CRITICAL REMARKS
Acts 10:34. The word for respecter of persons, προσωπολήπτης, is found only here in the N.T., though προσωποληψία occurs in Romans 2:11.
Acts 10:35. Accepted with Him.—Better, acceptable to him. Though applied to Cornelius prior to his hearing the gospel, this did not imply that before and without a believing reception of that gospel Cornelius was in an absolute sense justified, forgiven, and accepted (see Acts 10:43). What is here taught is not indifferentismus religionum, but indifferentia nationum (Bengel).
Acts 10:36. The construction of the next three verses is uncertain. Either
(1) the word τὸν λόγον (Acts 10:36) should be connected with “I perceive,” καταλαμβάνομαι (Acts 10:34) and Acts 10:46 taken as in apposition to Acts 10:34-35 (De Wette, Ebrard, Lange, Alford); or
(2) τὸν λόγον should be regarded as in apposition to δικαιοσύνην (Ewald, Buttmann, Nösgen, Zöckler); or
(3), and perhaps the best way (Kuinoel, Meyer, Wendt, Winer, Overbeck, Lechler, Holtzmann, and others), the word (Acts 10:36) should be construed with ye know (Acts 10:37), the word being described by the three clauses standing in apposition—(a) which God (or He) sent unto the children of Israel, etc. (Acts 10:36); (b) that word (or, that saying) which was published, or (as in Luke 2:15) that affair which took place (Acts 10:37); and (c) (the subject of that saying, also in the accusative) Jesus of Nazareth, etc. (Acts 10:38).
Acts 10:39. Whom also they (indefinite) slew and hanged (rather, having hanged him) on a tree.—Speaking to the Gentiles, Peter does not specify the agents as when addressing the Jews (Acts 2:23; Acts 3:14; Acts 4:10; Acts 5:30).
Acts 10:41. Bengel, placing the clause “who did eat and drink with Him” in a parenthesis, explains it as pointing to the intercourse of the apostles with Christ before His death; it obviously, however, alludes to their fellowship with Him after His resurrection (Luke 24:43; John 21:13).
Acts 10:42. Judge of quick and dead.—Not of the righteous and the wicked merely (Olshausen), but of those who shall be alive at His coming, and of those who shall have fallen asleep (Acts 17:31; 2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5).
Acts 10:47. Can any man forbid the water?—The question suggests what was probably the case, that the primitive practice was to bring the water to the candidate rather than the candidate to the water.
Acts 10:48. He commanded them to be baptised.—Most likely by another than himself, a practice afterwards followed by Paul (1 Corinthians 1:14). Peter only completes by outward form what God has already in inward essence, by communicating the Holy Ghost, effected—viz., the admission of Cornelius and his company to the Christian Church.
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Acts 10:34-48
Peter’s Sermon in Cornelius’s House; or, The Gospel preached to the Gentiles
I. The audience.—Cornelius and those assembled with him (Acts 10:27; Acts 10:33).
1. Devout. Cornelius was so, and so most likely were his kinsmen and his friends around him (Acts 10:2).
2. Intelligent. Already they possessed some acquaintance with the main facts of gospel history (Acts 10:37).
3. Serious. A solemn sense of the Divine presence rested on their spirits (Acts 10:33).
4. Humble. Prepared for the reception of the message, they were ready to accord it obedience. A good model for every congregation when it comes together to listen to the preaching of the Word. (See “Hints on Acts 10:33.”)
II. The preacher.—Peter. Having already been honoured to preach the gospel to his kinsmen according to the flesh, homeborn and foreign Jews (Acts 2:14), he now enjoyed the privilege of publishing the truth in the hearing of a company of Gentiles. This he did—
1. With much solemnity, as if realising the importance of the occasion—an idea conveyed in the words “Then Peter opened his mouth” (compare Acts 8:35).
2. With peculiar tact. Not reminding them of their heathen origin, or saying aught to impress them with a sense of their inferiority, but crediting them with deep religiousness and even Christian intelligence (compare Paul’s treatment of the Athenians: Acts 17:22).
3. With great fulness, setting forth in an address, of which, doubtless, only an outline has been preserved, the main facts and doctrines of gospel history and teaching (Acts 10:36-43).
4. With spiritual power. Which may be inferred from the fact that all who heard the Word believed and were baptised (Acts 10:44).
III. The sermon.—
1. Its exordium A statement which showed the preacher to be no narrow-minded bigot, but possessed of a mind open to receive “light from heaven” whensoever it was graciously vouchsafed; as well as tended to disarm the prejudice of his hearers and ingratiate himself with them. In this respect the fisherman apostle might be profitably followed by preachers of to-day. The truths contained in the statement were two:
(1) That God was no respecter of persons. A truth known to holy men of God before Peter’s day (2 Samuel 14:14; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Job 37:24), but not understood by Peter till revealed by God through the vision lately given (Acts 10:28), which reminds us that many truths which have been revealed are not yet fully understood. A truth afterwards insisted on by the apostle (1 Peter 1:17), and by Paul (Romans 2:11; Ephesians 4:9; Colossians 3:25), and signifying that God in dealing with men, whether in providence or in grace, in judgment or in mercy, takes no account of such accidents as nationality, birth, rank, wealth, power, or other temporal or material circumstance, but has regard solely to manhood and character.
(2) That in every nation piety and goodness were equally acceptable in His sight. What Peter meant by piety and what by goodness he explained. The root of all piety he discovered in the fear of God (Psalms 111:10), and the essence of all goodness in working righteousness (1 John 3:7). Wherever these existed, the individual possessing them, though not justified on their account (Acts 10:43; Romans 3:20), was acceptable in God’s sight as one to whom belonged the qualification necessary for admission into the Church of Christ (see “Hints on Acts 10:35”).
2. Its contents. A brief summary of the facts and doctrines of the gospel, embracing—
(1) The earthly ministry of Jesus, which began in its complete independence and unrestrained activity after John’s ministry had closed; which had been divinely raised up and directed to the children of Israel, of which the burden had been peace (Ephesians 2:17), and which, commencing in Galilee, had been published throughout all Judea; for which Jesus had been anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power (Luke 14:18), and which had been exercised in going about and, through the power of God who was with Him, doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil (Matthew 4:23; Luke 4:36); the character of which had been witnessed by Peter and his colleagues in the apostleship, and the end of which had been a violent death and hanging on a tree (Acts 10:36-39).
(2) The resurrection of Jesus, which was effected by the power of God on the third day after His crucifixion, and attested by His being openly shown or made manifest, not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God—viz., to the apostles and others of the brethren, “who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead” (Acts 10:40-41).
(3) The second coming of Jesus to judge the quick and dead (Romans 14:9; 2 Corinthians 5:10), to which office He had been ordained of God (Acts 17:31; John 5:22), and about which He had Himself commanded them, the apostles, to testify unto the people, the Jews (Acts 10:42). That the summary of Christian truth here put into Peter’s mouth was not a second century embellishment has received most remarkable confirmation, not only from Pliny’s letter (A.D. 112), but also from the recently discovered apology of Aristides (A.D. 125), both of which show that Christian Churches so widely apart as Bithynia and Athens accepted the very tenets here set forth.
3. Its application. Contained in the statement that, according to the unanimous testimony of Old Testament prophecy, through His name whosoever believed should receive remission of sins (Isaiah 53:11; Zechariah 13:1).
IV. The Result.—
1. All those who heard the word believed. Though not stated, implied. Cornelius and his companions, without exception, received the word into honest and good hearts (Luke 8:15). It is certainly a great sermon—great in the best sense—which converts all who hear it.
2. The Holy Ghost fell on all them who believed. Upon all Cornelius’s household. The supernatural endowment, which descended on them while the apostle was yet speaking, revealed itself in the usual way, exactly as it had done at Pentecost, through speaking with tongues (Acts 10:46).
3. Those who received the Holy Ghost were baptised. Those believers of the circumcision who had come with Peter were profoundly astonished to hear Gentiles speaking with tongues; but they could not resist the apostle’s argument when he asked, “Can any man forbid water?” etc.
Learn.—
1. The heaven-sent preacher should always speak his Master’s message with boldness.
2. The best sermon is that which has most of Christ in it.
3. The Holy Ghost knows no distinction between Jew and Gentile.
4. Those who have received the essence should not be denied the sign of salvation.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Acts 10:34. God no Respecter of Persons.
I. Expose some false constructions of the text.—
1. It is not true that God does not love one man more than another. He loves with a special affection all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Cain and Abel.
2. It is not true that God does not bestow on one man what He withholds from another. Natural gifts, social advantages, religious privileges, spiritual blessings.
3. It is not true that God does not admit one man to heaven while He excludes another. Some are cast out.
II. Explain the real meaning of our text.—
1. God does not respect persons on the grounds on which men are treated with partiality by their fellowmen—wealth, birth, genius. His preferences are determined by other considerations, although these cannot always be ascertained.
2. God does not respect persons as He Himself did under the former dispensation. The Jew has no monopoly of the blessings of the gospel. As Christ died for a men without distinction, so salvation through Him is to be offered to all, and shall be bestowed on all who believe in Him.
(1) Rejoice in the impartiality of God.
(2) Avail yourselves of the impartiality of God by embracing the common salvation.
(3) Imitate the impartiality of God.—G. Brooks.
Acts 10:34-35. God no Respecter of Persons.
I. What the proposition does not mean.—
1. That God is indifferent to diversities in human character.
2. That all religions are equally acceptable in God’s sight.
3. That belief in Christ is not required for salvation.
4. That all men will eventually be saved.
II. What the proposition does mean.—
1. That the essence of religion consists in fearing God and working righteousness.
2. That God is indifferent to external distinctions between man and man.
3. That all who possess the inward characteristics of religion are equally well pleasing in God’s sight.
4. That all men who are thus religious belong to His Church, irrespective of nationality or other accidental circumstance.
On the Reception of New Truth.—Here is Peter, with the traditional spirit of an Oriental, violating the apparently natural order, and passing at once under a new set of ideas. What is the explanation?
I. It seems to be in the Nature of religious changes that they shall take place suddenly.—There may be, there must be, long seasons of preparation for any moral change, but the transition is instantaneous. It is the law of revelation.
II. His change was due to the fact that he had got sight of larger and more spiritual truths than he had been holding.—Peter had been used to believing that God was a respecter of persons, but when he caught sight of the fact that God has no partialities, but accepts all men who work righteousness, his truth-loving nature rushed at once toward the greater truth.—Theodore Munger.
Acts 10:36. The Lordship of Jesus Christ.
I. Its basis.—His redeeming work.
II. Its extent.—All things and persons.
III. Its purpose.—Salvation or peace.
IV. Its perpetuity.—Till the time of the end.
V. Its authority.—Derived from the Father.
Preaching Peace; or, Publishing Good Tidings of Peace.
I. The Messenger of peace.—Jesus Christ.
II. The basis of peace.—His atoning work.
III. The terms of peace.—Faith.
IV. The blessing of peace.—Remission of sin.
V. The fruit of peace.—Holiness.
Peace to the Far Off and the Near.
I. What it is.—It means sometimes friendship or reconciliation; and sometimes the state of soul resulting from these. O man of earth, is this peace yours?
II. What it is not.—It is not mere indifference. The frozen lake is calm; but that is not the calm we desire. It is not the security of self righteousness. That a hollow security. It is not the peace of prosperity, or pleasure, or earthly ease. There is the world’s peace.
III. Where it comes from.—It does not come from self, or sin, or the flesh or the world. Nor does it come from the law, or our own goodness, or our prayers or religiousness. It comes directly and solely from Jesus Christ; from Himself, and from His cross; from Him as Jesus, from Him as the Christ.
IV. How we get it.—Our text says it is “preached” to us; or more exactly, “the good news of it are brought to us.” The pacifying, consciencepurging work is done; and God has sent us His account of it.
V. What it does for us.—
1. It purifies. No peace, no purity.
2. It liberates. The possession of this peace is the liberty of the soul. Without peace we are in bondage and darkness.
3. It satisfies; it fills the soul; it takes away weariness and emptiness.
4. It animates. Till peace takes possession of us we are sluggish in the cause of God. Peace makes us zealous, brave, self-denied; willing to spend and be spent, to do and suffer.—H. Bonar, D.D.
Acts 10:38. “Who went about doing good.”
I. A significant testimony.—Spoken by an eyewitness, authenticating the gospel records of the life of Christ.
II. A deserved eulogy.—History has preserved the names of individual princes, to whom she gives the title of benefactors: thus are held in memory a Ptolemæus Euërgetes, a Titus, “the joy and delight of all mankind”; but of what “benefactors” (Luke 22:25), must not the name and reputation dim and pale before that of the Sovereign of God’s kingdom?
III. A loud call.—To unswerving faith in Christ as the promised Saviour, the crown and ornament of humanity, God’s highest revelation.
IV. A constant spur.—To a love which yields itself without condition to such a loving Saviour, and henceforth knows no greater joy than, though at a distance infinite, to follow in his footsteps.—Oosterzee.
“God was with Him.”
I. Providentially.—As with all.
II. Spiritually.—As with those who fear Him.
III. Efficiently.—As with prophets and apostles working through Him.
IV. Essentially.—As with none else, being one with Him in substance and in power, holiness, goodness, and truth.
The History of Jesus of Nazareth.
I. His Divine mission.—Sent by God.
II. His personal qualification.—
1. Anointed with the Holy Ghost.
2. Clothed with supernatural power.
3. Attended by the Divine presence.
III. His philanthropic career.—
1. Its benevolent character. Doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.
2. Its extensive circuit. He went about; not restricting Himself to one town or province.
3. Its unwearied continuance. He went about manifestly without cessation,
IV. His tragic end.—“Whom they slew and hanged on a tree.” A violent, undeserved, substitutionary death.
V. His triumphant resurrection.—“Him God raised up.” The proofs of His resurrection: eating and drinking with the apostles.
VI. His sublime exaltation.—“Ordained to be Judge of quick and dead.”
VII. His culminating glory.—“Through His name whosever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.”
Acts 10:39. The Death of Christ.—A study in apologetics.
I. Its early occurrence.—After a brief ministry of three (or two) and a half years. Out of a life so short, followed by a death so soon, what great results could be expected to flow? Yet no life or death has moved the world like that of Christ.
II. Its shameful form.—Slain and hanged upon a tree, like the vilest of malefactors. Out of an end so ignominious, what hope of posthumous fame could spring? Yet Christ’s death has attracted more attention and been more widely and permanently remembered than any other that has occurred.
III. Its undeserved character.—For no crime or sin of His own, proved or unproved, but for a life spent in holy fellowship with God, and in benevolent ministries among men. In this respect standing apart from that of any son of man who has ever died either before or since. Impossible that in such a death no greater significance could be than in that of ordinary mortals.
IV. Its age-long remembrance.—When Peter spoke of it to Cornelius it was little more than ten years old. The world had scarcely had time to forget it. But nineteen centuries have rolled away since then, and its memory is still green. In all countries men are thinking and speaking of the decease which was accomplished at Jerusalem. The question therefore rises, what was there about this death of Jesus of Nazareth that makes the world unable or unwilling to forget it?
V. Its extraordinary influence.—Christ Himself predicted that if He were lifted up from the earth He would draw all men unto Him (John 12:32), and let it be accounted for as one will, the fact is true that the death of Christ has ever since it occurred been one of the most potent—conjoined with the resurrection, the most potent—factor in the onward development of human history.
VI. Its amazing significance.—In this alone lies the explanation that a death so early, so shameful, so undeserved, so long remembered, so profoundly influential, could have taken place, that it was the death:
1. Of an Incarnate God.
2. In the room of sinful men.
3. As an atonement for their sin.
4. As a means of effecting their sanctification; and
5. In order to secure for them eternal life. It is these considerations which give to Christ’s death its unique position and power.
Acts 10:41. Eating and Drinking with the Risen Christ.
I. A proof of Christ’s resurrection.
II. An evidence of believers’ salvation.
III. A foretaste of the saints’ glory.
Acts 10:36; Acts 10:43. The Threefold Office of Christ.
I. Prophetical.—Preaching peace.
II. Priestly.—Remitting sin.
III. Kingly.—Ruling all.
Acts 10:43. His (i.e., Christ’s) Name.
I. Divinely attested.—“To Him give all the prophets witness.”
II. Widely published.—“He commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify.”
III. Highly exalted.—Raised up and established above every name.
IV. Certainly saving.—Procuring forgiveness for all who believe.
V. Constantly enduring.—Since the gospel was designed not for one age but for all the ages.
Acts 10:43. The Great Blessing of the Gospel.
I. Its nature.—Remission of sins.
II. Its channel.—Through Jesus Christ.
III. Its recipients.—All who believe in Him.
IV. Its condition.—Faith in Him.
V. Its certainty.—Witnessed by the prophets.
Acts 10:45. The Gift of the Holy Ghost.
I. Its nature.—The inhabitation of the soul by the Spirit of God.
II. Its effect.—In some, divers gifts; in all, holiness and eternal life.
III. Its recipients.—Those who believe and obey the word.
IV. Its sign.—Baptism.
Acts 10:44-48. The Conversion of Cornelius.
I. Prepared for by his religious condition.—
1. His character before conversion.
(1) A devout man, who
(2) feared God,
(3) cared for the godly training of his house,
(4) practised philanthropy, and
(5) prayed to God always.
2. His need notwithstanding of conversion. This may seem to be contradicted by Peter’s statement in Acts 10:34. Explain
(1) what Acts 10:34 does not and
(2) what it does mean (see “Hints”).
II. Brought about by a threefold instrumentality.—
1. By the providence of God. Who had
(1) brought Cornelius into contact with the Jewish people and their worship;
(2) awakened in his heart dissatisfaction with the gods of Rome and eager longing for a purer religion;
(3) led him to Cæsarea where he heard the gospel; and
(4) sent Peter to Joppa, where he was easily found by Cornelius.
2. By the ministry of angels. In his own and Peter’s visions.
3. By the preaching of the word.
III. Sealed by the gift of the Holy Ghost.—
1. The signs. Tongues.
2. The significance. An earnest of the inheritance.
IV. Attested by baptism.—The ordinance of Christ to be observed by believers.
Acts 10:47-48. The Administration of Christian Baptism.
I. Hindrances to its reception.—
1. The absence of faith. The individual who is not prepared to profess faith in Jesus Christ has no claim whatever to be admitted to baptism.
2. The presence of open sin. Though a professed believer, the individual who lives in scandalous sin is in an unfit state for partaking of this holy ordinance.
3. The want of adequate knowledge. The person who has not yet attained to a clear understanding of the nature and significance of baptism is not a proper subject for its reception.
II. Qualifications for its reception.—
1. The qualification in God’s sight. Endowment with the Holy Ghost. Baptism ideally considered is not a means of imparting the Holy Ghost, but a sign and seal of the Holy Ghost’s presence.
2. The qualification in man’s sight. An outward profession of faith, attested by visible saintship or a corresponding walk and conversation, accompanied, as above stated, with adequate knowledge.