But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.
When Cornelius fell at his feet in worship as one sent from heaven, Peter lifted him up and refused such reverence as belonging to God alone and not to any human messenger. He presented himself only as a fellow man, erring and fallible, claiming no divine authority or right to be venerated. The meeting at Caesarea opened the gospel to the Gentiles, showing that God is no respecter of persons but accepts in every nation him that fears Him and works righteousness. Though an angel appeared to Cornelius, he did not preach the gospel to him, because God works through chosen human agents to bring light to those seeking truth. In this heaven and earth were united, with heavenly agencies cooperating with human instruments to overcome prejudice and carry grace to a heathen city.
Event and Its Meaning
When Cornelius met Peter he fell down at his feet in worship and veneration, regarding him not as an ordinary visitor but as one honored of heaven and sent by God. Peter took him up, lifted him to his feet, raising him and declaring, stand up, for he himself also was a man, a human being like Cornelius and only a man. He shrank with horror from that veneration and checked rather than encouraged it.
Peter then spoke with Cornelius familiarly in order to remove his awe and extreme reverence and to ease the reverence with which Cornelius regarded him. The refusal means that reverence and worship belong to God, not to human messengers. Even when a messenger is sent by God as a gospel teacher to bring further knowledge of Christ, he is only a human being and must not be worshiped, though people should receive the help and instruction God gives through them.
Peter presented himself as only a fellow man with Cornelius, standing with him on the same level. He claimed no exalted divine authority and no special authority making him worthy of such homage, no right to be revered as divine or to be given the authority of a ruler, but confessed himself an erring and fallible man. His checking of veneration contrasts with the later practice of those claiming to be his successors, his so-called successors, in requiring kings and emperors to bow before them and bow at their feet.
Gospel Opened to Gentiles
The words belong to the meeting at Caesarea, after Peter was commanded to go to the Gentiles and Cornelius told of the vision directing him to send for Peter, when God was dealing with Peter as he was about to preach to the Gentiles. That encounter opened the church's work among the Gentiles and marked the extension of the gospel beyond the chosen people. Cornelius's conversion became the first major conversion among the Gentiles, only the firstfruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world.
God was carefully overcoming prejudice against Gentiles fixed in Peter and the disciples by all their Jewish training and by rabbinical ideas of separation. Though Christ's death had broken down the barrier that kept Gentiles from the privileges of the gospel, it still persisted in the apostles' minds. He was teaching them not to belittle those who had had no opportunity of hearing the truth and not to call any man common or unclean.
Peter undertook the duty laid on him by divine command with reluctance at every step, treating it as an exception done because of divine revelation rather than on general principle, and the result was a great surprise to him. The disciples had been called first to Judea and then to Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth to preach to every creature, yet they lingered in and near Jerusalem among church members instead of going into all the world, until persecution scattered them to work earnestly for the salvation of the Gentiles. From that scattering and leading came the divinely guided opening of the gospel to Cornelius, a God-fearing centurion.
The verse teaches that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation accepts him that fears Him and works righteousness. Its setting marks a new phase for the Christian church, in which Gentiles who accepted the gospel were to share its blessings equally with Jewish believers as fellow citizens, without having to be circumcised. That mission breaks down prejudice and shows that God teaches and uses those willing to yield their own ideas.
From the household of Cornelius a widespread work of grace was carried on in a heathen city, showing that earnest work will bring light to honest souls seeking truth even among those opposed to God's message. The account stands as an example of visions correcting those who err from Bible truth, not providing a new rule of faith.
Heaven and Human Cooperation
Cornelius was devout in piety, prayers and alms, and what he offered under all the light he had received and improved was remembered, accepted and commended as far as his knowledge went. Having believed God's Word promising a Messiah, he now had to receive its fulfillment and obtain an advance in faith and a new experience to do his work intelligently through Jesus Christ. Neither prayer nor almsgiving can take the place of Christ Jesus, in whom all fullness dwells and in whom alone Jews and Gentiles by faith are joined to Christ and made complete.
Though an angel appeared to Cornelius, and instruction is often given to men by immortal messengers who act as powerful helpers of chosen messengers, the angel did not preach the gospel message to him. God's plan was to send chosen human messengers to people needing enlightenment and to bring Gentiles into connection with the gospel. The angel could have told Cornelius the whole message directly, but that is not God's way.
God knew every person by name and just where they live, the spirit they possess and every act of life, and He knew just where Peter was lodging with Simon a tanner by the seaside at Joppa. He told Cornelius every particular with direction to send men to Joppa to call Simon Peter to tell what ought to be done, working out every detail. He deliberately required this connection so that the light and truth He had given to Peter would be imparted by Peter to Cornelius and all his family, because His church must connect together and He works through human agents bringing truth to one another.
Heaven and earth are united in the work, with the agencies of heaven ever ready to cooperate with human agencies in working out God's simple plans. Heaven is much nearer to the Christian engaged in soul-saving than many suppose, as shown in another instance of the ministration of heavenly angels resulting in the conversion of Cornelius and his company. Peter stood with Cornelius as a fellow man appointed to become the human instrument in the hands of heavenly agencies, and in the transaction more than one man was converted, for Peter himself was put on the housetop in prayer to receive the truth of God's purpose to the Gentiles and the taking away of barriers between Jew and Gentile, so that the man of influence could accomplish a great work in connection with believers in Jesus Christ. The account shows 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, with God sending people to serve as His representatives among those who need divine help and guidance, as seen when Peter was sent to the Roman centurion.
Instruction for Gospel Workers
The meeting at Caesarea where the Lord worked for one who feared His name shows how God works on human minds, with His arm breaking the power of oppression and tyranny and scattering the dark clouds of ignorance and superstition. That instruction in Acts 10:1-35 is to be read and prayed over until understanding is opened, so that workers will begin earnestly to labor for souls in their home field. Unless God's people arouse to home mission duties they will be found wanting in the day of God.
In every age God brings honest hearts into connection with those of His people who can best reach their individual needs, using different servants fitted by special knowledge and training to help different classes of inquirers. Workers should therefore be ready to make personal efforts for those who have not received the whole truth yet are serving God with sincere, earnest purpose and walking in all the light they have received. There are many in the world like Cornelius, souls much nearer the kingdom of heaven than is supposed and precious jewels in this dark world of sin to whom God will guide His servants, and this gives courage for the work. Cornelius is among those who longed and prayed for light from heaven and received Christ gladly when He was revealed, and his story reveals God's care for those seeking truth.
Cornelius, a Roman officer in high position who lived according to the light he had received, illustrates the devout, God-fearing men of nobility and influence for whom God is working, to give them advanced light through angels and through connection with men of superior knowledge of His Word. They are to be made true witnesses to take the place of those who had Bible truth and disappointed Christ. Men like Cornelius are stewards in trust who bear responsibilities and face the temptations that come with positions of stewardship, whose sympathies are with the truth but who are held in the world by binding threads and lack moral courage to take their position. They need special care and special, determined effort because of the responsibilities they bear, and laboring for them is often a heavier cross than letting sympathy go out to the poorer and more lowly ones.
God's messengers must not be exalted as divine, even while people should receive the help and instruction God gives through them, and they must not accept flattery or let men be exalted as gods. The work for these new witnesses will succeed only if unconsecrated workers do not spoil them by flattery and exalting them, but follow Peter in keeping them standing in integrity before God alone. Cornelius shows the kind of man the Lord now calls for, a man taught by God, for mere lifelong profession does not make a true man sanctified and ennobled through the truth. Those who have lost spiritual discernment and are right in their own eyes and wise in their own sight build upon sand, and when the tempest comes the house will be swept away because the foundation was not built upon the solid rock. The same leading 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, and being led to great light and knowledge of the truth, those who receive it will seek to set it before anxious acquaintances and thus become conscientious lightbearers who, constrained by the love of God, constrain others and improve every opportunity to invite and urge others to see its beauty and give their abilities to advance God's work.
When Cornelius fell at his feet in worship as one sent from heaven, Peter lifted him up and refused such reverence as belonging to God alone and not to any human messenger. He presented himself only as a fellow man, erring and fallible, claiming no divine authority or right to be venerated. The meeting at Caesarea opened the gospel to the Gentiles, showing that God is no respecter of persons but accepts in every nation him that fears Him and works righteousness. Though an angel appeared to Cornelius, he did not preach the gospel to him, because God works through chosen human agents to bring light to those seeking truth. In this heaven and earth were united, with heavenly agencies cooperating with human instruments to overcome prejudice and carry grace to a heathen city.
Event and Its Meaning
When Cornelius met Peter he fell down at his feet in worship and veneration, regarding him not as an ordinary visitor but as one honored of heaven and sent by God. Peter took him up, lifted him to his feet, raising him and declaring, stand up, for he himself also was a man, a human being like Cornelius and only a man. He shrank with horror from that veneration and checked rather than encouraged it.
Peter then spoke with Cornelius familiarly in order to remove his awe and extreme reverence and to ease the reverence with which Cornelius regarded him. The refusal means that reverence and worship belong to God, not to human messengers. Even when a messenger is sent by God as a gospel teacher to bring further knowledge of Christ, he is only a human being and must not be worshiped, though people should receive the help and instruction God gives through them.
Peter presented himself as only a fellow man with Cornelius, standing with him on the same level. He claimed no exalted divine authority and no special authority making him worthy of such homage, no right to be revered as divine or to be given the authority of a ruler, but confessed himself an erring and fallible man. His checking of veneration contrasts with the later practice of those claiming to be his successors, his so-called successors, in requiring kings and emperors to bow before them and bow at their feet.
Gospel Opened to Gentiles
The words belong to the meeting at Caesarea, after Peter was commanded to go to the Gentiles and Cornelius told of the vision directing him to send for Peter, when God was dealing with Peter as he was about to preach to the Gentiles. That encounter opened the church's work among the Gentiles and marked the extension of the gospel beyond the chosen people. Cornelius's conversion became the first major conversion among the Gentiles, only the firstfruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world.
God was carefully overcoming prejudice against Gentiles fixed in Peter and the disciples by all their Jewish training and by rabbinical ideas of separation. Though Christ's death had broken down the barrier that kept Gentiles from the privileges of the gospel, it still persisted in the apostles' minds. He was teaching them not to belittle those who had had no opportunity of hearing the truth and not to call any man common or unclean.
Peter undertook the duty laid on him by divine command with reluctance at every step, treating it as an exception done because of divine revelation rather than on general principle, and the result was a great surprise to him. The disciples had been called first to Judea and then to Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth to preach to every creature, yet they lingered in and near Jerusalem among church members instead of going into all the world, until persecution scattered them to work earnestly for the salvation of the Gentiles. From that scattering and leading came the divinely guided opening of the gospel to Cornelius, a God-fearing centurion.
The verse teaches that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation accepts him that fears Him and works righteousness. Its setting marks a new phase for the Christian church, in which Gentiles who accepted the gospel were to share its blessings equally with Jewish believers as fellow citizens, without having to be circumcised. That mission breaks down prejudice and shows that God teaches and uses those willing to yield their own ideas.
From the household of Cornelius a widespread work of grace was carried on in a heathen city, showing that earnest work will bring light to honest souls seeking truth even among those opposed to God's message. The account stands as an example of visions correcting those who err from Bible truth, not providing a new rule of faith.
Heaven and Human Cooperation
Cornelius was devout in piety, prayers and alms, and what he offered under all the light he had received and improved was remembered, accepted and commended as far as his knowledge went. Having believed God's Word promising a Messiah, he now had to receive its fulfillment and obtain an advance in faith and a new experience to do his work intelligently through Jesus Christ. Neither prayer nor almsgiving can take the place of Christ Jesus, in whom all fullness dwells and in whom alone Jews and Gentiles by faith are joined to Christ and made complete.
Though an angel appeared to Cornelius, and instruction is often given to men by immortal messengers who act as powerful helpers of chosen messengers, the angel did not preach the gospel message to him. God's plan was to send chosen human messengers to people needing enlightenment and to bring Gentiles into connection with the gospel. The angel could have told Cornelius the whole message directly, but that is not God's way.
God knew every person by name and just where they live, the spirit they possess and every act of life, and He knew just where Peter was lodging with Simon a tanner by the seaside at Joppa. He told Cornelius every particular with direction to send men to Joppa to call Simon Peter to tell what ought to be done, working out every detail. He deliberately required this connection so that the light and truth He had given to Peter would be imparted by Peter to Cornelius and all his family, because His church must connect together and He works through human agents bringing truth to one another.
Heaven and earth are united in the work, with the agencies of heaven ever ready to cooperate with human agencies in working out God's simple plans. Heaven is much nearer to the Christian engaged in soul-saving than many suppose, as shown in another instance of the ministration of heavenly angels resulting in the conversion of Cornelius and his company. Peter stood with Cornelius as a fellow man appointed to become the human instrument in the hands of heavenly agencies, and in the transaction more than one man was converted, for Peter himself was put on the housetop in prayer to receive the truth of God's purpose to the Gentiles and the taking away of barriers between Jew and Gentile, so that the man of influence could accomplish a great work in connection with believers in Jesus Christ. The account shows 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, with God sending people to serve as His representatives among those who need divine help and guidance, as seen when Peter was sent to the Roman centurion.
Instruction for Gospel Workers
The meeting at Caesarea where the Lord worked for one who feared His name shows how God works on human minds, with His arm breaking the power of oppression and tyranny and scattering the dark clouds of ignorance and superstition. That instruction in Acts 10:1-35 is to be read and prayed over until understanding is opened, so that workers will begin earnestly to labor for souls in their home field. Unless God's people arouse to home mission duties they will be found wanting in the day of God.
In every age God brings honest hearts into connection with those of His people who can best reach their individual needs, using different servants fitted by special knowledge and training to help different classes of inquirers. Workers should therefore be ready to make personal efforts for those who have not received the whole truth yet are serving God with sincere, earnest purpose and walking in all the light they have received. There are many in the world like Cornelius, souls much nearer the kingdom of heaven than is supposed and precious jewels in this dark world of sin to whom God will guide His servants, and this gives courage for the work. Cornelius is among those who longed and prayed for light from heaven and received Christ gladly when He was revealed, and his story reveals God's care for those seeking truth.
Cornelius, a Roman officer in high position who lived according to the light he had received, illustrates the devout, God-fearing men of nobility and influence for whom God is working, to give them advanced light through angels and through connection with men of superior knowledge of His Word. They are to be made true witnesses to take the place of those who had Bible truth and disappointed Christ. Men like Cornelius are stewards in trust who bear responsibilities and face the temptations that come with positions of stewardship, whose sympathies are with the truth but who are held in the world by binding threads and lack moral courage to take their position. They need special care and special, determined effort because of the responsibilities they bear, and laboring for them is often a heavier cross than letting sympathy go out to the poorer and more lowly ones.
God's messengers must not be exalted as divine, even while people should receive the help and instruction God gives through them, and they must not accept flattery or let men be exalted as gods. The work for these new witnesses will succeed only if unconsecrated workers do not spoil them by flattery and exalting them, but follow Peter in keeping them standing in integrity before God alone. Cornelius shows the kind of man the Lord now calls for, a man taught by God, for mere lifelong profession does not make a true man sanctified and ennobled through the truth. Those who have lost spiritual discernment and are right in their own eyes and wise in their own sight build upon sand, and when the tempest comes the house will be swept away because the foundation was not built upon the solid rock. The same leading 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, and being led to great light and knowledge of the truth, those who receive it will seek to set it before anxious acquaintances and thus become conscientious lightbearers who, constrained by the love of God, constrain others and improve every opportunity to invite and urge others to see its beauty and give their abilities to advance God's work.