Peter and the Gentiles
😐 Are you sure you want that to be your title? It sounds like a 1980s Christian Rock band. 🎸
It’s fine.
Let’s meet Cornelius.
He lives in Caesarea Maritima. Also called Caesarea by the Sea to distinguish it from Caesarea Phiippi in the north at the foot of Mount Hermon.
It’s only about 38 miles (61km) north of Joppa where Peter was staying.
I got to visit Caesarea by the Sea on my Israel trip. It’s a fantastic stop for tourists because so much of the ancient city is still visible. I remember standing on the stage of the theater and wanting to burst into song. But I couldn’t because I had been sick with the flu and had all but lost my voice.
😯 Whoa! They even had a circus!
🤓 A circus? Like with clowns and acrobats and stuff?
No. The oblong racing track was called a circus because they went in a circuit. The Greeks called it a Hippodrome because hippo is Greek for horse. 🐎
🤓 Oh! Like the chariot race in Ben Hur!
Exactly. This was a very Roman city.
🤔 If hippo is Greek for horse, what’s the Greek word for hippo? 🦛
What’s the Greek word for “Focus!”
Cornelius is the 3rd God-fearing Roman Centurion we have encountered.
- The Centurion who asked Jesus to “give the word” and his servant would be healed, Mt. 8:5-13
- The Centurion at the Cross, Lk. 23:47
- Cornelius
Cornelius is described as:
“a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.”
Acts 10:2 ESV
Peter’s Vision
The LORD prepares Peter to go with the servants of Cornelius with the vision of the sheet with the animals.
I saw an image online of this vision and there were pigs included. The caption said, “Pigs in a Blanket.”
😆
A lot of people debate the meaning of this vision. Does it abolish the Jewish kosher food laws? Does it not?
Peter tells Cornelius what he learned from it:
“And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.””
Acts 10:28-29 ESV
I doubt Peter would’ve gone with the Roman men if he hadn’t experienced the vision.
The Gospel is given to the Gentiles
Cornelius – and his whole family – are already God-fearers. While waiting for his men to come back with Peter, he has invited all his family and close friends to come. He probably had a house something like this:
They would’ve gathered in the atrium to hear Peter. Typically in a Roman atrium there would be a shrine for the ancestors and household gods. Not in Cornelius’s home.
SIDE NOTE…
This idea of inviting family and close friends to hear the news about Jesus – probably after a meal – is a brilliant idea for evangelism. Some of you may have family and close friends who wouldn’t go to church but they would come to your house for a BBQ. And you could have someone share a testimony and what Jesus has done for them. If you have a gift for hospitality and hosting, this might be something to pray about. It doesn’t need to be a “church service.” Peter wasn’t having a church service at Cornelius’s house. He was just talking to people about things that actually happened.
Many Bibles have a heading like “Peter’s Sermon to the Gentiles.” This is not a sermon. It’s an announcement.
What blows my mind, is that Peter assumes that even way over here in Caesarea, they’ve heard all about Jesus.
“you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” Acts 10:37-38 ESV
Jesus was famous.
😐 Well, it’s kinda hard to stay obscure when you’re raising the dead and feeding thousands.
True. So apparently Peter didn’t need to fill them in too much on what Jesus had done.
These precious ancient Roman people were SO ready to believe and receive reconciliation with God through Christ, that in the middle of Peter’s talk, something very interesting happens. They are filled with the Holy Spirit prior to any confession of faith or baptism! They demonstrate the same gift of tongues, magnifying God, just as had happened to the 120 at Pentecost.
The Jews who had come with Peter from Joppa are shocked. It’s like they maybe didn’t expect the bacon-eating, 🥓 clean-shaven Romans to be eligible to receive the Holy Spirit because, according to the Law of Moses, they aren’t “clean.” But here they are speaking in unknown tongues by the same Holy Spirit power as the Apostles.
Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well:
“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.”
John 4:21 ESV
This is a brand new thing. It was not on the radar of the Jewish saints. The Gentiles are welcomed directly into the family of God without having to first become Jews and go through the temple in Jerusalem. Cornelius is called “devout” but not a “proselyte,” (a Gentile convert to Judaism). He and his family have discovered what Jesus meant when He said that “True worshipers” will worship the Father in a new location called “in Spirit and Truth.”
My guess is that they would’ve been baptized in the Sea. And then Peter stays with them for a few days to teach them more about Jesus.
But not everyone is happy about this.
CHAPTER 11 – CARPET CALL
Word spreads quickly that the Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit.
🧔🏽 Jerry the Jewish Christian: Did you hear? Peter preached to a Roman family over in Caesarea and they all believed and spoke in tongues just like us!
👳🏽♂️ Isaac the Israelite Disiciple: I heard that. Did you hear that Peter actually went IN the Roman’s house?!
🧔🏽 Jerry: Whaaaaat? Dude! No way! INside?
👳🏽♂️ Isaac: Yeah. I mean… he must’ve been defiled! How could God use a defiled man?
🧔🏽 Jerry: I don’t know, man. That sounds super sus to me.
Peter has to defend himelf…
🧔🏻 Peter: Bro, I was just doing what God said to do. Who am I to tell God He can’t baptize Gentiles in the Holy Spirit if He wants to?
Gentiles flood the Church
There seems to have been a perspective early-on that the news about the Messiah having come and established the New Covenant was only for the Jews. So some of the Jewish evangelists only shared the gospel with their fellow Jews. But Antioch EXPLODED with a revival among the Gentiles. So Barnabas was sent to provide leadership.
For some reason, I always picture Barnabas as a rather Friar Tuck kind of figure. Stout. Bald. In a plain brown robe with a rope belt. Always smiling and pleasant. Not sure why.
Remember that Barnabas was the man who had introduced Saul to Peter and John and the other church leaders in Jerusalem. I’m sure he knew Saul’s conversion story – especially this bit where Jesus tells him:
“And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’”
Acts of the Apostles 26:17-18 NLT
With all of the Gentiles coming to faith in Jesus, they need a man who God has specially called to minister to the Gentiles. That is Saul of Tarsus. But no one has heard from him in about 6 years.
Even though only a few exciting chapters have passed for us as readers, it’s now about 12 years since Pentecost (which was in about 30AD). The martyrdom of Stephen was in about 32AD. Saul’s conversion was in about 37AD. The conversion of the Gentiles began in 40AD.
So Barnabas travels to Tarsus to find Saul and bring him back to help the church in Antioch. Antioch wasn’t that far.
They teach together for 2 years. And it is this group that first gets the nickname “Christians.” The name stuck. There are about 2 and a half BILLION of us today. That’s 1/3 of the global population. I don’t know how many of those have the “name” without truly being converted. There are certainly tares among the wheat. I’m sure that not all who call themselves Christians are actually born again.
It’s FAR more important
that Jesus and others
can identify me as a Christian
than that I self-identify as a Christian.
This is a good spot to pause and pray one of my little one-liner prayers:
“Lord, make me a REAL Christian.”
Agabus Predicts a Famine
The last 3 verses of chapter 11 are important for context. This famine was not a small matter. As Saul (who will soon be known as Paul) begins to travel around and write letters to various congregations, we will see him collecting donations for this relief effort.
Also, this text is important because it shows that New Covenant prophets DID receive revelations about future events. There weren’t prophets on every street corner, but Agabus is also not the only one. I mention this because I’ve heard the assertion that New Testament prophecy is only forth-telling and not fore-telling. I’m not sure what those folks do with Agabus or Peter or John; all of whom were given prophetic revelations that foretold future events. If it were only Peter and John one could make the case that this type of prophecy was limited to the Apostles. Agabus is never called an apostle.
But Agabus could only say what the LORD revealed to him. He couldn’t foresee everything. If he could’ve, he might’ve warned Peter and James to get out of Jerusalem ASAP. That’s next.
