Acts Bible Study: Acts 10:24-33

Acts 10:24–33 (NASB)

24 On the following day he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am just a man.” 27 As he talked with him, he entered and found many people assembled. 28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. 29 “That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have sent for me.” 30 Cornelius said, “Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments, 31 and he said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 ‘Therefore send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying at the house of Simon the tanner by the sea.’ 33 “So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

24 On the following day he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

Acts 10:23 (NASB)

23 So he invited them in and gave them lodging. And on the next day he got up and went away with them, and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him.

Acts 10:8–9 (NASB)

8 and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. 9 On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.

Acts 10:2 (NASB)

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.

Deuteronomy 6:5–9 (NASB)

5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Matthew 9:9–11 (NASB)

9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. 10 Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”

25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am just a man.”

Acts 14:11–15 (NASB)

11 When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us.” 12 And they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out 15 and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

Revelation 19:9–10 (NASB)

9 Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ ” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” 10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Joshua 5:13–15 (NASB)

13 Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” 14 He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” 15 The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

27 As he talked with him, he entered and found many people assembled. 28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.

Did God change the law for His people regarding Gentiles?

The reason many thought that the Gentiles were “unclean” was three fold,

1) There was the command o destroy all the Canaanites:

Deuteronomy 20:16–18 (NASB)

16 “Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord our God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 “But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the Lord your God.

2) The Talmud:

The Talmud was the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law and theology. The Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life and was not only the record of Jewish history but filled with dozens of Rabbinic commentaries. And Gentiles were certianly viewed as unclean in the Talmud, but worse, some commentaries were so harsh that Gentiles were even portrayed as unredeemable.

John Calvin’s Commentary on Acts 10:28

“...whereas he said that it was wickedness for the Jews to go in unto the Gentiles, we must know that this came not so much from the law, as from the observation of the fathers. God had forbidden, indeed, that they should (not) entangle themselves with marriages or covenants, (Deuteronomy 7:3;) they were never forbidden to eat with them, or to use the common businesses of life. That decree came from their wise men, which they looked upon to be no less binding than the Scripture.”

3) Herod’s Temple and Roman influence:

Herod’s temple contained four separate “courts,” separated from one another and each designed for a different purpose: One would first come to Solomon’s Portico and then the Court of the Gentiles, then the Court of the Women, then the Court of Israel (or the Court of Men), and finally, the Court of Priests or the most Inner Court. The Court of the Gentiles is referred to as “the outer court” in Revelation 11:2. The Court of the Gentiles was the outermost courtyard and the only area of the temple where non-Jews were allowed. It was accessible to Gentiles, foreigners, and and anyone else considered impure.

The University of Cambridge:

Department of History:

1st Century Jewish History:

Herod’s Temple: (completed around 10 AD)

“A series of “keep out” signs in both Greek and Latin were posted along the wall of the temple at regular intervals to warn away those who were non-Jewish and thus, unfit to enter the sacred space. Two of these “keep out” signs have survived to the present day. The most complete of the two, discovered on the Temple Mount in 1871, reads:

"No alien may enter within the balustrade around the sanctuary and the enclosure. Whoever is caught, on himself shall he put blame for the death which will ensue.”

The fact that the signs were written in Greek and Latin but not Hebrew, the local vernacular, or Aramaic, the regional language, reflect the fact that the signs explicitly target foreigners and not people from the immediate vicinity, even those who were non-Jewish. The language of the signs also suggests that they were put up by rulers representing the Roman Empire and not by the Temple priests.”

****But for God, it was never this way.

Genesis 12:2–3 (NASB)

2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Psalm 117:1–2 (NASB)

1 Praise the Lord, all nations; Laud Him, all peoples! 2 For His lovingkindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord!

Numbers 15:14–16 (NASB)

14 ‘If an alien sojourns with you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he wishes to make an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord, just as you do so he shall do. 15 ‘As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the Lord. 16 ‘There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.’ ”

Romans 1:16 (NASB)

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

29 “That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have sent for me.”

1 Peter 5:1–5 (NASB)

1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Matthew 20:25–28 (NASB)

25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

30 Cornelius said, “Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments, 31 and he said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 ‘Therefore send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying at the house of Simon the tanner by the sea.’

Acts 10:1–8 (NASB)

1 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. 5 “Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; 6 he is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier of those who were his personal attendants, 8 and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

33 “So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

Jeremiah 29:13 (ESV)

13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Proverbs 8:17 (NASB)

17 ...those who diligently seek me will find me.

1 Chronicles 22:19 (ESV)

19 Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God...