Bible Timeline · About AD 40

Peter, Cornelius and the Gospel for Every Nation

A Roman centurion named Cornelius saw an angel who told him to send for Peter. At the same time Peter saw a vision of unclean animals and heard God say not to call unclean what He made clean. When Peter preached in Cornelius' house, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles listening, and soon at Antioch the believers were first called Christians.

Read it in the Bible: Acts 10:1-48 Acts 11:1-26 Genesis 12:3 Isaiah 49:6

About AD 40, God did something that changed the church forever. He sent the apostle Peter, a Jewish fisherman who had never eaten anything unclean, into the home of a Roman army officer named Cornelius. While Peter was still preaching, the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and his whole household, just as He had on the Jewish believers at Pentecost. The good news about Jesus was officially for every nation, and the church would never be the same.

Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism, but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right. Acts 10:34 to 35

Who Was Cornelius in the Bible?

Cornelius was a centurion, a Roman officer over about a hundred soldiers, in the Italian Regiment stationed at Caesarea. Caesarea was a shiny port city on the Mediterranean built by Herod the Great, and it was the Roman headquarters for the province of Judea. So Cornelius was about as Roman as it got.

But he was also what Acts calls God fearing. That means he worshiped the God of Israel, prayed and gave to the poor, but had not become a full Jewish convert through circumcision. Many Gentiles in that day were drawn to the God of the Jews without crossing that line. Cornelius was sincere, generous and prayerful. He just did not yet know about Jesus.

Why Did God Send an Angel to Cornelius?

One afternoon about three o’clock, the time of prayer, an angel appeared to Cornelius in a vision. The angel said his prayers and gifts had gone up as a memorial before God, and told him to send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon Peter. Notice that the angel did not preach the gospel himself. God gave that job to people. Cornelius obeyed at once and sent two servants and a soldier on the thirty mile trip.

What Did Peter See in His Vision?

The next day around noon, Peter went up on the flat roof of a house in Joppa to pray. He was hungry, and while lunch was being made, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven open and a large sheet let down by its four corners, filled with all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds that the Law of Moses called unclean.

Then a voice said to him: “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” “No, Lord!” Peter answered. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Acts 10:13 to 15

This happened three times. You have to love Peter here. He says “No, Lord,” which is a contradiction in two words. If He is Lord, the answer is yes. But Peter had kept these food laws his whole life, and so had his parents and grandparents. This was a huge shift.

While Peter was still puzzling over it, the men from Cornelius knocked at the gate. The Spirit told Peter to go with them without hesitating. Then the vision clicked. It was not mainly about lunch. It was about people.

He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. Acts 10:28

There is a nice detail here. Peter was staying in Joppa, the same port where the prophet Jonah once boarded a ship to run away from God’s call to preach to Gentiles in Nineveh. Centuries later, in the same town, another Jewish preacher got a call to go to Gentiles. This time he went.

What Happened When Peter Preached to Cornelius?

Cornelius had gathered his relatives and close friends and was waiting. Peter told them about Jesus: how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power, how He went around doing good and healing, how He was killed on a cross, how God raised Him on the third day, and how everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name. Peter did not even get to finish.

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard his message. All the circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. Acts 10:44 to 45

They spoke in tongues and praised God, just like at Pentecost. Peter asked if anyone could refuse to baptize people who had received the Spirit just as they had. Nobody could argue, so they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Some call this the Gentile Pentecost.

Was Cornelius the First Gentile Christian?

Acts presents Cornelius and his household as the first Gentiles welcomed into the church through the apostles. In Acts 8, Philip baptized an Ethiopian official, and some traditions see him as the first Gentile believer. But that man had been to Jerusalem to worship and may have been a Jewish convert, and the church did not debate his case. Cornelius was the test case that forced the whole church to face the question.

When Peter got back to Jerusalem, some believers were upset that he had eaten with uncircumcised men. Peter told the whole story step by step. When they heard it, they stopped objecting and praised God, saying God had granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life, Acts 11:18. The bigger questions would come up again at the Council of Jerusalem.

Why Were Believers First Called Christians at Antioch?

Meanwhile, believers scattered after Stephen’s death had reached Antioch in Syria, the third largest city in the Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria. Some of them began telling Greeks about Jesus, and many believed. The Jerusalem church sent Barnabas, who went to Tarsus to find Saul and bring him to help.

So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. Acts 11:26

Christian means a Christ person, or someone who belongs to Christ. It was likely a nickname outsiders gave them, maybe not even a kind one. But a church full of Jews and Gentiles eating together needed a new name, because it did not fit the old categories. The believers took the label and wore it. Antioch soon became the home base for Paul’s missionary journeys.

What This Story Means for You Today

The story of Cornelius is good news for anyone who is not Jewish, which is most of the people who will ever read this. God had promised Abraham that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him, Genesis 12:3. At Cornelius’ house that promise opened up wide.

It is also a challenge. Peter had to let go of an old way of seeing people as clean or unclean. Every believer has someone they quietly think is too far outside. God’s answer to Peter is still His answer today: do not call anyone unclean whom He wants to make clean. The gospel of peace is for everyone, because Jesus Christ is Lord of all, Acts 10:36.

Get Nate's Highlighting Guide Free

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Questions People Ask

Who was Cornelius in the Bible?

Cornelius was a Roman centurion in the Italian Regiment stationed at Caesarea, Acts 10:1. He was a devout Gentile who prayed and gave to the poor. After an angel told him to send for Peter, he and his household heard the gospel, received the Holy Spirit and were baptized.

What was the meaning of Peter's vision of the sheet?

Peter saw a sheet full of animals the law called unclean, and God told him not to call unclean what God had made clean, Acts 10:15. Peter realized the main point was about people: he should not call any person impure or unclean, Acts 10:28, so the gospel was for Gentiles too.

Who was the first Gentile convert to Christianity?

Acts presents Cornelius and his household as the first Gentiles brought into the church by the apostles. Some traditions point to the Ethiopian official in Acts 8, but he may have been a convert to Judaism. Cornelius became the test case for the whole church.

Where were the disciples first called Christians?

Acts 11:26 says the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch in Syria. Christian means one who belongs to Christ. It was likely a nickname given by outsiders to a church made up of both Jews and Gentiles.

When did Peter visit Cornelius?

Acts does not give a year. It happened after Paul's conversion and before Herod Agrippa I died in AD 44, so most place it about AD 37 to 41. This timeline uses about AD 40.

Sources

← Saul Meets Jesus on the Road to Damascus James Is Beheaded and Peter Escapes Prison →

See the whole Bible Timeline