The conversion of Cornelius is another mark in the pace of the progress of the Gospel into the world and taking it out beyond Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then to the world. It was shocking for the Jews of that time to think that God would give the Holy Spirit to Gentiles, and yet He did it in undeniable ways. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In previous studies we have seen how God took a man who was a very religious Jew in Saul and converted him (Acts 9). The man who hated Christians and persecuted them became a Christian and suffered persecution more than them all. He was a thoroughly changed and converted man. But now, in the very next chapter of Acts, we find a very religious Gentile that also needed conversion. He was a good man and did many good deeds, but his heart needed to be converted.
In the modern day the salvation of a Gentile does not astonish us very much at all, especially in America where we have it drilled into us that all men are created equal. But in the biblical days it was not that way. It is said that there was a prayer of Jewish men who prayed each morning something that went like this: “I thank you Lord that I was not born a dog, a woman, or a Gentile.” The fallen human heart will take certain aspects of Scripture and twist them to fit its own desires to be as God. The things that God set out as distinctions to point to the Gospel and the coming Messiah were taken by some and made as ways to foster and continue pride. It is only if we can grasp something of how Gentiles were viewed can we begin to understand the lengths (so to speak) that God went to in order to bring Cornelius to Himself by getting Peter there to preach the Gospel.
An important point in this account of the conversion of Cornelius is that God also taught Peter, other apostles, and many others that He saves Gentiles. This is also very important for people to hear today. We tend to stay in holy huddles and flee from unbelievers as much as possible, which is the same attitude the Jews had toward Gentiles. But the glory of the Gospel was not limited to those that were converted, but shone out to those already converted and those who are not. The Gospel shines brightly with the glory of God and is to be proclaimed to all who will hear. It is not that anyone deserves to hear the Gospel, but that God deserves for people to hear of His glory. God created all things as ways to manifest His glory and the Gospel declares and manifests His glory more brightly than anything else. In the conversion account of Cornelius we have God taking Peter by the hand (so to speak) and showing him that His Gospel went to the Gentiles as well. The lesson for us today is that God saves sinners and not just those that live in holy huddles. A Jewish person thought that touching a Gentile made them unclean, and that is how some believers tend to view unbelievers today. God taught Peter and is teaching us as well.
The text of Scripture moves from the trials of the newly converted Saul who was sent to Caesarea and then to Tarsus (Acts 9:30) to tell us that “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase (Acts 9:31). Luke, being the historian that he was, wants us to see how Peter arrived in Joppa. He went there to raise a woman from the dead when two disciples visited him and implored him to come visit them. This act “became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord” (Acts 9:42). Then the text takes us to Acts 10 where we are introduced to Cornelius:
“Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” 4 And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God” (Acts 10:1-4).
What impresses a person first is that Scripture takes the time to tell us that Cornelius was a devout man and then some of his works. He was a man who had some fear of God and this had spread to his household. He was a Gentile but he understood that the Jews were the people of God and so gave alms to them, but he was also a man given to prayer since he prayed to God continually. The angel that came to him in a vision told him that his prayers and alms had “ascended as a memorial before God.” There is much to learn here if we have ears to hear and are willing to hear. We have been taught against good works and the fact that good works cannot save that we flee from telling unbelievers some important points. Cornelius stands as an example of some things that we can and should tell unbelievers. Unbelievers are also under the hand of God and they should fear Him because He is worthy of fear. Unbelievers should engage in good works and do good things because that is better than doing bad or evil things. It is not that good works that are inherently bad, but it is the heart that is bad and trusts in them.
The reason to think that Cornelius was an unconverted man was that God sent an angel to him to tell him to send to Joppa for Peter. When Peter arrived, he preached the Gospel to this man and all who were there. Though Cornelius was a good man, a devout man, and devoted to good works he was a sinner that needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ in order to be converted. Though he was devoted to prayer, yet he needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Though he gave money to the physical people of God (Jews), he still needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Pharisees were also those who were devout, devoted to good works, feared God in some way, gave alms, and were devoted to prayer. Yet they received the most severe words from Jesus. A man can be devoted to all of these things and not be a converted person. Cornelius was an unconverted man despite his exemplary life.
Cornelius believed in God, but so do the devils and they tremble. Many people in the world today believe in God in some way and yet they do not tremble. The devil believes that all the statements of the Bible are true and that God is worthy to be loved, yet he is not converted. The devil deceives people by having them trust in their good works and so he motivates people to good works in order to deceive them. The fact that the devil is behind good works does not mean that he is converted or that the people doing them are converted, yet so many within the professing Church today are deceived by good works. The devil is quite active in the world today though his work is quite hidden. He deceives some away from good works because they do not save, and yet he deceives many by their doing good works and so thinking that those make them acceptable to God. Cornelius appeared to be a man devoted to good works and yet he did not trust in them for salvation.
We learn from Cornelius that it is right for all people to fear God and do what is externally good. The difference between a converted person and an unconverted person is not morality and good works; it is being a new creature in Christ. Believers and unbelievers alike should do good works in the sense that they should live before God as one who knows that s/he will stand before God and be judged by the deeds done in the body. The unbeliever is treasuring up wrath for the day of wrath (Rom 2:4), yet a life devoted to good works is far better than one that is devoted to bad deeds. The external deeds are things that all should do simply because of who God is. While we teach unbelievers that their prayers are an abomination to God apart from Christ, yet if they are praying in a way of seeking God that is still far better than to live without prayer and a total rejection of His commands over them.
We also see that while the works and prayers of Cornelius did not save him nor gain merit, the text is quite clear that God recognized what he was doing. While people sneer at any sign of preparing a heart for salvation today, this text teaches us that perhaps we need to think through these issues again. Sin hardens the heart and takes a person farther from God, while good works have no merit when they are done in the process of seeking God and not trusting in them yet they do not harden the heart as open sin does. It was far better for Cornelius to be engaged in his good works and in prayer while seeking the Lord than it was for him to be given over to sin and seeking the world. It was to this man that was seeking God in good works and prayer that God sent Peter to preach the Gospel to him. It is the fear of God that keeps people from gross and outward sin (Ex 20:20) and is far better than a hardened heart that does not fear God and goes on in sin. Cornelius had the fear of God about him and he was devoted to prayers and good works as a way of seeking God and not to earn something from Him. In his seeking God saved him by grace alone, yet not because his seeking earned anything. He was saved by grace alone.
This is a forgotten message today and yet it is in Acts 10 and it was the message of the Puritans as well. All human beings should be taught to forsake sin and to seek God. All human beings should be taught to fear God, to pray in some way, and then to be given to good deeds. They are to be taught that these things have no merit but that they should do them as creatures living before their Creator. They are to be taught that these things are far better than living in open sin which hardens their hearts and treasures even more wrath up against them. These are things that may enable a person to seek God with less of a hardened heart. After all, they ascended to God and He did send Peter to preach to Cornelius and then sent the Spirit into his heart. This thought is also in line with the sermon of Paul in Acts 17:
“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children'” (vv. 24-28).
Paul taught people to seek God and Cornelius tells us one way to do it. Despite all of his good works in seeking God he did not trust in them but needed to hear the Gospel. In one very real sense he was seeking God, while in another he was not seeking God in accordance with the truth and love (Rom 3:10). In one sense he was doing good works and yet in the fullest of senses no one does good (Rom 3:11). In one sense he feared God while in the fullest sense no unbeliever truly fears God (Rom 3:18). We must learn the fine line between these “senses” and teach men to seek the Lord while knowing that in the fullest sense they cannot (Rom 8:6-9).
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