Peter At Cornelius’s House; Acts 10:24 – 48 – Part 3

Church History: Cornelius declares the directions God gave to him to send for Peter, and that it was purely in obedience to those directions that he had sent for him. Cornelius gives an account of the angel's appearing to him, and ordering him to send for Peter; not making light of it, but he wanted to know what his expectation should be, having received a message from heaven. He tells how this vision found him engaged: Four days ago I was fasting until this hour, this hour of the day that it is now when Peter came, about the middle of the afternoon. He describes the messenger that brought him this message from heaven: There stood a man before me in bright clothing, as Christ's was when he was transfigured, and that of the two angels who appeared at Christ's resurrection (Luke 24:4), and at his ascension (Acts 1:10), showing their relation to the world of light. He repeats the message that was sent to him just as we had it. Only here it is said, thy prayer is heard. We are not told what his prayer was; but if this message was an answer to it, and it should seem it was, we may suppose that finding the deficiency of natural light, and that it left him at a loss how to obtain the pardon of his sin and the favor of God, he prayed that God would make some further discoveries of himself and of the way of salvation to him. "Well," said the angel, "send for Peter, and he will give you such a discovery." He declares his own and his friends' readiness to receive the message Peter had to deliver: I sent for you immediately as I was directed, and you have come to us, though we are Gentiles.
Because they were Gentiles to whom Peter preached. He shows that, notwithstanding this, they were interested in the gospel of Christ, which he had to preach, and they were entitled to the benefit of it, upon an equal footing with the Jews. God never did, nor ever will, justify and save a wicked Jew that lived and died impenitent, though he was of the seed of Abraham, and a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and had all the honor and advantages that attended circumcision. He does and will render indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that does evil; and of the Jew first, whose privileges and professions, instead of screening him from the judgment of God, will but aggravate his guilt and condemnation. See (Romans 2:3,8-9,17). Though God had previously favored the Jews, above other nations, with the dignities of visible church-membership, yet he will not accept any particular persons of that dignity, if they allow themselves in immoralities contradictory to their profession; and particularly in persecution, which was now, more than any other, the national sin of the Jews. He never did, nor ever will, reject or refuse an honest Gentile, who, though he did not have the privileges and advantages that the Jews had, yet, like Cornelius, feared God, and worshiped him, and worked righteousness, that is, is just and charitable towards all men, who lives up to the light he has, both in a sincere devotion and in a regular conversation. No matter what nationality he is, or how far remote he is from the kindred seed of Abraham. God judges men by their hearts, not by their country or parentage; and, wherever he finds an upright man, he will be found an upright God, (Psalms 18:25).
God confirmed Peter's word, by bestowing the Holy Spirit upon the hearers of it, and immediately upon the hearing of it. While Peter was yet speaking these words, and perhaps designed to say more, he was happily superseded by visible indications that the Holy Spirit, even in his miraculous gifts and powers, fell on all those who heard the word, even as he did on the apostles at first. The Holy Spirit fell upon others after they were baptized, for their confirmation; but upon these Gentiles before they were baptized: as Abraham was justified by faith, being yet in uncircumcision, to show that God is not tied to a method, nor confines himself to external signs. The Holy Spirit fell upon those that were neither circumcised nor baptized; for it is the Spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing. They spoke with tongues which they never learned, praising God.
Desiring both Peter's word and God's work for further advantage, they prayed for him to stay with them several days. They could not press him to reside constantly among them, they knew that he had work to do in other places, and that for the present he was expected at Jerusalem; yet they were not willing for him to go away immediately, but earnestly begged he would stay for some time among them, that they might be further instructed by him in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.