B. Peter and Cornelius (10:1-48)

It is significant that Peter lodges in the house of a tanner (9:43). Tanning was an “unclean” occupation for Jews, and contact with a tanner would have made one ritually impure. This fact may have been troubling Peter as he prayed on the roof while a meal was being prepared (10:9-10). In a larger sense, however, it serves to represent the fact that Peter is standing on a threshold between his Jewish holiness and the unholiness of the gentile world.

Caesarea (10:1) was the Roman capital of Palestine, the seat of the procurators sent to rule the province of Judea; it was mostly Gentile in its population. A thoroughly Hellenistic city, it had a temple to Caesar, a theater, a hippodrome, and the other features of a pagan city in the Roman world. Since Philip was in Caesarea (8:40), one wonders why he was not sent to Cornelius. It may be because Philip was already open to those on the fringes of Judaism, as evidenced in his preaching to the Samaritans and the Ethiopian. Peter, however, represents the Jerusalem church of solidly Jewish Christians who, as we shall see, have difficulty with God’s including those outside Judaism in the new covenant community.

Cornelius was a centurion, a position representing the heart and power of the Roman military and one of importance in the Roman world. It would have been impossible for Cornelius to have become a Jewish proselyte without losing his rank. Yet Cornelius was a God-fearer, as was his entire household (10:2). He was a devout God-fearer, even observing the Jewish hours of prayer in his home in such a manner as to be acceptable to God (vv.3-4).

God initiates the Christian outreach across the borders of Judaism by calling to the church from the other side. God has Cornelius send for Peter (10:4-8). At the same time, God is preparing Peter for the border crossing (vv.9-23). Peter, undoubtedly troubled about the possibility of eating food prepared in the unclean home of a tanner, receives a vision. The thrust of the vision (since, presumably, both clean and unclean animals are seen) is illustrated by the fact that Peter simply could have taken of the clean and left the unclean. The issue is the mixing of clean with unclean! For the observant Jew, like Peter (I have never eaten anything impure or unclean), the unclean pollutes the clean. But God is showing Peter that the clean transforms the unclean. As he ponders the vision, the Spirit tells Peter to go with the Gentiles who are asking for him at the gate.

It is clear from God’s initiative with Cornelius and with Peter, that crossing the border from Jew to Gentile was not something that would have happened “normally” from within the Christian movement. Nowhere else does Luke indicate God’s intervention to such an extent as here. This is a major step for the Christian movement.

In his encounter with Cornelius, his family and friends (10:24-33), Peter highlights the crucial issue for himself and the Jewish Christians in general: You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But Peter has begun to understand the lesson of the vision. God is expanding his perception, at least to the point of associating with Gentiles; for Peter acknowledges that Gentiles who fear [God] and do what is right are acceptable. In a sense, Peter is expanding his perspective of Judaism to include God-fearers. Rather than cross the border, however, Peter attempts to shift the border to include God-fearers in a broader definition of what constitutes God’s people.

That this is the case is seen clearly in Peter’s sermon (10:34-43). The entire orientation is related to the Jewish people. The message of God is sent to the people of Israel (v.36), proclaimed throughout all Judea (v.37), in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem (v.39); and the apostle’s proclamation of the Resurrection was to the people (a technical term for the old covenant community), as a fulfillment of the promises of the Jewish prophets (vv.42-43).

Before Peter himself can make any connection of his message with the God-fearers, before he can “give an altar call,” God pours out the Holy Spirit upon the God-fearers (10:44-48). As with the Samaritans, the gift of the Holy Spirit does not follow the expect form: Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus, and receive the Holy Spirit (2:38). And as with the Samaritans, the reason for departure from form is to expand the perception of the Jewish Christians. The focus of attention is on the Jewish Christians (the believers from among the circumcised) who are absolutely amazed at this event. They cannot argue with the reality of what God has done, and they offer no resistance to Peter’s suggestions that the God-fearers be baptized in the name of Jesus. The crucial issue is circumcision. Baptism was the first step for Gentiles to become Jewish proselytes but was to be followed by circumcision. Peter does something radically new. He baptizes God-fearers into the Christian community, which has heretofore been totally Jewish, without requiring them to be circumcised. A major step has been taken, a major barrier crossed.