Cornelius
A centurion of the Italian cohort at Caesarea, a Gentile who worshipped the God of Israel. Acts presents his baptism at Peter’s word as the moment when the Jerusalem church accepted Gentiles without circumcision.
Cornelius was a centurion of the Italian cohort stationed at Caesarea Maritima. Acts describes him as devout and God-fearing with all his household, generous to the needy and well spoken of by the Jewish people (Acts 10:1–2, 22). Directed by an angel in a vision, he sent for Peter, who came from Joppa, preached in his house, and had him and those with him baptised after the Holy Spirit had come on them (Acts 10:3–48). See the Baptism of the Gentile Cornelius.
Peter defended what he had done before the church in Jerusalem and appealed to it again at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 11:1–18) (Acts 15:7–9). Acts says nothing further about Cornelius.
In the timeline
- about AD 40, estimated dateThe Baptism of the Gentile Cornelius
Acts tells how Peter, after a vision at Joppa, enters the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius at Caesarea, preaches there, and has him and his household baptised without circumcision, and how the church in Jerusalem accepts what he has done.