Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 10:35

"but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him." — Acts 10:35 (ASV)

In every nation he that feareth him.—The great truth that Peter thus proclaimed is obviously far-reaching in its range. It applies not only to those who know the name of Christ and believe in Him when He is preached to them, but also to all who in all ages and countries “fear God” according to the measure of their knowledge, and “work righteousness” according to their belief and opportunities.

The good works in such a case are, in their measure and degree, as “fruits of faith, and follow after justification” (Article XII.). In such cases, justification has been objectively bestowed for the merits of Christ and subjectively appropriated by the faith that, in the Providence of God, was possible under the conditions of the case.

They do not come under the head of “works done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of His Spirit” (Article XIII.). For Christ is “the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9), the Spirit is to every man “the Lord, and giver of life,” and the works are done “as God hath willed and commanded them to be done.”

What such men gain by conversion is a fuller knowledge of the Truth, and therefore a clearer faith, a fuller justification, and a higher blessedness. However, as this history distinctly teaches, they are already accepted with God.

They are saved, “not by the law or sect which they profess” (Article XVIII.), but, even though they do not know the Name by which they must be saved (Acts 4:12), by Christ, who is the Saviour of all.

The truth that St. Peter thus set forth proclaims at once the equity and the love of the Father, and sweeps away the narrowing dreams that confine the hope of salvation to the circumcised, as did the theology of the Rabbis; or to those who have received the outward ordinance of baptism, as did the theology of Augustine and the Medieval Church; or, as some forms of Protestant dogmatism do, to those who have heard and believed the story of the Cross of Christ.

The language of St. Paul in Romans 10:9-14 should, however, be compared with this, as it shows that higher knowledge brings with it an incomparably higher blessedness, and that the man first tastes the full meaning of “salvation” when he consciously calls on the Lord by whom he has been saved.