PETER TRAVELS TO A CENTURION’S HOME IN CAESAREA MARITIMA

ACTS 10

Paul’s encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus had changed him forever. The apostle Peter also went through a remarkable change when the Lord instructed him to go to the home of Cornelius, a Roman centurion who was responsible for the soldiers stationed in the city of Caesarea Maritima.18 Luke describes him and all his family as “devout and God-fearing” (Acts 10:2). His charitable acts and prayers were received by the Lord, so an angel was sent to Cornelius, urging him to send men to Peter in Joppa to have Peter come to his home in Caesarea Maritima for a reason (Acts 10:1–8).

As Cornelius’s envoys approached the home where Peter was staying, the Lord gave Peter a vision. While on the roof of Simon the tanner’s house, Peter saw a large sheet descending from heaven containing a wide variety of birds, reptiles, and four-footed animals. When he was encouraged to kill and eat, Peter hesitated because of Jewish dietary (kashrut) laws that forbade eating “unclean” food (Leviticus 11). The Lord immediately responded, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15). After this vision repeated two more times, the Lord instructed Peter to leave Joppa and go to the home of Cornelius in Caesarea.

Marble statue depicting Roman military dress.
© Dr. James C. Martin. The British Museum.

Not keeping his feelings to himself, Peter entered Cornelius’s home and announced, “It is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him” (Acts 10:28). Observant Jews did not enter the home of Gentiles, particularly the home of a Roman military officer in a city like Caesarea Maritima.19 But realizing that God does not show favoritism, Peter began to speak about Jesus. Before long, this day started to look like a reenactment of Pentecost. This time, however, the Holy Spirit came upon Gentiles while Peter was still speaking, and these Gentiles spoke in tongues and were baptized in the name of Jesus (Acts 10:30–48).

Peter’s trip from Joppa to Caesarea Maritima brought the news of Jesus to those who needed to hear it and also taught Peter a powerful lesson. A big part of that lesson was shaped by his journey from Joppa to Caesarea Maritima. Joppa was the earlier seaport of Israel located on the Mediterranean Sea. Although its function as a seaport was dramatically diminished by the time of Peter, its connection to Jerusalem and Judea remained intact. By contrast, Caesarea Maritima had a decidedly Gentile orientation. Herod the Great had begun building the city in 22 BC, investing great time and energy in making this an all-weather seaport.20 Later Roman governors continued what Herod had begun. Caesarea became the regional capital of Rome filled with all the structures and ideology that represented the best Rome had to offer.21 Given this Roman orientation, it is no surprise that a contingent of Roman soldiers was based there. For an observant Jew, it was those Roman soldiers who represented almost all that was wrong with the world.

Dietary laws prohibited Jews from eating unclean foods such as the “creeping things” depicted on this Babylonian boundary stone.
© Dr. James C. Martin. The British Museum.

The harbor and coastline of Caesarea Maritima (view looking south).

The Lord summoned Peter to travel from Joppa to the home of a Roman centurion in Caesarea Maritima for a reason. It was critical for Peter to learn that “God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34–35). What better place to learn that lesson than by traveling from Joppa to the home of a Roman soldier in Caesarea Maritima. As Peter initially resisted the thought of eating food that was ritually unclean, so he initially resisted the thought of entering the home of a Gentile. But it was his trip to the home of Cornelius in Caesarea Maritima that changed all that.

Peter goes from Joppa to Caesarea Maritima

Archaeological sites of first-century AD Caesarea Maritima

Bronze statuette of a Roman soldier wearing laminated armor (lorica segmentata).
© Dr. James C. Martin. The British Museum.