Cornelius

The Biblical Account

Cornelius appears in Acts 10. He was a centurion (a commander of roughly one hundred soldiers) of "the band called the Italian band" stationed at Caesarea. Acts 10:2 describes him as "a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway."

One day at about three o'clock in the afternoon (the ninth hour), an angel appeared to him in a vision and told him that his prayers and alms had come up as a memorial before God. The angel instructed him to send for Peter, who was in Joppa. At about the same time, Peter also saw a vision on a rooftop in Joppa. A great sheet let down from heaven contained unclean animals, and he heard a voice say, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common" (Acts 10:15). Peter went to Cornelius's house and, before Cornelius's relatives and friends, delivered a sermon that began, "God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34). While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word, and they spoke with tongues; Peter then commanded that they be baptized (Acts 10:44-48).

Significance Within Scripture

In Acts 11, Peter explains these events to the church in Jerusalem. The church accepted his account, saying, "Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life" (Acts 11:18). At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:7-9, Peter again appeals to this event in arguing that circumcision should not be imposed on Gentile believers. For this reason, the story of Cornelius is read as a turning point at which the gospel moved beyond the Jews and was opened to the Gentiles.

Interpretations and Points of Debate

• The moment of salvation: Cornelius was a devout man even before he met Peter. Yet the angel said that he needed to hear "words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved" (Acts 11:14). The Reformed tradition generally cites this to emphasize that piety alone is insufficient and that the gospel must be heard. The Wesleyan tradition sometimes explains the account as an instance of God's prevenient grace drawing him before his conversion.
• The order of receiving the Spirit and baptism: In this passage, the reception of the Holy Spirit took place before water baptism. Pentecostalism refers to this as "the Gentile Pentecost" and cites it as an example of baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. Many other denominations regard it as a unique event confirming that Gentiles had been received into the church, rather than as a pattern to be applied directly to every believer.
• The baptism of the whole household: In the infant baptism debate, denominations that practice infant baptism cite this passage as an example of household baptism. Baptists respond by pointing out that those who were baptized were people who had heard the word and received the Holy Spirit.
• Was he the first Gentile believer?: Some hold that the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8 came first, and scholars are divided on the question.
• Traditions outside the text: Later tradition holds that Cornelius afterward became bishop of Caesarea, but this does not appear in Scripture. The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church commemorate him as a saint.

In the Korean Church

Church schools (Sunday schools) commonly teach the story of "Peter and Cornelius" as a lesson in their curricula. In preaching, the account is cited mainly in connection with three themes:

• Piety in which prayer and almsgiving go together
• A gospel that overcomes prejudice
• The starting point of the mission to the Gentiles