaged in soul-saving than many suppose.

The simplicity of God's plan is that the agencies of heaven are ever ready to cooperate with human agencies. By it God guides His servants to make personal efforts for those like Cornelius who have not received the whole truth yet serve God with sincere, earnest purpose and walk in all the light they have received. Such precious jewels in this dark world of sin are to be sought with readiness to work for them, since Gentiles can serve God as acceptably as Jews and many are much nearer the kingdom of heaven than supposed. Angels cooperate with God's servants to bring them into the full light of truth as He guides His servants to them.

Unity and Mission Application

The lodging of the messengers and the journey to Caesarea show God joining His church together by bringing Peter and Cornelius into close connection so that light could be shared through human agency. God knew just where Peter was lodging with Simon the tanner and told Cornelius every particular of where to find him, working out the meeting in every detail. The angel could have told Cornelius the gospel message directly, but God would not work that way, for the truth He had given to Peter was to be given by Peter to Cornelius and all his family. This requires believers to come into closest connection with God and with one another, to unify for Christ's sake, to love one another, and to deal justly, honestly, truly, gently and righteously with one another. Instead of building up self by pointing at the wrongs of others or trying to reform by pointing at someone else's wrong to cover their own, they are to give the Lord room and place in their midst, exercise the love of God in their hearts instead of hatred, work on Christ's principles and the principles of heaven, and then see the salvation of God revealed.

The experience is to be read and prayed over until understanding is opened, learning from what the Lord wrought for one who feared His name the way in which God works on human minds. It teaches how God works to break the power of oppression and tyranny and to dispel ignorance and superstition, taking the prepared messengers into fellowship and then going with them to the prepared soul in obedience to the command to arise and go doubting nothing. So workers will begin earnestly to work for souls in the home field and arouse to duties for missions at home, lest they be found wanting in the day of God. Peter's going with the men sent by the Roman centurion illustrates that God sends people to places where others need divine help and guidance, and His direction may lead to work that would not have been chosen.

As God worked for Cornelius by sending Peter and the brethren from Joppa to him, so He works in every age to bring the honest-hearted into connection with those of His people who can best reach their individual needs. He uses servants with different special knowledge and training for different classes of inquirers, placing those who are not fully informed yet fear God and follow principles of righteousness in connection with men of superior knowledge regarding His Word to give them advanced light. Such devout men in every sphere stand in high positions of responsibility even among accomplished worldly men as bright and shining lights, true standard-bearers who do not forget God in their investigation of true science and the laws which rule the world, remaining true to pure, holy principles and bearing a clear, pure, undefiled testimony for truth and righteousness. They are being prepared to take the place of those who have been given a knowledge of Bible truth but have disappointed the Saviour, obtaining a knowledge of God as Cornelius did through the visitation of angels from heaven, acknowledged and honored by Christ as those who truly serve Him and guided along the path that leads to everlasting life to stand for God in true integrity. Earnest, devoted, determined efforts should be made for such associations as the W.C.T.U., that light may shine to souls as honest as Cornelius and gather out those seeking light even from those bitterly opposed to the message, since the conversion of Cornelius and his household was only the firstfruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world from which home a widespread work of grace was carried on in a heathen city. When persons of influence and worldly responsibility are converted they may need moral courage to take their stand for Christ, and then can use their influence, time, and means to share the truth with others.

Peter's visit to bring spiritual light to a Roman officer in high position who lived according to the light he had received shows God's compassion and tender love for those who are seeking and praying for light. God sent a special message from heaven to Cornelius and instructed His angel to direct Peter to visit him and give him light, and this interest of the Lord in a seeking soul is a great encouragement in work for others. It calls for convocations for prayer to ask the Lord to open the way that truth may enter the strongholds where Satan has set up his throne and dispel the shadow he has cast across the pathway of those he seeks to deceive and destroy. What led Cornelius to bring his energetic, faithful life into connection with Christ's disciples will happen in the last days, when many will prize the wisdom of God above any earthly advantage and obey the Word of God as the supreme standard. These will be led to great light and to the knowledge of the truth, will seek to bring that light before anxious acquaintances like themselves, will become conscientious lightbearers to the world, and being themselves constrained by the love of God will constrain others, improving every opportunity to invite and urge others to come and see the beauty of the truth and to give their abilities to advance the work of God. His story shows that honest people seeking light are to be reached with patient, loving effort and may be gathered from among those opposed to the message.