The Baptism of the Gentile Cornelius

Acts introduces Cornelius as a centurion of the Italian cohort at Caesarea Maritima (Acts 10:1), the city where it later shows the Roman governor of Judea in residence (Acts 23:33). Acts calls him a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave generously to the needy and prayed constantly (Acts 10:1–2). He was a Gentile, and uncircumcised (Acts 10:45) (Acts 11:3).

According to Acts, an angel appeared to Cornelius in a vision one afternoon and told him to send to Joppa for a man named Simon Peter (Acts 10:3–8). The next day, as the messengers were on their way, Peter went up to pray on the roof of the house where he was staying. He fell into a trance and saw a great sheet let down from heaven, holding all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds. A voice told him to kill and eat. Peter refused, since he had never eaten anything unclean, and the voice answered: “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” This happened three times (Acts 10:9–16). While he was wondering what it meant, the messengers arrived, and the Spirit told him to go with them (Acts 10:17–23).

At Caesarea Cornelius had gathered his relatives and friends. Peter told them that it was unlawful for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him, but that God had shown him he should call no person unclean (Acts 10:24–29). He then spoke about Jesus: his work in Galilee and Judea, his death, his resurrection on the third day, and the forgiveness of sins through his name for everyone who believes (Acts 10:34–43). While he was still speaking, Acts says, the Holy Spirit fell on all who were listening, and the Jewish believers who had come with Peter heard them speaking in other languages and praising God. Peter asked whether anyone could refuse them water for baptism, and ordered that they be baptised (Acts 10:44–48).

When Peter returned to Jerusalem, believers there who held to circumcision took him to task: “You went in to uncircumcised men, and ate with them!” Peter told the whole story in order and asked how he could have stood in God’s way. They fell silent and then said, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!” (Acts 11:1–18).

Acts has already told of an Ethiopian baptised by Philip and will next tell of preaching to “Hellenists” at Antioch (Acts 8:38) (Acts 11:20–21); see the Church at Antioch, Where Believers Were First Called Christians. It gives the Cornelius story at far greater length and tells it twice (Acts 10:1–11:18). In this story an apostle is led to accept Gentiles, and the Jerusalem church agrees. Peter appeals to it again when the question of circumcision is argued out at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:7–11).