Gospel spread to the Gentiles - (Acts 10: 1-16) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Gospel spread to the Gentiles - (Acts 10: 1-16)                              Date 3/30/2026

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce   

Christian Arts Ministries:Biblical Precepts & Gospel music

Cornelius’s prayer and vision

¹At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. ²He and all his family were devout and God fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. ³One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” ⁴Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the

poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 

⁵ Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. ⁸ He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

Peter’s prayer and vision

⁹ About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰ He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹ He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.¹² It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. ¹³ Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat.” ¹⁴ Surely not, Lord! Peter replied. “ I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” ¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. (vv.13-16)

 

 Verse 1 A centurion was a noncommissioned officer who was in command of one hundred men. Cornelius was a commander in the Italian Regiment. Here the Lord took a further step in His evangelistic work. By this He reached another utter Gentile, a man of Italy of the Roman Empire in Europe. Thus the door of the gospel was opened to all the Gentiles. It was difficult for the Jewish apostles and disciples, with their Jewish background and habit, to come near the Gentiles (v.28). Hence, this was an extraordinary move, needing the participation of an angel of God (v.3), just as when Philip approached the Ethiopian, a man from Africa, in 8:25. In the two cases the Spirit spoke to Philip and to Peter, respectively, in a particular way (8:29;10:19).

Verse 2 Like the Ethiopian eucueh, Cornelius, the Roman centurion, was seeking God, as Paul mentioned in 17:27. Cornelius was a semi-proselyte to Judaism accepting Jewish beliefs and practices but stopping short of circumcision.

Verse 3 Cornelius prayed around ninth hour  I.e., 3 pm

Verse 4 Though Cornelius was part of fallen mankind, sinful and condemned before God like all others, God accepted his prayers and his alms, whereas He rejected Cain’s (Gen4:3,5). This must have been because of the fact that God, based on Christ’s eternal redemption and in view of Cornelius’s believing in Christ in the ensuing days, forgave him (v.43) according ot His foreknowledge.

Verse 9 Peter pray around the sixth hour I.e., 12 noon. Cornelius received a vision in prayer (v.30), and Peter also received a vision (vv.17,19) in prayer, through which God’s plan and move were carried out. Man’s pray is needed a a means of cooperating with God’s move.

Verse 10 Signifying seeking after the things of God (Matt.5:6). God fills the hungry with good things (Luke1:53). Want to eat A word usually rendered tast.  Trance the Greek word means being put out of us place, referring to a state in which a man senses that he passes out of himself and from which he comes to himself, as a dream but without sleep. It differs from a vision as in vv.3,17, and 19, in which definite objects are visible to human eyes. However, in this ecstasy, or trance, Peter saw a vision.(11:5).

Verse 11 indicating that the Lord’sevangelistic move on earth is under His administration on the throne in heaven (Heb.8:1; Acts 7:56). All the apostles and evangelists were and still are carrying out the heavenly commission on earth for the spreading of the gospel of the kingdom of God. Vessel that was like a great sheet symbolizes the gospel spreading to the four corners of the inhabited earth to collect all kinds of unclean (sinful) people (Luke13:29).

Verse 12 symbolizing men of all kinds (vv.15,28).

Verse 13 in this sign, to eat is to associate with people (v.28).

Verse 14 As taught in Lev.11. Circumcision, Sabbath keeping, and a particular diet are the three strongest ordinances according to the law of Moses that make the Jews distinct and separate from the Gentiles, whom the Jews consider unclean. All these scriptural ordinances of the Old Testament dispensation became an obstacle to the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles according to God’s New Testament dispensation (15:1;Col.2:16).

Verse 15 Referring to people whom God has cleansed through the redeeming blood of Christ (Rev.1:5) and the renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5; Acts 15:9).

Bibliography,

King James, The Holy Bible (KJV), Cleveland, OH: The world publishing company

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

 Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.