John Calvin Commentary Acts 10:1

"Now [there was] a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of the band called the Italian [band]," — Acts 10:1 (ASV)

Luke now turns to a noteworthy account, namely, that God sees fit to advance a stranger, and one uncircumcised, to singular honor above all the Jews. This is because God both sends His angel to him and, for his sake, brings Peter to Caesarea, so that Peter might instruct him in the gospel.

But first of all, Luke shows what kind of person this Cornelius was, on whose account an angel descended from heaven and God spoke to Peter in a vision. He was a captain of the Italian band. A band (or cohort) consisted of a thousand footmen, and its chief captain was called a tribune (or marshal). In turn, every hundred soldiers had a captain.

A legion usually had five bands. That particular band was called the Italian band because, while the Romans often chose soldiers from among those who lived in the provinces, they drew the main strength of the army from Italy. Therefore, Cornelius was Italian by birth, but he was stationed at Caesarea with his hundred men to guard the city.

For the Romans were accustomed to distribute their garrisons in such a way that every important city might have soldiers to quell sudden disturbances.

A rare example that a soldier was so devout towards God, and so upright and courteous towards men! For at that time, the Italians, when they were sent to the provinces for military service, ran about like hungry wolves seeking plunder. They mostly had no more religion than beasts and as little concern for innocence as cutthroats. For this reason, the virtues of Cornelius deserve greater praise, because, while leading a soldier’s life—a life thoroughly corrupt at that time—he served God devoutly and lived among men without doing any harm or injury.

And it greatly adds to his praise that he cast away the superstition in which he was born and raised, and embraced the pure worship of God. For we know how highly the Italians thought of themselves and how proudly they despised others. Moreover, the Jews were held in such contempt at that time that, on their account, pure religion was considered infamous and almost detestable.

Since none of these things could hinder Cornelius from forsaking his idols and embracing the true worship of the true God alone, it must be that he was endowed with rare and singular sincerity.

Moreover, he could find scarcely anything among the Jews at that time to attract him to the pursuit of godliness, because there was then scarcely one in a thousand who had even a slight understanding of the law. Undoubtedly, Cornelius had come across some good worshipper of God, who, being free from corrupt opinions, faithfully expounded the law to him without mixing any leaven with it.

But because Luke gives him many commendations, we must note each of them.