The conversion of Cornelius.

• Scripture • Acts 9:32-42

  32 As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. 34 “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. 35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

  36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

  39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

  40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.

• Scripture: Acts 10

  At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
  4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.
  The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
  7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

  9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
  14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
  15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything unclean that God has made clean.”
  16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
  17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

  19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three[a] men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

  21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”

  22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

  The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. 24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

  27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”

  30 Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 32 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

  34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

  39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

  44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues[b] and praising God.

  Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

INTRODUCTION
Acts 1:8, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down and empowered the New Testament church. That outpouring reached different cultures. Despite these signals from God, the early church was mostly Jewish. 
From Acts 7, Luke shows how God took off their “blinkers” to Gentiles.  
[1] Stephen grasped better than others that the gospel had to go to all peoples and all nations.
[2] the persecution in Jerusalem scattered Christians and some went to preach in Samaria (cf.1:6). Phillip led an Ethiopian to Christ (Acts 8).  
[3] God calls Paul in Acts 9 to be the main instrument of God’s mission to the Gentiles.
Now in Acts 9:32-42 Luke returns to Peter. Paul had to be converted to Christ but Peter’s theology needed to be converted. He needed to grasp that the gospel of grace would be for everyone: multicultural every tribe and nation.

Acts 9:32-42 - two miracles re-introduce Peter

We need to touch briefly on two miracles that are recorded in Acts 9 as Peter is reintroduced to Acts by the writer Luke. (We last read about him in Acts 5). Acts 2:43 says there were “many miraculous signs and wonders” (2:43) so Luke could have filled volumes with miracle stories but Luke selected two particular miracles in Acts 9:32-42 for a specific reason.

These 2 miracles are parallels to two of Jesus’ miracles, and similar to the miracles that authenticated the ministries of Elijah and Elisha (cf.1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:32-37). The word “authenticated” is the key. For Paul himself pointed to his miracles as being “the things that mark an apostle” (2 Cor.12:12). Paul was saying here that his miracles were done upon the same pattern and the same power as Jesus’ miracles — and this authenticated him as an apostle whose message was one of divine revelation. Luke shows us these two miracles not only because they are wonderful and encouraging, but because they show that he was a true apostle. This sets up his pronouncement about the salvation of the Gentiles (in Acts 10-11) as authoritative.

[1] Healing of Aeneas the paralysed man. Parallel miracle to Mark 2:1-12, Matt 9:1-8, Jesus healing of the paralysed man in Capernaum. Jesus says, “Get up, take your mat…” (Matt.9:6) and Peter says, “Get up & tidy up your mat…” (9:34) [2] The raising of Tabitha has echoes of Jesus’ raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead in Mark 5. Jesus said, “Talitha (little girl), get up” (Mark 5:41), and Peter says, “Tabitha, get up” (9:40). These parallels are more than coincidence. Luke chose them as they reveal (as Peter himself says in 9:34) that Jesus himself is healing people through Peter (cf. “Aeneas… Jesus heals you”). Notice also that before he heals Tabitha “he got down on his knees and prayed.” (9:40) Healing miracles are not faith-healing in our own power but in the pattern and power of Christ himself. This becomes important as Peter ministers to Cornelius in Jesus’ name.

Conversion of Cornelius

Acts 13:16, 26 mentions Cornelius as a “proselyte - a Gentile who undertook to keep the Jewish law it its entirety and was admitted into full fellowship with the people of Israel by a three-fold rite:   (1) circumcision for male proselytes,  (2) a purificatory self-baptism in the presence of witnesses, and  (3) the offering of a sacrifice… Many Gentiles in those days, while not prepared to enter the Jewish community as full proselytes, were attracted by the simple monotheism of Jewish… worship and by the ethical standards of the Jewish way of life…” (F.F.Bruce, The Book of the Acts, p.64, 216)

Cornelius, a) prayed to the one God of Israel (v.2) (b) obeyed the general moral law of God (v22 – “righteous”; v.35 – “do what is right”), and c) was kind to the poor (v2 – “gave generously to those in need”). But he was not a Christian, he knew nothing about Jesus Christ. Doing good =/= Christian. Not justified” Rom.3:21ff.

BUT God is on his case before he ever knew about Jesus. Acts 10:4– “your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.” The Greek word [mnemosymos] is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to refer to the burnt offering (cf.Lev.2:2), which was not a sacrifice for sin, but an offering of gratitude to God. Acts10:35 “[God] accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right”.

Also, Cornelius, despite all his goodness and desire for God, did not have “eternal life”. Acts 11:18. Before, he was a “nice” person, not a “new” person. To be born again, First, he had to repent (11:18). Repentance of “working” for his salvation (Rom.4:5). Second, he had to believe in Jesus Christ, person & work (Acts 15:7). “Saved” (11:14), means he had his sins forgiven (10:43) and receive the Holy Spirit, 10:45

Conclusion Some might say that anyone who has this kind of heart goodness and desire for God is always a “pre-Christian” — someone who God is preparing and who inevitably will become a Christian. That is very possible — but this passage does not say that. What it does say is that, a) first, no matter how good and wonderful a person is, he or she cannot be forgiven and fully accepted without the gospel and the new birth. We cannot expect people to be saved without the preached word of Christ. If Cornelius needed to be saved — everyone does! But it also teaches us that b) second, we must show great respect for non-Chistians who obviously are capable of a great deal of moral and spiritual wisdom. Some theologians would say that we should realize that God gives a lot of “common grace” — that he gives a lot of moral sense and wisdom and virtue to people apart from faith in Jesus Christ. And we should recognize such people. God obviously prefers righteousness to unrighteousness and sincerity to insincerity in everyone. But we should not on the other hand forget that we need “special grace”, the revelation of Jesus Christ, if we are to become members of God’s family. So this passage should not influence us to stop evangelizing the nations, but it should bring us to do so with a great deal of civility and respect and honor for those like Cornelius.

3. Acts 10:9-23. God breaks down Peter’s racial/cultural prejudices.

Peter’s bigotry was normal prejudice between Jew and Gentile at that time, but not of God.  So God sent three supernatural signs to get him to engage with the Gentile.
First, the vision of a sheet containing a mixture of animals, many of which were unclean (Leviticus 11). Because the sheet contained “all kinds” (v.12) of animals, the command to “kill and eat” (v.13) was to contradict the OT ceremonial law. This would have offended Peter’s conscience and disgusted him emotionally. Acts 10:14 but three times God repeats “do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (v.15-16). However Peter still doesn’t get it (Acts 10:17).
Second, the Holy Spirit instructs him to go with the men who appear at his door (Acts10:19-20).
Third, he learns that an angel had appeared to a Gentile centurion, Cornelius, to fetch Peter. Three signs persuaded Peter to go to the house of an unclean Gentile.

4. Peter Understands the vision - Acts 10:34-48.

The vision: “even those things that are defiled and unfit for my presence I can make clean and fit for my presence. There is no being that I cannot make clean” Acts 10:13-15.  The key phrase here is “make clean.” Peter believed that some things were inherently clean and other things unclean.
This helps with our own outreach and prayers for others. Salvation is not about rightness or goodness or achievement but is about God’s action. So nothing is inherently unclean. The Gentiles, who were ceremonially unclean, were like the unclean animals in the sheet, mixed in with the “clean”
Jews.  When God cleanses someone from sin, they are clean indeed, they are forgiven indeed, they are saved indeed - (John 8:36 – they are free indeed). Thus they are equal with anyone else “Now I realize… God does not show favouritism” (10:34). Race, nationality, class, gender make no difference to God’s love for me and my justification. The gospel of grace means that no saved person can feel superior to another saved person, all saved by grace alone.  We looked at 10:34-35 above and said that this cannot mean that Cornelius was saved only Christ could do that. Peter shows Cornelius that only through Christ will his sins be forgiven (10:43). Acts 10:34-25 means that Peter finally sees that nationality and race are irrelevant in God’s Salvation plan.

5. Acts 10:44-11:18. The fourth sign.

We said that the first three signs to Peter were the vision, the word of the spirit, and the message from the angel to Cornelius. Now finally, Peter sees with his very eyes, the 4th sign.  The Spirit baptises the Gentiles who believed (v.44-47). He was not even finished with his sermon (v.44) when those who “heard the message” (i.e. believed) received the spirit. “The Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning” (11:15) -a Gentile Pentecost. Just as in Acts 2, God’s Holy Spirit came upon them in power, so he sent the Spirit in a powerful way here. Cornelius and the household experienced joy and love and power, and they began to praise God and glory Him in tougues — just like Acts 2.
This 4th sign finally converted Peter’s thinking!

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