Acts 10: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

In Caesarea, a Roman officer named Cornelius, a non-Jew who worships the God of Israel, is told in a vision to send for Peter in Joppa. Peter meanwhile sees a vision of a sheet full of animals and hears a voice telling him not to call impure what God has made clean, and the Spirit tells him to go with the men. At Cornelius's house Peter says God shows no favoritism and accepts people from every nation who fear him and do what is right, then tells about Jesus, his death, his resurrection, and forgiveness through his name. While Peter is still speaking the Holy Spirit falls on the listeners, and Peter orders them baptized.

Claim by Claim

1. 10:1
   • There was a certain man in Caesarea named Cornelius.
   • Cornelius was a centurion.
   • Cornelius belonged to the cohort called the Italian cohort.
2. 10:2
   • Cornelius was devout.
   • Cornelius feared God together with his whole household.
   • Cornelius gave many alms to the people.
   • Cornelius prayed to God continually.
3. 10:3
   • Cornelius saw in a vision plainly.
   • The vision came about the ninth hour of the day.
   • In the vision an angel of God came in to him.
   • The angel said to him, "Cornelius."
4. 10:4
   • Cornelius looked intently at the angel.
   • Cornelius became afraid.
   • Cornelius said, "What is it, Lord?"
   • The angel said to him that his prayers and his alms had gone up as a memorial before God.
5. 10:5
   • The angel told Cornelius to send men now to Joppa.
   • The angel told Cornelius to send for a certain Simon who is called Peter.
6. 10:6
   • The angel said Peter is lodging with a certain Simon, a tanner.
   • The angel said the tanner's house is beside the sea.
   • The angel said Peter would tell Cornelius what he ought to do.
7. 10:7
   • The angel who spoke to Cornelius departed.
   • Cornelius called two of his household servants.
   • Cornelius called a devout soldier from among those who attended him continually.
8. 10:8
   • Cornelius explained all these things to them.
   • Cornelius sent them to Joppa.
9. 10:9
   • On the next day the men were traveling.
   • The men drew near to the city.
   • Peter went up on the housetop to pray.
   • This was about the sixth hour.
10. 10:10
    • Peter became very hungry.
    • Peter wanted to eat.
    • While they were preparing food, a trance came upon Peter.
11. 10:11
    • Peter saw heaven opened.
    • Peter saw a certain vessel descending to him.
    • The vessel was like a great sheet.
    • The sheet was bound at its four corners.
    • The sheet was being let down to the earth.
12. 10:12
    • In the sheet were all kinds of four-footed beasts of the earth.
    • In the sheet were wild beasts.
    • In the sheet were creeping things.
    • In the sheet were birds of the air.
13. 10:13
    • A voice came to Peter.
    • The voice told Peter to rise.
    • The voice told Peter to kill and eat.
14. 10:14
    • Peter said, "Not so, Lord."
    • Peter said he had never eaten anything common or unclean.
15. 10:15
    • The voice came to Peter again a second time.
    • The voice said that what God has cleansed Peter must not call common.
16. 10:16
    • This happened three times.
    • The vessel was taken up into heaven.
17. 10:17
    • Peter was perplexed within himself about what the vision he had seen might mean.
    • The men sent by Cornelius had asked the way to Simon's house.
    • The men stood at the gate.
18. 10:18
    • The men called out.
    • The men asked whether Simon who is called Peter was lodging there.
19. 10:19
    • Peter was thinking about the vision.
    • The Spirit said to Peter that three men were seeking him.
20. 10:20
    • The Spirit told Peter to arise and go down.
    • The Spirit told Peter to go with the men without hesitating.
    • The Spirit said that he himself had sent the men.
21. 10:21
    • Peter went down to the men.
    • The men had been sent to Peter from Cornelius.
    • Peter said he was the one they were seeking.
    • Peter asked what the reason was for their coming.
22. 10:22
    • They said Cornelius is a centurion.
    • They said Cornelius is a just man.
    • They said Cornelius fears God.
    • They said Cornelius is well spoken of by the whole nation of the Jews.
    • They said Cornelius was divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for Peter to his house.
    • They said Cornelius was instructed to hear words from Peter.
23. 10:23
    • Peter called the men in.
    • Peter lodged them.
    • On the next day Peter went away with them.
    • Certain brothers from Joppa went with Peter.
24. 10:24
    • On the following day they entered Caesarea.
    • Cornelius was waiting for them.
    • Cornelius had called together his relatives.
    • Cornelius had called together his close friends.
25. 10:25
    • As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him.
    • Cornelius fell down at Peter's feet.
    • Cornelius worshipped Peter.
26. 10:26
    • Peter raised Cornelius up.
    • Peter told him to stand up.
    • Peter said that he himself was also a man.
27. 10:27
    • Peter talked with Cornelius.
    • Peter went inside.
    • Peter found many people gathered together.
28. 10:28
    • Peter said they knew it is unlawful for a Jewish man to associate with or come to a person of another nation.
    • Peter said God had shown him that he should not call any man common or unclean.
29. 10:29
    • Peter said he therefore came without objecting when he was sent for.
    • Peter asked for what reason they had sent for him.
30. 10:30
    • Cornelius said that four days ago he had been fasting until this hour.
    • Cornelius said he was praying at the ninth hour in his house.
    • Cornelius said a man stood before him.
    • Cornelius said the man was in bright clothing.
31. 10:31
    • The man said, "Cornelius."
    • The man said Cornelius's prayer had been heard.
    • The man said Cornelius's alms had been remembered before God.
32. 10:32
    • The man told Cornelius to send to Joppa.
    • The man told Cornelius to call for Simon who is called Peter.
    • The man said Peter is lodging in the house of Simon a tanner by the sea.
    • The man said that Peter, when he came, would speak to Cornelius.
33. 10:33
    • Cornelius said he sent to Peter immediately.
    • Cornelius said Peter did well to come.
    • Cornelius said they were all present before God.
    • Cornelius said they were present to hear all the things commanded Peter by God.
34. 10:34
    • Peter opened his mouth and spoke.
    • Peter said he truly perceived that God is not a respecter of persons.
35. 10:35
    • Peter said that in every nation the one who fears God and works righteousness is accepted by him.
36. 10:36
    • God sent the word to the children of Israel.
    • The word preached peace through Jesus Christ.
    • Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
37. 10:37
    • Peter said they knew that word.
    • The word was published throughout all Judaea.
    • The word began from Galilee.
    • This was after the baptism which John preached.
38. 10:38
    • God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.
    • Jesus went about doing good.
    • Jesus healed all who were oppressed by the devil.
    • God was with Jesus.
39. 10:39
    • Peter and those with him are witnesses of all that Jesus did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
    • They killed Jesus.
    • They hanged him on a tree.
40. 10:40
    • God raised Jesus up on the third day.
    • God caused Jesus to be seen openly.
41. 10:41
    • Jesus was not shown to all the people.
    • Jesus was shown to witnesses chosen beforehand by God.
    • Peter and those with him are those witnesses.
    • They ate and drank with Jesus after he rose from the dead.
42. 10:42
    • Jesus commanded them to preach to the people.
    • Jesus commanded them to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.
43. 10:43
    • All the prophets bear witness to Jesus.
    • Everyone who believes in him receives remission of sins through his name.
44. 10:44
    • Peter was still speaking these words.
    • The Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
45. 10:45
    • The believers of the circumcision who had come with Peter were astonished.
    • They were astonished because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
46. 10:46
    • They heard the Gentiles speaking with tongues.
    • They heard the Gentiles magnifying God.
    • Then Peter answered.
47. 10:47
    • Peter asked whether anyone could forbid water so that these should not be baptized.
    • Peter said these had received the Holy Spirit just as they themselves had.
48. 10:48
    • Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.
    • They asked Peter to stay some days.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

10:1

Caesarea was a harbor city on the Mediterranean coast, built by Herod the Great and named for the emperor. It was the seat of the Roman governor of Judea and the base of the Roman garrison, and its population was largely Gentile. The KJV's "band" translates the word for a cohort, a unit of roughly six hundred men; the Italian cohort was a body of auxiliary troops associated with Italy. A centurion commanded a subdivision of such a unit.

10:2

"Feared God" is close to a technical term here. Some Gentiles attached themselves to the synagogue, worshiped the God of Israel and kept much of the Jewish way of life without becoming full converts, which for a man meant circumcision. Such people were known as God-fearers and stood at the edge of the Jewish community without belonging to it. "Alms" means money or goods given to the poor, which Jews regarded as one of the central acts of piety.

10:3

Hours were counted from about six in the morning, so the ninth hour is about three in the afternoon. That was one of the fixed times of Jewish prayer, matching the hour of the afternoon sacrifice in the Temple.

10:4

"A memorial before God" borrows the language of the grain offering, where a handful was burned as a "memorial" and the rest went to the priests. To say prayers and gifts have "come up for a memorial" is to say they rose like the smoke of an offering and that God has taken account of them.

10:5

Joppa is the old port town now swallowed up by modern Tel Aviv, roughly thirty miles down the coast from Caesarea. "Surname" in 1611 did not mean a family name. It meant an additional name given to a person, so Simon's added name is Peter.

10:6

A tanner turned animal skins into leather, work that meant handling carcasses and soaking hides in lime and urine. The trade left a man ritually unclean much of the time and it smelled, so tanneries were pushed to the edge of a town and near water, which is why this house is by the sea.

10:9

House roofs were flat and were used as extra living space, for drying produce, sleeping in hot weather and being alone. Counting from about six in the morning, the sixth hour is midday.

10:11

"A certain vessel" in 1611 English means an object or container of any kind, not a ship. The text then says what kind: something like a large sheet.

10:12

The mixture is the point. Jewish law (Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14) sorted creatures into clean, which could be eaten, and unclean, which could not. A sheet holding every kind of four-footed animal, crawling creature and bird necessarily held both kinds together.

10:14

Two different words. "Unclean" is the technical term for what the law rules out as food. "Common" translates a word meaning ordinary or profane, not set apart for God and so made impure by contact; in 1611 "common" carried that sense, and it does not mean widespread. Keeping these food rules had become a mark of Jewish identity under foreign rule, and Jews had died rather than break them.

10:16

Saying or showing something three times was a way of making it certain. It was not a slip.

10:17

"Doubted in himself" in 1611 means was perplexed or at a loss over what he had seen. It does not mean he was wavering in belief.

10:19

"The Spirit" means the Holy Spirit, God's own Spirit.

10:20

"Doubting nothing" translates a verb that can mean either hesitating or making distinctions between people. Both senses are live in this chapter.

10:22

Judea was occupied territory and Roman soldiers were the instrument of that occupation, so an officer of that army spoken well of by the Jewish population was out of the ordinary.

10:23

Peter takes companions along. Later, when he is challenged in Jerusalem for entering a Gentile house, he names six men who went with him and can confirm what happened, so their presence here matters for the rest of the story.

10:24

The road from Joppa to Caesarea ran about thirty miles up the coast, roughly two days on foot, which is why the party sets out one day and arrives the next.

10:25

Falling at a person's feet was a recognized gesture of respect toward a superior in the ancient world, but the word the KJV renders "worshipped" is the one used for prostration before a god or a king. The exchange that follows turns on which of the two is meant.

10:28

No written law of Moses forbids a Jew to enter a Gentile's house. What Peter refers to is the custom that had grown up around the purity rules: a Gentile household was assumed to hold unclean food and objects, so entering one risked defilement. The KJV's "unlawful" covers settled custom of this sort as well as written law.

10:29

"Without gainsaying" means without objecting. "Gainsay" is an old English word meaning to speak against or contradict.

10:30

Ancient people counted inclusively, so "four days ago" means the fourth day back with today counted as one. Fasting means going without food, here as part of prayer.

10:33

In 1611 English "of" often means "by": "commanded thee of God" is commanded by God. The same use runs through Peter's speech in "oppressed of the devil," "chosen before of God" and "ordained of God."

10:34

"Respecter of persons" renders a Greek idiom built on "receiving the face," that is, deciding a case by who someone is rather than by the merits. It was the standard legal term in 1611 for a judge who took sides according to rank, wealth or nationality, and it has nothing to do with respect in the modern sense.

10:36

"The word" here means the message or announcement. "Preaching peace" uses the verb behind the noun translated "gospel," meaning to announce good news, the word used for a herald's proclamation.

10:37

"Published" in 1611 means proclaimed openly and has nothing to do with printing. The baptism John preached was a call to Jews to be dipped in the Jordan as a sign of turning from sin. Washing for ritual purity was familiar in Judaism; what was unusual was a single immersion demanded of the whole nation.

10:38

To anoint was to pour oil on the head, the ceremony that installed a king or a priest in Israel. The title Christ, and the Hebrew word Messiah behind it, both mean "anointed one." Here the anointing is with the Spirit and with power rather than with oil. On "Holy Ghost": in 1611 "ghost" simply meant spirit, and the KJV uses Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit for the same phrase.

10:39

The word the KJV renders "tree" means wood, and is used elsewhere for the cross. The phrasing echoes Deuteronomy 21:23, where a body left hanging on wood after execution is called accursed. Crucifixion itself was a Roman penalty reserved for slaves, rebels and people without Roman citizenship.

10:40

"Shewed him openly" translates a phrase meaning caused him to become visible. "Shew" is the old spelling of show. The next verse immediately limits who saw him, so "openly" does not mean in public view.

10:42

"Quick" in 1611 means living, as in the old phrase "the quick and the dead." "Ordained" means appointed or designated to an office.

10:43

"Remission" means release or cancellation, the word used for letting a debt go or setting a prisoner free. "Give witness" means testify, the language of a courtroom.

10:45

"They of the circumcision" means the Jewish believers, identified by the surgical mark given to every Jewish boy on the eighth day as the sign of belonging to the covenant people. "Gentiles" is the ordinary word for everyone who is not Jewish. The astonishment is that the mark now appears not to mark off who receives the Spirit.

10:46

"Speak with tongues" translates a phrase meaning to speak in tongues or languages. The Greek can mean real human languages the speakers had never learned, as at Pentecost in Acts 2, or unintelligible ecstatic speech. The text here does not settle which is meant.

10:48

Manuscripts differ at this point: some read "in the name of the Lord," others "in the name of Jesus Christ." "Tarry certain days" means stay for a few days.