Acts 10

God opens the door of the gospel to the Gentiles. An angel directs a God-fearing Roman officer, Cornelius, to send for Peter, and a vision prepares Peter to go. While Peter preaches Jesus in Cornelius’s house, the Holy Spirit falls on the listeners, and Peter has them baptized.

Acts 10:1-2

Cornelius was a Roman officer commanding about a hundred men, stationed in the coastal city of Caesarea. Though a Gentile, he and his whole household revered the God of Israel. He prayed constantly and shared what he had with those in need.

BSA: generously (“with an open hand, liberally”): His giving was open-handed, not grudging, and it flowed from real reverence for God.

Greek: φοβούμενος (phoboumenos, G5399) — “fearing, reverencing.” This was a common word for non-Jews who honored Israel’s God and joined in his worship without becoming full converts. Cornelius stood near the door but not yet inside.

Acts 10:3-4

At the ninth hour, the afternoon hour of prayer, an angel appears to Cornelius in a plain, waking vision. He is afraid, yet he answers respectfully. God tells him that his prayers and giving have risen before Him and are remembered. God notices sincere seekers.

BSA: memorial offering (“a reminder, a sacrifice”): His prayers and gifts rose before God like an offering that keeps him in God’s remembrance. ascended (“gone up, risen”): His prayers and gifts went up to God like incense.

Greek: μνημόσυνον (mnēmosynon, G3422) — “memorial, reminder.” This word is used in the Old Testament for the portion of an offering burned to bring the worshiper before God. Cornelius’s devotion was received like an offering.

See also: Psalm 141:2; Hebrews 13:16.

Acts 10:5-6

The angel does not preach the gospel himself. He tells Cornelius where to find Peter, and God chooses to work through a human messenger. The house of a tanner, a trade often avoided by strict Jews, may hint that Peter’s strict habits were already loosening.

BSA: tanner (“one who works with animal hides”): Handling dead animals made this trade ceremonially unclean in the eyes of many, so Peter’s host is a quiet sign of what is coming.

Acts 10:7-8

Cornelius obeys at once. He chooses two servants and a devout soldier, tells them everything, and sends them about thirty miles to Joppa. His faith shows in prompt action, trusting what God has said.

BSA: devout (“pious, godly”): Even the soldier he picks shares his reverence for God, so the whole household is a godly one.

Acts 10:9-10

About noon, as the messengers near Joppa, Peter goes up on the flat rooftop to pray in quiet. He is hungry, and while lunch is prepared, God lays a vision on him. God often meets people in ordinary moments of prayer.

BSA: trance (“amazement, a state of being astonished”): Peter was taken out of his ordinary awareness so that he could take in what God was showing him.

Greek: ἔκστασις (ekstasis, G1611) — “a standing outside oneself, trance.” It describes a state in which a person’s attention is wholly caught up by something from God. Our word ecstasy comes from it.

Acts 10:11-12

Peter sees heaven open and something like a great sheet lowered by its four corners. In it are all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds. Under the law of Moses many of these were forbidden as food, so the sight is startling for a devout Jew.

See also: Leviticus 11:1-47.

Acts 10:13-14

A voice tells Peter to kill and eat. Peter refuses, calling Jesus Lord while saying no, which is a contradiction. He has kept the food laws all his life and means to keep them. His answer shows how deeply this habit ran.

BSA: impure (“common or unsanctified”): The word means ordinary, not set apart as fit for God’s people, and it is the label Jews put on Gentile things.

Greek: κοινόν (koinon, G2839) — “common, ordinary, defiled.” Its basic sense is what is shared by everyone. It came to mean ritually defiled, the very word Peter will later turn against the idea of calling any person unclean.

Acts 10:15-16

The voice answers that what God has made clean, Peter must not call impure. It happens three times, so Peter cannot miss that it is firmly fixed. God Himself has the right to declare what is clean, and He is about to do so for people.

BSA: clean (“purified, cleansed”): God does the cleansing. Cleanness is His gift, not something people earn.

Greek: ἐκαθάρισεν (ekatharisen, G2511) — “made clean, cleansed.” The verb is in a tense that points to a finished act. God has already declared it done, and Peter’s task is to accept this.

See also: Mark 7:18-19.

Acts 10:17-18

Peter is still turning the vision over in his mind when Cornelius’s men reach the gate and ask for him. God’s timing is exact. The vision and the visitors arrive together, so that the meaning can be seen in events.

Acts 10:19-20

The Spirit tells Peter that three men are looking for him. He is to go with them without hesitation, because the Spirit Himself has sent them. This is the key to the vision: the cleansing is about people, not food, and Peter is to go to Gentiles.

BSA: hesitation (“doubting, being uncertain”): Peter is told not to waver or argue within himself when the way is clearly from God.

Greek: διακρινόμενος (diakrinomenos, G1252) — “doubting, wavering, making distinctions.” The word can mean drawing lines between people. Peter is told not to draw the old line between Jew and Gentile.

Acts 10:21-22

Peter goes down and identifies himself. The men describe Cornelius with respect as a righteous, God-fearing man well spoken of by the Jewish people. They explain that a holy angel told him to invite Peter to hear what he has to say.

BSA: righteous (“just and righteous”): His good character was plain even to Jews who watched him.

Acts 10:23

Peter welcomes the Gentile messengers as guests under his own roof. This is already a step across the old barrier. The next day he sets out with them, bringing some believers from Joppa as witnesses.

BSA: guests (“to lodge with him, to stay as his companions”): Peter shared hospitality and a night’s rest with these Gentiles, as friends.

Acts 10:24

After a journey of about a day and a half, Peter reaches Caesarea. Cornelius is waiting expectantly and has gathered his relatives and close friends. He wants them to hear the message too, and that is a good example of sharing what we have received.

Acts 10:25-26

Cornelius falls at Peter’s feet in reverence. Peter lifts him up at once, saying that he is only a man. Even a great apostle accepts no worship. Honor belongs to God alone.

BSA: man (“a human, mortal”): Peter reminds Cornelius that he shares the same ordinary humanity and is not above him.

See also: Acts 14:14-15; Revelation 19:10.

Acts 10:27-29

Peter finds a large crowd waiting. He reminds them that Jews were expected not to mix closely with Gentiles, but that God has shown him to call no one impure. So he came without objection, and he asks why they sent for him.

BSA: foreigner (“a Gentile, someone of another nation”): The barrier was between peoples, and God has now removed it for the sake of the gospel.

Greek: ἀθέμιτον (athemiton, G111) — “forbidden, not permitted.” The word speaks of what custom and tradition forbid. The Old Testament did not command this separation; it grew up as a human fence around the law.

See also: Ephesians 2:13-14.

Acts 10:30-33

Cornelius retells the angel’s visit and then says that everyone is gathered in God’s presence to hear all that the Lord has commanded Peter to say. What a hearer’s heart this is! No one is there to be entertained. They are ready to listen to God.

BSA: kind (“well, rightly”): He thanks Peter for doing the right thing by coming, a courteous word from a man who had every right to command.

Acts 10:34-35

Peter begins by stating what he has now understood: God has no favorites. In every nation, people who revere Him and live rightly are welcome to Him. This does not mean good deeds save us, but that no race stands outside His reach.

BSA: favoritism (“prejudice, partiality, being a respecter of persons”): God does not judge by outward standing, background, or nationality.

Greek: προσωπολήμπτης (prosōpolēmptēs, G4381) — “one who receives faces, a respecter of persons.” It literally pictures lifting up someone’s face to favor them because of how they look or who they are. God does not do this.

See also: Romans 2:11; Deuteronomy 10:17.

Acts 10:36

God sent the message first to Israel: the good news of peace through Jesus Christ. Peter then adds the astonishing words that this Jesus is Lord of all, not only of the Jews. The peace He brings is first peace with God, and it spreads to people of every nation.

BSA: peace (“harmony, prosperity, freedom from war”): It means wholeness and a right relationship, first between sinners and God and then between people.

Greek: εὐαγγελιζόμενος (euangelizomenos, G2097) — “announcing good news.” The verb is the root of our word evangelize. It is the cry of a herald bringing news of victory.

See also: Ephesians 2:17.

Acts 10:37-38

Peter reminds them of what they already know: Jesus began in Galilee after John’s baptism. God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went about doing good and healing those oppressed by the devil. The reason for His power was that God was with Him.

BSA: oppressed (“under the devil’s control”): Sickness and affliction were seen as part of a hostile power that Jesus came to break.

Greek: ἔχρισεν (echrisen, G5548) — “anointed.” This is the root of the title Christ, which means the Anointed One. Peter shows that Jesus’ ministry flowed from this anointing by the Spirit.

See also: Luke 4:18.

Acts 10:39

Peter and the other apostles are eyewitnesses of everything Jesus did in Judea and Jerusalem. Yet people killed Him by hanging Him on a tree. Peter does not hide the shame of the cross, because it is part of the gospel.

BSA: tree (“a cross, wood”): The cross is described as a piece of wood, echoing the Old Testament picture of one who bore a curse.

See also: Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Galatians 3:13.

Acts 10:40-41

God raised Jesus on the third day and let Him be seen, not by everyone, but by witnesses He had chosen. These ate and drank with Him after He rose. The meals show the resurrection was physical and real, not a vision or a ghost.

BSA: witnesses (“chosen ones, those who testify”): They were picked to testify to the resurrection, and their eating with Him backs up what they say.

See also: Luke 24:41-43.

Acts 10:42

Jesus commanded the apostles to preach to the people and to testify that He is the one God has appointed to judge the living and the dead. The Savior who offers forgiveness is also the final Judge, so the message is both comforting and serious.

BSA: judge (“decide, evaluate”): He will weigh every life with perfect knowledge and fairness.

See also: Acts 17:31; 2 Timothy 4:1.

Acts 10:43

Peter ends with the heart of the message. All the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through His name. The offer is open to everyone, and it is received by faith.

BSA: name (“authority, character, reputation”): Forgiveness comes through who Jesus is and what He has done, not through anything we bring.

See also: Isaiah 53:5-6; Jeremiah 31:34.

Acts 10:44

Peter has not finished speaking when the Holy Spirit falls on all who are listening. God interrupts the sermon to show that He has accepted them. No one has to earn it first. The gift comes as they hear and believe.

Greek: ἐπέπεσεν (epepesen, G1968) — “fell upon.” The verb suggests a sudden, powerful coming, the same wording used of the Spirit’s arrival on the Jewish believers at the beginning.

See also: Acts 11:15.

Acts 10:45-46

The Jewish believers with Peter are amazed that the Spirit has been poured out on Gentiles too. They hear them speaking in tongues and praising God, as the first believers had at Pentecost. This is clear proof that God had accepted them.

BSA: poured out (“liberally bestowed, generously given”): The Spirit was given without measure and without any distinction between Jew and Gentile.

Greek: ἐξέστησαν (exestēsan, G1839) — “were amazed, were beside themselves.” The word means being knocked out of one’s usual way of thinking. God did what they had never expected.

See also: Acts 2:4.

Acts 10:47-48

Peter reasons that since these people have received the Spirit just as the believers did, no one can refuse them water. He orders them baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. They then ask him to stay on, and the new fellowship begins.

BSA: baptize (“immerse, submerge”): Baptism is the visible sign that these Gentiles now belong to Christ, as the Jewish believers do.

See also: Acts 11:17-18; Galatians 3:28.