Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 10

Caesarea is in the center of the coastal Plain of Sharon in northern Palestine, on the shores of the Mediterranean, some sixty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem. It was named in honor of Augustus Caesar (cf. Lk 2:1). Herod the Great made the harbor into a magnificent seaport and the village into his provincial capital. He deepened the harbor, built a breakwater against the southern gales, constructed an imposing city with an amphitheater and a temple in honor of Rome and Augustus, brought in fresh water through an aqueduct that ran over stately brick arches, and established a garrison of soldiers to protect not only the harbor and city but also the fresh water supply.

The name Cornelius was common in the Roman world from 82 B. C. onwards, when Cornelius Sulla liberated ten thousand slaves, all of whom took their patron’s name as they established themselves in Roman society. Probably, therefore, the Cornelius of this story was a descendant of one of these freedmen. He is identified as a centurion of the Italian cohort, i.e., a noncommissioned officer who had worked his way up through the ranks to take command of a group of soldiers within a Roman legion. A cohort numbered anywhere from three hundred to six hundred men in size, being officially always the latter.

Cornelius was “devout [GK 2356] and God-fearing”—characteristics also attributed to his entire household (a “household” included both one’s immediate family and one’s personal servants). Perhaps we are to understand by “Godfearing” that Cornelius was a near-proselyte to Judaism or a so-called Proselyte of the Gate (cf. comments on 8:27–28), though more likely it simply means something like “a religious man,” especially in view of Luke’s addition of “devout” and “righteous” in v.22. From his report of Peter’s use of this expression for Cornelius in v.35 (“men from every nation who fear him [God] and do what is right”), it seems that Cornelius was a Gentile who, having realized the bankruptcy of paganism, sought to worship a monotheistic God, practice a form of prayer, and lead a moral life, apart from any necessary association with Judaism. It was, then, to such a spiritually minded Gentile, Luke tells us, that God first reached out his hand in the advance of the Christian mission.

“One day about three in the afternoon,” an angel of God appeared to Cornelius in a vision and called him by name. The time element here emphasizes that the vision happened in broad daylight. In response, Cornelius “stared in fear” and could only blurt out the words “What is it, Lord?” While the Greek title kyrios (“Lord”; GK 3261) was used in antiquity for everything from polite address to worshipful acclamation , Cornelius undoubtedly meant it in some sense of worshipful acclaim—even though he might not have had any firm idea of whom he was addressing (cf. 9:5). In his consternation he heard the reassuring words that his prayers and alms had arisen as a memorial before God (cf. Leviticus 2:2; Hebrews 13:15–16), a biblical and traditional way of saying that he was commended before God and that God was attentive to his situation.

“One day about three in the afternoon,” an angel of God appeared to Cornelius in a vision and called him by name. The time element here emphasizes that the vision happened in broad daylight. In response, Cornelius “stared in fear” and could only blurt out the words “What is it, Lord?” While the Greek title kyrios (“Lord”; GK 3261) was used in antiquity for everything from polite address to worshipful acclamation , Cornelius undoubtedly meant it in some sense of worshipful acclaim—even though he might not have had any firm idea of whom he was addressing (cf. 9:5). In his consternation he heard the reassuring words that his prayers and alms had arisen as a memorial before God (cf. Leviticus 2:2; Hebrews 13:15–16), a biblical and traditional way of saying that he was commended before God and that God was attentive to his situation.

Cornelius was told to send to Joppa for Simon Peter. The surname Peter distinguishes the apostle from his host Simon the tanner, whose house was by the sea. No indication is given as to why Peter was to be summoned. Instead, the emphasis is on the fact that Cornelius was prepared to respond to God.