11. A Centurion and Change in the Church
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said … "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea" (Acts 10:1-6). The cohors or regiment with which the centurion Cornelius served was stationed in Caesarea, the capital of the Roman province of Judea, and this is where an amazing story unfolded. Cornelius' regiment was made up of Roman citizens, and he himself was obviously a Gentile. But Cornelius was no ordinary Roman soldier.
Acts does not just say he was a "good" man or a "wellmeaning" individual. Luke focuses closely on his character and tells us that Cornelius was: "devout" and "God fearing" – having a right attitude; that he "gave generously" – he demonstrated love for others in his actions; and "prayed regularly" – he exhibited love for God in his words. Cornelius was, in short, a person good in "thought, word, and deed." We cannot do much better than that. Yet despite all his good words, works and attitude, Cornelius, as a Roman, would have been shunned by religious Jews because of his status as a Gentile.
But Acts tells us how God gave the apostle Peter a vision, about the same time Cornelius was given his message from God, showing Peter that even as a devout Jew he should call no man "unclean" – the very term often used by Jews to refer to Gentiles at that time. Peter openly explained this to Cornelius when he was directed to visit the centurion: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean" (Acts 10:28). When God gave his Spirit to Cornelius and others present with him, Peter concluded, "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right" (Acts 10:34-35). It is perhaps hard for us to realize today, in an age of worldwide Christianity, what a "quantum leap" this event was for Christianity. This undeniable granting of the Holy Spirit to the Gentile Cornelius (Acts 10:45-46) stands as one of the great turning points in Church history; but full acceptance of this idea throughout the Jewish-Christian community came slowly and painfully, as we see in the following chapters of Acts.
There is also a simple lesson in the story for us today. We can apply the principle behind Peter's words that "God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right" (Acts 10:35) in our own lives in relation to other Christians. We may have no problem accepting fellow believers of any nation, but many Christians view their own church, their own denomination, as the "right" group, with members of other groups being viewed as doctrinally, or in other ways, inferior.
In its most extreme form, this attitude becomes that of individuals who feel they are part of the only "true" church. But God's choosing of Cornelius shows us that we should completely turn from such exclusivity and realize with Peter that God can and does work with any individual who sincerely seeks him.
God clearly judges the hearts of individuals, not groups (Jeremiah 17:10), and we should always remember the principle he taught us through Cornelius – that God always accepts "the one who fears him and does what is right." If need be, we should remember to extend the principle that God "accepts from every nation," to God "accepts from every denomination." Understanding otherwise is to fail to learn one of the vital lessons about Christianity in the story of Cornelius.