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LESSON 6

THE BOOK OF ACTS

Cornelius and the working of the Holy Spirit in Acts

ACTS 10, 11

INTRODUCTION
This lesson introduces us to the remarkable conversion of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion!  It is remarkable in that it took the divine intervention of thee Holy Spirit to motivate Peter to preach the good news of Jesus to a Gentile!  But this should not have been necessary!  That is, it should not have been necessary had Peter and the first Apostles heeded Jesus more closely.  Jesus had instructed them to wait for the Holy Spirit to fall on them before they witnessed fro him.  This witnessing was to begin in Jerusalem, then spread to Judea, Samaria, and the end of the earth. However, Jews would not necessarily have connected that charge with preaching to Gentiles at the end of the earth, only to Jews spread throughout the Gentile world!


CORNELIUS’ VISION (Acts 10:1-8)
Being a Centurion of the Italian Cohort indicated that he was a Gentile and a Roman officer over 100 soldiers.  However, Luke tells us that he was a devout man and a God-fearer (a name given to Gentiles attracted to Judaism because of its monotheism and excellent moral code.)  Cornelius’ prayers had so impressed God that he sent an angel to Cornelius in a vision instructing Cornelius to send messengers to Joppa where Peter was lodging in the house of Simon the tanner.  The messengers were to bring Peter back with him to Cornelius.  Later in Acts 11:14, we read Peter’s account of the events that took place.  Peter was defending his visit to Cornelius before the circumcision party of Jewish Christians.  Peter tells us that Cornelius had been told in his vision that Peter would bring him a message by which he and his household would be saved.


PETER’S VISION (Acts 10:9-23)
The next day Peter received vision of a sheet coming down with all kinds of unclean animals and reptiles.  A voice instructed him to kill and eat some of the animals.  Peter resisted, but was told that what God had cleansed was not unclean.  The vision happened three times.

While Peter was pondering the visions the three men from Cornelius arrived at the house of Simon the tanner.  The Holy Spirit spoke to Peter instructing Peter to accompany the three men.  The next day Peter went with the three men to Caesarea, where Cornelius lived.  When Cornelius greeted him Peter explained that although it was unlawful for a Jew to enter an Gentiles house, since God had sent him, it was permissible.  Peter asked why Cornelius had sent for him.  He was told that God had told Cornelius to send to Joppa for Peter who would tell him what to do in order to be saved.  Peter responded that God shows no partiality, that anyone who feared God and did what was right was acceptable to God.

With this, Peter preached the good news of Jesus, that Jesus had been put to death and that God had raised him from the dead.  Peter then added that anyone who believed in Jesus could receive forgiveness of sins.  To demonstrate the fact that had granted repentance to the Gentiles (see Acts 11:18) the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and all who heard the message of Peter.  Peter spoke up and asked, “Can anyone (perhaps stubborn Jews) forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”  Peter then commanded Cornelius and his people to be baptized.

Several interesting observations and questions flow from the conversion and baptism of Cornelius!

1. Cornelius was obviously a Gentile, and on top of that, a Roman.  Jewish Christians, and Peter included, would have difficulty understanding how a Roman Gentile could be eligible for belief, repentance, baptism, and the forgiveness of sins.  They were unclean!  
2. It took three visions and a spoken message from the Holy Spirit to convince and move Peter!  
3. It took a miraculous and unique outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Cornelius to convince those present with Peter that Cornelius could be baptized and receive the forgiveness of sins.  
4. The initial preaching by Peter to both Jews (Acts 2, Pentecost) and Gentiles (Acts 10, 11, Cornelius) was preceded by an unusual outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  
5. On this occasion (Cornelius) and Pentecost those hearing and believing the Gospel message of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus repented and were baptized for the forgiveness of sins.  


ACTS 11:1-18
 When the brethren in Judea (Jewish Christians) heard that Peter had preached to Gentiles, they questioned Peter as to his reason for going to the "uncircumcised" (Gentiles).  Up to this point the preaching of the Gospel had limited to the Jews.  God had, however, intended the Gospel to reach pout to the Gentiles as well, but this was difficult for Jews, even Jewish Christians to accept.  The Gospel was to be preached to the whole world, but Jews interpreted this as the whole Jewish world!  

When Peter told the story of what had happened to him, how he had received a vision of all kinds of animals that were to be eaten (Acts 10:9-16), how the Holy Spirit had instructed to go with the three men who had arrived at the house where he was staying, and how the house (family and servants) of Cornelius had received the Holy Spirit and spoken in tongues, the Jewish brethren were silenced.  They gave glory to God that "to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life" (Acts 11:18).


ACTS 11:19-30
Shortly after the conversion of Cornelius a persecution arose against the Christians.  The Jewish disciples were scattered far and wide.  However, initially they preached only to Jews.  In Antioch they preached to Greeks and a great number were converted.  The Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to teach in Antioch.  Barnabas took Saul of Tarsus (the recently converted Paul, the Apostle) along with him to Antioch.  It was in Antioch that the disciples were first identified and called Christians (Acts 11:26).

At that time a great famine occurred in that region (Agabus had prophesied such Acts 11:28).  History informs us that this happened in about AD 46 (Claudius reigned from AD 41-54).

In Acts 11:30 we read for the first time of elders in the church in Jerusalem.


ACTS 12 Herod's Persecution and Death
The Herod we encounter n Acts 12 is Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great (Herod the Great lived BC47-BC4).  Herod Agrippa I was born in BC 10 and died in AD 44.  He reigned under Rome over Judea and Samaria.  Toward the end of his reign he accepted being acclaimed as a god (see Acts 12:22), and after a short illness died.  Luke attributes his death to an angel who smote him because he did not give God the glory, accepting the praise of the people as a god.

Herod Agrippa I brought a sever persecution against the church.  He killed James the brother of John (Apostles) and arrested Peter during the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover.  Peter was kept in prison from which he was delivered by an angel.  When he came to the house of Mary the disciples mistook him for an angel, but eventually they let Peter into the house.  When Herod Agrippa I tried to find Peter, Peter went to Caesarea by the coast (Caesarea Maritima).

Shortly after that Herod Agrippa I died (Acts 12:23).  In spite of Herod Agrippa I's persecution, the church grew and multiplied.


SUMMARY

1. The apostolic witnessing had now spread from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and now to the Gentiles, not quite to the end of the earth, but at least beyond the confines of the Jewish world!  
2. In each instance when the message of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus had been proclaimed, people had believed the message, repented, and been baptized fro the forgiveness of sins.  
3. Cornelius was no exception!  Even though the Holy Spirit had fallen on Cornelius and his people, they still had to believe the message regarding Jesus death and resurrection, and they still needed to be baptized.  
4. The story of Cornelius’ conversion was important to the story Luke was telling in Acts, and to Paul’s missionary activity among the Gentiles that will follow in the next section of a Acts.


Summary and Discussion

1)  Summarize in your own words what this lesson is about, commenting on the
     central thrust of the lesson in regard to Jesus' commission to the disciples to begin
     their witnessing in Jerusalem and Judea.  What great turn of events had now taken
     place?

2)  What did it take to get Peter to go with the Gentile servants of Cornelius?

3)  What was the central theme of Peter's sermon to Cornelius and his house?

4)  What did it take to convince Peter that God had granted repentance to the  
     Gentiles?

5)  What was required of Cornelius and his household in order to be saved?

6)  Was this any different from what was required of the Jews on the day of Pentecost?

7)  What connection does Peter make between Cornelius and the conversion of the
     Jews on the day of Pentecost?