Peter
went down to the men, and said, “Behold, I am he whom you seek. Why have you come?” They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one who fears God, and well spoken of by all the nation of the Jews, was directed by a holy angel to invite you to his house, and to listen to what you say.” So he called them in and provided a place to stay. On the next day Peter arose and went out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. On the next day they entered into Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them, having called together his relatives and his near friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet, and worshiped him. But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.” As he talked with him, he went in and found many gathered together. He said to them, “You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean. Therefore also I came without complaint when I was sent for. I ask therefore, why did you send for me?”
Acts 10:21-29
Acts 10 [15.] A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” This was done three times, and immediately the vessel was received up into heaven. Now while Peter was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood before the gate, and called and asked whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was lodging there. While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men seek you. But arise, get down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”
Acts 10 [21.] Peter went down to the men, and said, “Behold, I am he whom you seek. Why have you come?”
Acts 10 [22.] They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one who fears God, and well spoken of by all the nation of the Jews, was directed by a holy angel to invite you to his house, and to listen to what you say.” So he called them in and provided a place to stay. On the next day Peter arose and went out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. On the next day they entered into Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them, having called together his relatives and his near friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet, and worshiped him. But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.” As he talked with him, he went in and found many gathered together. He said to them, “You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean. Therefore also I came without complaint when I was sent for. I ask therefore, why did you send for me?”
Acts 10 [30.] Cornelius said, “Four days ago, I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer is heard, and your gifts to the needy are remembered in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and summon Simon, who is also called Peter. He lodges in the house of a tanner named Simon, by the seaside. When he comes, he will speak to you.’ Therefore I sent to you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God to hear all things that have been commanded you by God.”
Meaning:
The Spirit has told Peter to go with the men from Caesarea, “doubting nothing” (Acts 10:20). Now he obeys step by step, and each step crosses a line that had shaped his whole life.
- “Behold, I am he whom you seek. Why have you come?”
The messengers describe Cornelius as “well spoken of by all the nation of the Jews,” like the centurion of whom the elders said, “he loves our nation” (Luke 7:5).
- “So he called them in and provided a place to stay”
The first crossing happened in Joppa, where Peter gave Gentiles hospitality overnight. The next day he set out with “some of the brothers from Joppa,” six of them, as he later explains (Acts 11:12). They would be Jewish witnesses of all that God did.
- “Having called together his relatives and his near friends”
Cornelius, devout “with all his house” (Acts 10:2), gathered family and friends to share in God’s answer.
- “Stand up! I myself am also a man”
Cornelius fell at Peter’s feet and worshiped him. Peter would not accept it. Paul and Barnabas reacted the same way at Lystra: “We also are men of like passions with you” (Acts 14:15). Worship belongs to God alone; Jesus himself said, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only” (Matthew 4:10). The apostle and the centurion stand side by side as men before God.
- “An unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation”
The Law of Moses does not forbid all contact with Gentiles, but Jewish custom of the time treated entering a Gentile home or eating with Gentiles as defiling. At Jesus’ trial the Jewish leaders “didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled” (John 18:28). Peter now walks through that barrier and explains why: “God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean.” He has understood that the vision was about people as well as food.
Even so, the lesson did not settle every question for Peter. Years later at Antioch, Paul writes that Peter “ate with the Gentiles” but then “drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision” (Galatians 2:12). Old barriers can return under pressure.
The Significance of Acts 10:21-29
- The dividing wall comes down
Paul wrote that Christ “broke down the middle wall of partition,” making Jew and Gentile one (Ephesians 2:14). Here we see that truth begin to happen in a real house, through a Jewish apostle choosing to enter.
- No one is unclean to God
No race, class or background makes a person unclean before God. Christians are called to treat every person as someone God may be calling.
Cross-References:
Ephesians 2:14: “For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition.” Jew and Gentile made one.
Acts 14:15: “We also are men of like passions with you.” Apostles refuse worship.
Galatians 2:12: “For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles.” Peter at Antioch.
Conclusion: Peter obeyed the Spirit, welcomed Gentile messengers, and entered the house of Cornelius, where he refused worship and declared that God had shown him not to call any person unholy or unclean. A centuries-old barrier between Jew and Gentile began to fall in one Roman household. The scene calls believers to humility and to open doors to people of every nation.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible