GOD IS NOT PARTIAL

ACTS 10:24-48

NASB

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 [a]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 [a]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 [a]ninth hour; and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments, 31 and he said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your [a]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 [a]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.”

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 [a]fears Him and [b]does what is right is welcome to Him. 36 The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching [a]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 [a]You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, [b]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 [a]land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a [b]cross. 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 [a]preach to the people, and solemnly to testify 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.”

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the [a]message. 45 All the [a]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.

10:25 [a]Or prostrated himself in reverence  10:28 [a]Or profane; lit common  10:30 [a]I.e. 3 to 4 p.m.  10:31 [a]Or deeds of charity  10:33 [a]Lit done well in coming  10:35 [a]Or reverences  [b]Lit works righteousness  10:36 [a]Or the gospel of peace  10:38 [a]Or How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth  [b]Lit who went  10:39 [a]Or countryside  [b]Lit wood  10:42 [a]Or proclaim  10:44 [a]Lit word  10:45 [a]Lit believers from among the circumcision; i.e. Jewish Christians 

NLT

24 They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter pulled him up and said, “Stand up! I’m a human being just like you!” 27 So they talked together and went inside, where many others were assembled.

28 Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. 29 So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me.”

30 Cornelius replied, “Four days ago I was praying in my house about this same time, three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. 31 He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God! 32 Now send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you.”

34 Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36 This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel —that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began preaching his message of baptism. 38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

39 “And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross,[*] 40 but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear, 41 not to the general public,[*] but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all —the living and the dead. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”

44 Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45 The Jewish believers[*] who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. 46 For they heard them speaking in other tongues[*] and praising God.

Then Peter asked, 47 “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” 48 So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.

[10:39] Greek on a tree.   [10:41] Greek the people.   [10:45] Greek The faithful ones of the circumcision.   [10:46] Or in other languages.  

Back in the 1970s, Ronald Sider wrote a book that bothered me from the first page to the last —for all the right reasons. Many consider Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger one of the most influential books ever written up to that time on the subject of Christian responsibility. I cried through some parts and ground my teeth in others. I squirmed as he probed the issue of prejudice and exposed examples of blatant partiality. By the end, I had to face the facts and accept my responsibility as a Christian —middle-class by American standards, yet affluent with respect to a world in which more than one billion people continue to starve.

At the beginning of the third chapter, Sider asks a penetrating question: “Is God biased?” We embrace a biblical theology that says no. Our behavior, on the other hand, suggests we believe otherwise. What we say we believe matters less than what we declare by our actions.

The Lord confronted Peter’s prejudice in a similar way —except in his case it was through a disturbing vision that left the apostle “greatly perplexed in mind” (10:17). A. T. Robertson has paraphrased the Greek phrase as “to be completely at a loss to know what road to take.”[84] Peter didn’t have long to deliberate. Within an hour or two, three Gentiles stood at the gate with an invitation to visit Cornelius in Caesarea Maritima and to preach the gospel in his household. What a great opportunity for the gospel! Still, the request challenged everything Peter understood about Jews, Gentiles, and how the Messiah would establish the kingdom of God on earth. Based on his incomplete understanding, Gentiles would come into the kingdom first through the gate of a reformed and revitalized Judaism and then embrace Jesus as High Priest and King. In other words, it would likely have seemed unthinkable for Gentiles to be united to the new covenant community of the Jewish Messiah without first converting to Judaism!

With three Gentiles standing at the gate of Simon the tanner’s house, Peter had a decision to make. Whose vision of the kingdom would he pursue? The Lord’s or his own? Peter couldn’t overcome a lifetime of prejudice in a matter of hours, so when put to the test, what would he do?

To the Hebrew mind, what a person did revealed their true beliefs, regardless of the emotions involved. According to 10:23, Peter responded by committing two great cultural transgressions: he extended hospitality to Gentiles, and he agreed to accept the hospitality of Gentiles in the despised city of Caesarea.

— 10:24-25 —

The 30-mile journey took Peter and his Jewish brothers at least a day and a half to travel on foot. Like most people, they could cover 15 to 20 miles in daylight hours. The group left Joppa the next morning; then, sometime in the afternoon of the following day, they entered Caesarea Maritima, the headquarters of Roman occupation in Israel.

From the perspective of a devout Jew, Peter had entered enemy territory to consort with the enemy. From Cornelius’s point of view, God had agreed to bless his household after years of pleading. So, when God’s chief representative entered his home, the commander fell down and worshiped Peter (10:25). The Greek term translated “worshiped” (proskyneō [4352]) doesn’t presume to say what’s on the heart of the person worshiping; it merely describes his or her posture. It means “to prostrate oneself” or “to bow down.” In pagan religions, a man or woman representing a deity was venerated as semidivine, even more so if he or she could work miracles (14:11; 28:6).[85] Pagan worshipers offered obeisance to the gods by falling down at the feet of their priests. While Cornelius “feared God,” “gave many alms to the Jewish people,” and “prayed to God continually” (10:2), he was nonetheless ignorant. In the presence of someone he considered a holy man, the Roman behaved as he had been taught from childhood.

— 10:26-27 —

The gesture undoubtedly embarrassed Peter. Devout Jews scrupulously avoided giving or receiving from anyone the veneration that God alone deserves. They didn’t strike coins with anyone’s image, and they didn’t erect statues or paint portraits or memorialize any human being in any tangible way; they wanted to avoid anything remotely close to man worship. So, when Peter saw Cornelius prostrated before him, he probably shuddered at the challenge of evangelizing Gentiles. With Hebrews and even Samaritans, the gospel was being built upon a relatively solid foundation of biblical and theological knowledge. Not so with non-Jews. Lesson #1: Worship God alone.

From My Journal

“Act Medium”

ACTS 10:26

When Peter saw the centurion bowing down and worshiping him, he said, “Stand up; I too am just a man.” Wasn’t that a beautiful response? He didn’t say, “Here, my son, kiss the ring of the big fisherman.”

As fallen creatures, we tend to worship the people we highly respect. If you hold a position of authority or respect, you have a duty to discourage inordinate admiration and any form of over-the-top reverence. Do everything you can to keep people from putting you on a pedestal. It’s a precarious position for you and a long fall when you eventually topple. You don’t want to block their vision of God, and you don’t want to be responsible for their disillusionment with Him when they finally do see your clay feet.

If God uses you significantly in a particular sphere of influence, it is your responsibility to keep the eyes of the people on the Lord. Meanwhile, let them see the cracks in your own life. Let them know that you’re one with them, that you struggle with many of the same issues as they do, and that you have no corner on spiritual truth.

Be like the kids who built a summertime clubhouse in the backyard and established three rules of conduct:

#1: Nobody act big.

#2: Nobody act small.

#3: Everybody act medium.

As Peter raised the centurion to his feet, he saw a houseful of Gentiles —ignorant, yet eager to hear about Jesus, the Son of God.

— 10:28-29 —

I have always appreciated Peter’s transparency. He entered the household of a Gentile, which was difficult enough. He had to stop the man from worshiping him, which felt awkward, to say the least. Then he stood before a gathered crowd of Gentiles who wanted to know how the Hebrew God could save them. Rather than ignore the great cultural and theological divide that stood between them, Peter acknowledged it. Everyone there knew Jews were not supposed to associate with Gentiles.

The term translated “unlawful” (10:28; athemitos [111]) is better rendered “forbidden” or “illicit.” Old Testament Law didn’t prohibit Hebrews from associating with Gentiles. They were not to marry outside the covenant community, but Gentiles who converted were acceptable as mates. The people of Israel were encouraged to welcome traveling strangers into their homes and to socialize freely with Gentiles, so long as they didn’t compromise their moral standards in the process. After returning from the Exile, rabbis became increasingly xenophobic in their interpretation of the Law.

Peter acknowledged that his coming to Caesarea violated the sensibilities of his fellow Jews, but that it was, in fact, an act of obedience to God (10:28). Contrary to some first-century Jews, God does not —and He never did —consider Gentiles unworthy of salvation. From the beginning, it had been the Lord’s intention for Israel to be His instrument in bringing all nations into a relationship with Himself (Isa. 43:10; 44:8). Where the Hebrews had failed, Jesus would succeed. Where Israel had abdicated its role as God’s priestly nation (Exod. 19:6; Isa. 61:6), the church would fulfill its mission. Peter, as the visible leader of the church standing in the home of Cornelius, represented the church’s obedience to God’s call to “be My witnesses” to everyone in the world (Acts 1:8).

Having acknowledged the great cultural divide and theological chasm separating them, Peter asked the assembled Gentiles to explain why they had sent for him (10:29). He, of course, knew the answer already (10:22). This was a courteous way of asking, “How may I serve you now that I’m here?”

— 10:30-33 —

Cornelius noted that Peter was standing in his home exactly four days to the hour from when he received his vision (10:30; cf. 10:9). (Eastern cultures reckon the passing of days differently than we do in the West. They include the present day in the total, whereas we start counting with yesterday.) He briefly recounted the angel’s message and his immediate obedience, and he acknowledged Peter’s arrival in obedience to his instructions. His short speech highlights the Lord’s central role in bringing the meeting together.

— 10:34-36 —

Peter’s message can be divided into two parts:

  1. God is the God of all nations (10:34-36).
  2. Jesus Christ offers salvation for all people (10:37-43).

Peter’s opening line acknowledges a truth that he himself did not fully appreciate until the Lord intervened. The NASB inserts the italicized word “now” (10:34) because it’s not in the Greek text yet could be supported by the context. Still, it seems best to leave it out. Peter undoubtedly accepted the scriptural doctrine that God shows no partiality (see Deut. 10:17; 2 Chr. 19:7), but only in theory; only recently had he taken the doctrine seriously enough to act upon it. Either way, it’s a transparent admission. He stood in the Gentile home because he himself had changed.

The phrases “fears Him” and “does what is right” (Acts 10:35) do not suggest that people can be good enough to earn God’s favor or to gain salvation for themselves. Peter merely acknowledges that God welcomes all who want a relationship with Him. “Fear Him” describes an attitude of belief; “does what is right” refers to the outward evidence of genuine faith.

Jesus is indeed the Jewish Messiah sent to Israel, but He came to redeem the whole world so that all might have “peace with God” (Rom. 5:1). The title “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36) was significant to everyone in the room, but for different reasons. Romans sometimes conferred deity upon their emperors, whom they saw as rulers of the world even beyond their borders. Pagan worshipers used the title in reference to their mythical gods. And Peter gained a new appreciation for the title “Lord of all” —not just the Lord of the Jews —as a result of his recent experience.

— 10:37-43 —

God is the God of all, and Jesus Christ is the Savior of all. To support his claim, Peter recounted several facts about Jesus that were common knowledge in the region. Luke’s synopsis of Jesus’ life roughly follows the outline presented by Mark in his Gospel account:

Peter declared himself and the other apostles to be eyewitnesses to these facts and then stressed the universal nature of Christ’s work. The ministry of Jesus affects the whole world, leading all people to one of two destinies: judgment (10:42) or forgiveness of sins (10:43). The prophets of the Old Testament didn’t promise salvation to Israel alone but to the whole world, to “everyone who believes in Him” (10:43).

— 10:44-46 —

Like many preachers, Peter never actually finished his sermon. “While Peter was still speaking,” and even before he had a chance to urge his audience to place their trust in Jesus Christ, they believed (10:44)! They didn’t have the biblical and theological knowledge of most Jews in Israel, but they believed with their whole selves. That was good enough for God, who knows the heart perfectly. In response to their belief, they immediately received the gift of the Holy Spirit. As a result, these Gentile believers behaved exactly like the original Jewish followers of Jesus on the Day of Pentecost, who had praised God in languages not their own (2:4, 11).

Luke doesn’t refer to Peter and his companions in terms of their ethnicity; not all of them were Hebrew. Instead, he calls them “circumcised believers” (10:45), that is, Christians who came into the kingdom of God by first becoming Jews. Hebrews were natural-born “sons of the covenant,” circumcised on the eighth day and reared in the temple. Gentile converts became “God-fearers,” studied Hebrew and the Law, passed an exam, submitted to water baptism, were circumcised, and then received the designation “sons of the covenant.”

By sending His Spirit upon the new Gentile believers —ignorant and uncircumcised though they were —and giving them power identical to that of the first Christians at Pentecost, God sent a clear message to all who witnessed the event: Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Nothing other than complete, authentic belief is required. Knowledge of the Law is good, but not necessary. Circumcision is good, but not required. Biblical and theological knowledge is good, but not essential. Only trusting in Christ brings forgiveness of sins.

— 10:47-48 —

Peter got the point. He acknowledged the obvious. The power of the Holy Spirit flowed through these Gentile believers, validating them as equal to Jewish believers, so he affirmed them as brothers and sisters in Christ. He baptized them in water immediately and stayed with them several days, undoubtedly to answer their questions, teach them the basics of living in grace, and encourage them to become witnesses. What a memorable experience for Peter!

APPLICATION: ACTS 10:24-48

Theology in Action

The Lord didn’t blame Peter for his faulty theology or the attitude of prejudice his theology encouraged. The Jewish fisherman came by his bigotry honestly; that is, he inherited a long tradition of chauvinism from his parents and generations of rabbis gone wrong. As the most visible leader of the church, however, Peter couldn’t remain as he had been; he needed radical, spiritual heart surgery.

In Acts 10:1-23, the Lord prepared Peter’s heart by correcting his theology. The dietary Laws God gave to Moses and the Israelites had served their purpose. The restrictions taught the Hebrews that they are a sanctified race, a priestly nation, designated by God to be His representatives to all the nations. But the time had come for change. A new era had dawned, a new dispensation —the era of the church. Believers, whether Jewish or Gentile, no longer have to come to the temple to meet God; they now have Christ. Believers no longer need to express their faith through sacrifices with the aid of a priest; they now have direct access to the ultimate High Priest, the Son of God. To be saved, all people alike must believe in Christ with all their hearts, and the One who knows every heart will respond.

Peter understood the Lord’s message theologically, but he failed to see how it applied to the process of conversion. That’s when God gave Peter an opportunity to act upon what he had learned. He obeyed the Lord’s command to go with the Gentiles and to preach the gospel among them, and in the process, he gained a more complete understanding. In other words, God changed Peter’s mind in a vision on the rooftop and then changed Peter’s heart through his obedience in the home of Cornelius. All of this suggests a principle and an imperative.

The principle: What you do is more important than how you feel. The Lord is so gracious. He knows how difficult it is for us to change, yet He can’t allow us to remain as we are, saddled with harmful ways of thinking and shackled to habitual sin. Prejudice is only one of our many problems! So He shows us the truth and then challenges us to apply what He has taught. It would be nice if He would give us time to adjust to this new, heavenly way of thinking and behaving, but He doesn’t. He expects obedience. He expects a faith response to His commands. It feels rushed. Uncomfortable. Sometimes even impossible. But the Lord is not concerned about how we feel about His commands, only that we act on them.

The imperative: Do what is right and let God change your heart. Peter knew what to do, and it’s doubtful his obedience made him feel comfortable, but he did what was right. In the end, the apostle grew, the Gentiles received salvation, and the church began a new chapter of expansion. In fact, Peter’s obedience set the stage for Paul’s future ministry.

Our Maker knows that our discomfort is only temporary. When we set aside our discomfort to do what He has commanded, He knows the experience will accomplish its task and we will be changed. If you know you should do something because God says it’s right, don’t wait for your feelings to give you the go-ahead. Trust Him. Respond in faith. Do what is right and let your feelings follow your obedience.