Cornelius’s Vision
1 Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Cohort,
2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.
3 About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had come in to him and said to him, “Cornelius!”
4 And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial offering before God.
5 Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter;
6 he is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier of those who were his personal attendants,
8 and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
ἑκατοντάρχης ἐκ σπείρης τῆς καλουμένης Ἰταλικῆς (hekatontarchēs ek speirēs tēs kaloumenēs Italikēs) — v.1: Cornelius is a centurion — a Roman military officer commanding approximately 80–100 soldiers. The “Italian Cohort” (Cohors II Italica civium Romanorum) is attested in inscriptions as a unit of Roman citizen volunteers stationed in Syria in the first century. Caesarea Maritima was the seat of the Roman governor of Judea and the primary military base in the province. Cornelius is not a peripheral figure; he is a professional Roman officer stationed at the administrative capital. His name is one of the most common Roman names, associated with the ancient gens Cornelia, one of Rome’s most distinguished patrician families.
εὐσεβὴς καὶ φοβούμενος τὸν θεόν (eusebēs kai phoboumenos ton theon) — v.2: “Devout and God-fearing” — Cornelius is described as a “God-fearer” (φοβούμενος τὸν θεόν, phoboumenos ton theon), a technical term for Gentiles who worshipped the God of Israel, attended synagogue, observed Jewish ethical precepts, and gave alms to the Jewish community — but who had not undergone circumcision and full conversion to Judaism. They occupied a liminal space: drawn to Israel’s God but not members of Israel. They kept the moral law but not the ceremonial law. They were welcome in the synagogue but could not fully participate in the temple. Cornelius is the perfect representative of this category: devout, generous, prayerful — and excluded from the covenant people by an uncircumcised body.
v.2: Luke piles up the evidence of Cornelius’s piety: he fears God, his whole household shares his devotion, he gives generously to the Jewish people, and he prays to God continually. This is not a pagan dabbler but a man of deep, sustained, practical faith. Luke wants his readers to understand that the question of Gentile inclusion is not about whether Gentiles can be good people (Cornelius manifestly is), but about whether good Gentiles still need to become Jews in order to belong to the people of God.
μνημόσυνον (mnēmosynon) — v.4: “A memorial offering” — the word μνημόσυνον (mnēmosynon) is a sacrificial term. In Leviticus 2:2, 9, 16, the “memorial portion” (̇אַזְכָּרָה, azkarah) was the part of the grain offering burned on the altar as a “reminder” before God. The angel is telling Cornelius that his prayers and alms have functioned as a sacrifice — they have risen to God the way offerings rise from the altar. A Gentile’s prayers and charity are accepted by God as worship, even without the temple, even without circumcision. This is revolutionary: God has received Cornelius’s devotion before Cornelius has received the gospel.
v.6: The detail that Peter is staying with “a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea” recalls 9:43. The angel’s directions are precise enough to find the specific house. And the fact that Peter is already lodging with a tanner — a man in a ritually unclean trade — is the quiet preparation noted in chapter 9. Peter’s categories are already softening.
Peter’s Vision
9 On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.
10 But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance;
11 and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground,
12 and in it were all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the sky.
13 A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”
14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.”
15 Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.
v.9: The housetop (flat roof) was a common place for prayer in Jewish practice, offering privacy and open air. The sixth hour is noon. Peter is praying while Cornelius’s messengers are en route. God is coordinating two separate narratives that will converge: one in Caesarea, one in Joppa, both timed to intersect.
ἔκστασις (ekstasis) — v.10: “Trance” — ἔκστασις (ekstasis, from which we get “ecstasy”) means a displacement of the mind, a state in which normal consciousness is suspended and the person becomes receptive to divine revelation. It is not a dream (Peter is awake) but a visionary state. Luke notes the mundane trigger: Peter is hungry, and the household is preparing food. God uses his physical hunger to frame a vision about what is and isn’t permitted to eat — which is really about who is and isn’t permitted to belong.
vv.11–12: The vision’s imagery is deliberately comprehensive. A great sheet (οθόνη, othonē, a linen cloth) descends from heaven containing “all kinds” of animals — four-footed animals, crawling creatures, and birds. The catalog echoes the classification system of Genesis 1 and Leviticus 11. Both clean and unclean animals are present, mixed together. The sheet comes from heaven — God is the source of this mixture. The boundaries between clean and unclean that the Law established are being presented as dissolved in a single container lowered from the sky.
μηδαμῶς, κύριε (mēdamōs, kyrie) — v.14: “By no means, Lord” — Peter’s refusal is emphatic and instinctive. Μηδαμῶς (mēdamōs) is a strong negative: “Absolutely not!” “Never!” Peter has kept kosher his entire life. The food laws were not a minor regulation; they were a central marker of Jewish identity, a daily practice that separated Israel from the nations. Every meal was a declaration of belonging. Peter has never — not once — eaten anything unclean. The fact that he says this to God (κύριε, kyrie, “Lord”) reveals the depth of the conflict: he is simultaneously submissive to God (“Lord”) and defiant of God’s command (“By no means”). His identity is colliding with his obedience.
ἃ ὁ θεὸς ἐκαθάρισεν, σὺ μὴ κοίνου (ha ho theos ekatharisen, sy mē koinou) — v.15: “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy” — this is one of the most consequential sentences in the New Testament. The verb καθαρίζω (katharizō, “to cleanse,” “to purify”) is in the aorist tense: God has already cleansed these things. It is a completed action. The command μὴ κοίνου (mē koinou, “do not make common/profane”) tells Peter that calling unclean what God has declared clean is itself a sin — it is contradicting God’s judgment. The surface meaning is about food. The deeper meaning — which Peter will grasp in v.28 — is about people. If God has cleansed the Gentiles, Peter must not call them unclean.
v.16: The vision repeats three times. In biblical narrative, threefold repetition signals divine certainty (cf. Joseph’s interpretation in Genesis 41:32: “the matter is determined by God, and God will shortly bring it about”). Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus was reversed by a threefold restoration (John 21:15–17). Now Peter’s threefold refusal to eat unclean food is met with a threefold divine correction. The repetition also ensures that Peter cannot dismiss the vision as a random hallucination. God insists.
The Messengers from Cornelius
17 Now while Peter was greatly perplexed in himself as to what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon’s house, appeared at the gate;
18 and calling out, they were asking whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there.
19 While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.
20 But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them myself.”
21 Peter went down to the men and said, “Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason you have come?”
22 They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear a message from you.”
23 So he invited them in and gave them lodging. And on the next day he got up and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.
διηπόρει (diēporei) — v.17: “Greatly perplexed” — the verb διαπορέω (diaporeō) means to be thoroughly at a loss, to be completely baffled. Peter does not immediately understand the vision. He knows it means something, but he doesn’t know what. The vision was about food; the meaning is about people. The gap between the image and its interpretation is deliberate: God gives the vision, and then sends the circumstances that will interpret it. The knock at the gate is the hermeneutical key.
v.20: “Accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them myself.” The Spirit makes the connection explicit: the vision and the visitors are related. The word “without misgivings” (μηδὲν διακρινόμενος, mēden diakrinomenos, “without discriminating,” “without hesitating,” “without making distinctions”) carries a double meaning: don’t hesitate, and don’t make distinctions between yourself and them. The word that means “doubt” also means “discriminate.” Peter is told to stop discriminating between Jew and Gentile.
v.23: Peter invites the Gentile messengers into the house and gives them lodging. A Jewish man is hosting Gentiles overnight. This is already a boundary crossing: sharing a roof and presumably sharing food with Gentiles was a violation of Jewish purity practice. The vision is already being enacted before Peter has consciously interpreted it. And when Peter departs the next day, “some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him” — Luke mentions this because these Jewish believers will be witnesses to what happens at Cornelius’s house (cf. 10:45, 11:12). They are brought along so that Peter’s testimony will be corroborated.
Peter and Cornelius Meet
24 On the following day he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and worshiped him.
26 But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am just a man.”
27 As he talked with him, he entered and found many people assembled.
28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.
29 That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have sent for me.”
30 Cornelius said, “Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments,
31 and he said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God.
32 Therefore send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying at the house of Simon the tanner by the sea.’
33 So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”
v.24: Cornelius has assembled a crowd — relatives and close friends. He has not kept the angel’s visit to himself; he has gathered everyone he cares about to hear what Peter will say. This is a man who takes divine instruction seriously and wants his entire community to receive whatever God is about to give.
v.25: Cornelius falls at Peter’s feet in an act of worship or extreme reverence. Peter immediately stops him: “Stand up; I too am just a man.” The refusal is important. Peter will not accept worship or excessive deference. The contrast with Simon Magus (who claimed to be “the Great Power of God”) and later with Herod Agrippa (who accepted divine acclamation and was struck dead, 12:22–23) is deliberate. Authentic servants of God refuse the honor that belongs to God alone.
ἀθέμιτόν ἐστιν (athemiton estin) — v.28: “How unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner” — the word ἀθέμιτος (athemitos) means “unlawful,” “forbidden,” “contrary to divine law.” Peter states the Jewish position plainly: a Jew is not supposed to enter a Gentile’s house or eat with Gentiles. The prohibition is not from the written Torah but from the oral tradition of ritual purity that had developed around it. By entering Cornelius’s house, Peter is violating this tradition. And then he reveals why: “God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.” The vision was about food; Peter has understood its true meaning. It was about people. The sheet from heaven did not merely declare all animals clean; it declared all humans clean. The purity system that separated Jew from Gentile has been overridden by direct divine command.
v.33: Cornelius’s final sentence is one of the most beautiful in Acts: “We are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.” The entire household is gathered, expectant, and receptive. They understand that this is not a social visit but a divine appointment. “Present before God” (ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ, enōpion tou theou) is liturgical language — this living room has become a sanctuary. The ground is holy, not because of a building but because God is present and people are listening.
Peter’s Sermon to the Gentiles
34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,
35 but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him.
36 The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ — he is Lord of all —
37 you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed.
38 You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
39 We are witnesses of all the things he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
40 God raised him up on the third day and granted that he become visible,
41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead.
42 And he ordered us to preach to the people, and to testify solemnly that this is the one who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.
43 Of him all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.”
οὐκ ἔστιν προσωπολήμπτης ὁ θεός (ouk estin prosōpolēmptēs ho theos) — v.34: “God is not one to show partiality” — the word προσωπολήμπτης (prosōpolēmptēs) literally means “face-taker” — one who lifts up a face, showing favor based on appearances. The word is based on the Hebrew נָשָׂא פָּנִים (nasa panim), used in Deuteronomy 10:17 of God, who “does not show partiality.” Peter begins his sermon with a theological revolution: he has learned, through the vision and through standing in this Gentile house, that God does not discriminate by ethnicity or national origin. “In every nation” the person who fears God and does right is acceptable to him. Peter is not announcing something he has always believed; he is announcing something he just learned. The word “now” (ἐπ’ ἀληθείας, ep’ alētheias, “in truth,” “now I truly understand”) marks a personal breakthrough.
v.36: Peter’s sermon is the gospel in miniature, adapted for a Gentile audience that already has some knowledge of Jewish affairs (“you yourselves know,” v.37). The parenthetical “he is Lord of all” (οὗτός ἐστιν πάντων κύριος) is the theological heart: Jesus is not merely Lord of Israel but Lord of all. The universality that Peter articulated in v.34–35 is grounded in a universal lordship.
v.38: Peter’s summary of Jesus’s ministry is remarkably compact: God anointed Jesus with the Spirit and power, he went about doing good and healing the devil’s oppressed, “for God was with him.” This is the same phrase used of Joseph in Egypt (7:9) and the same reality: God’s presence with his chosen servant is the explanation for everything that follows. The description “doing good” (εὐεργετῶν, euergetōn) echoes the Greco-Roman concept of the “benefactor” (euergetes) — one who does public good for the community. Peter uses language his Gentile audience will recognize.
v.41: The witnesses “ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead.” This is one of the most concrete pieces of evidence Peter offers: the risen Jesus was not a ghost or a vision. He ate and drank. He had a body. The resurrection is physical, tangible, and testified to by people who shared meals with the risen Christ. In a Gentile context where various forms of spiritual survival after death were believed in, Peter insists on bodily resurrection.
πάντα τὸν πιστεύοντα εἰς αὐτόν (panta ton pisteuonta eis auton) — v.43: “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.” The word πάντα (panta, “everyone”) is the climactic word of the sermon. Not every Jew. Not every God-fearer. Everyone. The universality that Peter has been building toward since v.34 reaches its fullest expression: the condition for forgiveness is belief, not circumcision, not Jewish identity, not ritual purity. Everyone who believes. This is the sentence the Holy Spirit will not let Peter finish — because God will confirm it immediately, in real time.
The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message.
45 All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
46 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered,
47 “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?”
48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.
ἔτι λαλοῦντος τοῦ Πέτρου ... ἐπέπεσεν τὸ πνεῦμα (eti lalountos tou Petrou ... epepesen to pneuma) — v.44: “While Peter was still speaking” — the Spirit interrupts the sermon. Peter does not finish. God does not wait for the altar call, the closing prayer, or the invitation to baptism. The Spirit falls (ἐπέπεσεν, epepesen, “fell upon” — the word suggests a sudden, overwhelming descent) on all the listeners while Peter is still talking. This is God preempting human procedure. The question of whether Gentiles can receive the Spirit is answered before anyone has time to ask it. God acts first and lets the theology catch up.
v.44: The Spirit falls on “all those who were listening to the message” — not just Cornelius but his entire household: relatives, friends, servants. The scope is comprehensive. And there is no laying on of hands (as in Samaria, 8:17), no baptism first (as at Pentecost, 2:38), no human mediation of any kind. The Spirit comes directly, sovereignly, bypassing every procedure the church had established. God is making a point: this is his doing, not Peter’s.
ἐξέστησαν (exestēsan) — v.45: “Were amazed” — ἐξίστημι (existēmi) means to be beside oneself, to be driven out of one’s mind with astonishment. The Jewish believers from Joppa are stunned. The word “also” (καί, kai) is theologically loaded: “on the Gentiles also.” The Spirit has been poured out on Jews (chapter 2) and Samaritans (chapter 8) — now on Gentiles also. The same Spirit, the same gift, the same God. The evidence is audible: they hear the Gentiles speaking in tongues and praising God, exactly as happened at Pentecost. The parallel is unmistakable and intentional: this is the Gentile Pentecost.
μήτι τὸ ὕδωρ δύναται κωλῦσαί τις (mēti to hydōr dynatai kōlysai tis) — v.47: “Surely no one can refuse the water ... can he?” — the word κωλύω (kōlyō, “to prevent,” “to forbid,” “to hinder”) echoes the Ethiopian eunuch’s question: “What prevents me from being baptized?” (8:36, τί κωλύει με). The same verb, the same question, the same answer: nothing prevents it. Peter’s logic is irrefutable: these people have received the same Spirit we received at Pentecost. If God has given them the Spirit, who are we to withhold the water? The order is reversed from the normal pattern (normally baptism precedes the Spirit, 2:38), and that reversal is the entire point: God has acted first, and the church must follow.
v.48: Peter orders them baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ.” The Gentiles are baptized without circumcision, without conversion to Judaism, without adopting the Law. They are baptized as Gentiles who believe in Jesus. This is the foundational precedent for the entire Gentile mission. Everything that follows in Acts — Paul’s missionary journeys, the Jerusalem Council in chapter 15, the theological arguments of Romans and Galatians — rests on what happened in this room. The wall has fallen.
v.48: “Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.” Peter stays. He eats with them. He sleeps under their roof. The Jewish apostle lives with Gentile believers as family. The vision of the sheet has become reality: what God has cleansed, Peter no longer calls unclean. The revolution is complete.
General Notes on the Chapter
Acts 10 is arguably the most consequential chapter in Acts, and one of the most important in the entire New Testament. It records the moment when the gospel crossed the final and most fundamental boundary: the barrier between Jew and Gentile, between Israel and the nations. Everything before this chapter takes place within some version of Judaism — Jews, Samaritans, God-fearers, proselytes. After this chapter, the door is open to the entire world. The theological implications will take decades to work out (the Jerusalem Council in chapter 15, Paul’s letter to the Galatians, the sustained argument of Romans), but the decisive event is here, in a centurion’s living room in Caesarea.
Luke narrates this event with extraordinary care, giving it more space and more repetition than any other episode in Acts. The story is told here in chapter 10, then retold by Peter in chapter 11 when he defends himself before the Jerusalem church. The double narration is the strongest possible signal of importance. Luke wants his readers to understand: this is the turning point.
The structure of the chapter is built on divine orchestration. God sends an angel to Cornelius (vv.1–8). God sends a vision to Peter (vv.9–16). God sends the Spirit to direct Peter to the messengers (vv.17–20). God sends the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles (vv.44–46). At every stage, God takes the initiative. Neither Cornelius nor Peter drives the action; God drives it. Cornelius did not seek Peter; God told him to send for Peter. Peter did not seek Gentiles; God showed him a vision and sent him to Cornelius. The Gentile mission is not a human idea; it is a divine initiative, and God makes sure everyone knows it.
Peter’s sermon in vv.34–43 is the most concise gospel summary in Acts. It begins with God’s impartiality (v.34–35), summarizes Jesus’s ministry (v.38), states his death and resurrection (vv.39–40), names the apostles as witnesses (v.41), declares Jesus as judge of all (v.42), and offers forgiveness to everyone who believes (v.43). It is a complete gospel in ten verses — and God confirms it by interrupting it. The Spirit’s arrival before the sermon is finished is God’s way of saying: this message is true, and I am not waiting for anyone’s permission to act on it.
The theological implication of v.15 — “what God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy” — extends far beyond the immediate question of food laws and Gentile inclusion. It establishes a principle that the early church would wrestle with for decades: God has the authority to redefine the boundaries of holiness. What was once unclean can be made clean by divine decree. The categories the Law established are real and were divinely given, but they are not permanent and they are not the final word. God is doing something new, and the old categories must yield to the new reality. This does not mean the Law was wrong; it means the Law was preparation, and what it prepared for has now arrived.
The phrase that echoes through this chapter and the debates that follow is “just as we did” (v.47) and “the same gift as he gave to us” (11:17). The same Spirit. The same gift. The same experience. The Gentiles at Caesarea received exactly what the Jews received at Pentecost. If the gift is the same, the recipients must be equal. This argument from spiritual equality will become the decisive weapon in every debate about Gentile inclusion: you cannot call unclean what God has filled with his Spirit.