And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually;
And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called - immediately doing as directed, and thus showing the simplicity of his faith. In all probability he despatched the messengers the same evening.
Two of his household servants. Lechler thinks the word here used х oiketoon (G3610)] intended to denote persons above the rank of household servants х douloon (G1401)]; but though sometimes so used (as by Herodotus), New Testament usage seems against any such distinction (see Luke 16:13; Romans 14:4; 1 Peter 2:18).
And a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually - not merely one of the "soldiers under him" as a centurion (Matthew 8:9), but one of a select number of them in personal attendance upon him, to whom, doubtless-though beneath himself in rank-the centurion was peculiarly drawn by the tie of their common piety. Now-a-days (says Bengel pertinently) he who is deemed the successor of Peter receives more splendid legations. Who this "devout soldier" was, cannot with any probability be conjectured; for da Costa's reasons for identifying him with the writer of the second Gospel, though ingenious and beautiful, are nothing more.