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 Acts 8:26. In the two cases the Spirit spoke to Philip and to Peter, respectively, in a particular way (Acts 8:29; 10:19).

One of ten divisions of an ancient Roman legion. It was composed of 600 men.

Like the Ethiopian eunuch, Cornelius, the Roman centurion, was seeking God, as Paul mentioned in Acts 17:27.

See note Acts 10:10^3a.

I.e., 3:00 p.m. (so also in v. 30).

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 (Gen. 4:3, 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 to His foreknowledge.

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 prayer is needed as a means of cooperating with God's move.

I.e., 12:00 noon (cf. Psa. 55:17).

Signifying seeking after the things of God (Matt. 5:6). God fills the hungry with good things (Luke 1:53).

A word usually rendered taste.

The Greek word means being put out of its place, referring to a state in which a man senses that he passes out of himself and from which he comes to himself (note Acts 12:11¹), as in a dream but without sleep. It differs from a vision, as in vv. 3, 17, 19, in which definite objects are visible to human eyes. However, in this ecstasy, or trance, Peter saw a vision (Acts 11:5).

Indicating that the Lord's evangelistic move on earth is under His administration on the throne in heaven (cf. 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.

The 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 (Luke 13:29).

Symbolizing men of all kinds (vv. 15, 28, and notes).

In this sign, to eat is to associate with people (v. 28).

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 (Acts 15:1; Col. 2:16).

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).

See note Acts 10:10^3a.

This indicates that Cornelius's sending of the three men was the Spirit's move and act through him even before his conversion.

In this strategic case Peter did not act individualistically but with some of the brothers, in the principle of the Body of Christ, that they might bear witness to the way in which God dealt with the Gentiles, that is, preaching the gospel to them through Peter's breaking of the Jewish tradition and habit (Acts 11:12).

This indicates that eventually Peter understood the significance of the vision he had seen in the trance (vv. 11, 17, 19), that is, that the animals in the great sheet represented men.

Those who fear God and work righteousness in every nation are still a part of fallen mankind. God accepts them in view of the redemption of Christ (see note Acts 10:4^1b). Outside of Christ, no fallen man is justified by his works (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16).

Referring to men (1 Tim. 2:4), not only Jews but also Gentiles.

Lit., the word which has taken place. The Greek word for word here denotes instant words.

See note Acts 2:24¹.

Lit., to become visible.

See note Acts 2:24¹.

At His coming back, before the millennium, the resurrected Christ will judge the living on His throne of glory (Matt. 25:31-46). This is related to His second coming (2 Tim. 4:1). After the millennium He will judge the dead on the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). See note Acts 17:31^1a. That will be the final clearance of the defiled old creation.

Cf. into the name in Acts 8:16.

The name denotes the person (see note Matt. 28:19⁵). To be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ is to be baptized into the person of Christ (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27), which is also to be baptized into the sphere of His person (see note Acts 2:38³).

See note Acts 8:36¹.

Like the early apostles and the Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4), the Gentile believers in the house of Cornelius received the Holy Spirit economically directly from the ascended Head. Only these two instances in the New Testament are considered the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; 11:15-16). By these two steps the Head of the Body baptized all His believers, both Jewish and Gentile, once for all into His one Body (1 Cor. 12:13). Hence, the baptism in the Spirit is an accomplished fact carried out by Christ in His ascension, on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius. None of the other cases — the Samaritan believers in ch. 8, Saul of Tarsus in ch. 9, and the twelve Ephesian believers in ch. 19 — are considered the baptism in the Holy Spirit according to the revelation of the New Testament. These other cases were merely the believers' experiences of the once-for-all-accomplished baptism in the Holy Spirit.

In this book, concerning the believers' receiving of the Holy Spirit economically, that is, the Holy Spirit's falling upon them, only five cases are mentioned. Two of them are for the accomplishing of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. These are the instances that occurred on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius. The other three — the cases of the Samaritan believers, Saul of Tarsus, and the twelve believers in Ephesus — are considered extraordinary, in that some members of the Body of Christ were needed to identify those believers with the Body by the laying on of hands. Besides these five cases, in many cases of conversion, such as the three thousand (Acts 2:41), the five thousand (Acts 4:4), the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:36, 38-39a), the many who believed in Antioch (Acts 11:20-21, 24), the many instances in chs. 13 and 14 under Paul's preaching ministry, Lydia in Philippi (Acts 16:14-15), the jailer in Philippi (Acts 16:33), the believers in Thessalonica (Acts 17:4), the believers in Berea (Acts 17:10-12), the believers in Athens (Acts 17:34), the ruler of the synagogue and many other believers in Corinth (Acts 18:8), and the believers in Ephesus (Acts 19:18-19), there is no mention of the believers' receiving of the Holy Spirit economically — the Holy Spirit's falling upon the believers — because in all these cases the believers were brought into the Body of Christ in a normal way through their believing and had no particular need for a member of the Body of Christ to bring them into identification with the Body by the laying on of hands. According to the principle of God's New Testament economy, they all must have received the Holy Spirit essentially for life and economically for power in a normal way through their believing into Christ.

The same expression as in Luke 1:46.

Speaking in tongues was not the unique issue of receiving the Holy Spirit economically, because in this case the magnifying, that is, the praising, of God was also one of its issues, as was prophesying in the case of the twelve believers in Ephesus (Acts 19:6). Hence, speaking in tongues is not the only evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit economically; neither is it the necessary evidence, because there is at least one case of the receiving of the Holy Spirit economically, the case of the Samaritan believers (Acts 8:15-17), which does not mention speaking in tongues. In the case of Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:17) concerning this matter, there again is no mention of speaking in tongues, although he told us later, in 1 Cor. 14:18, that he spoke in tongues.

By God from the all-inclusive, resurrected, and ascended Christ (see note Acts 2:17^2c).

The Holy Spirit Himself, not anything of the Holy Spirit given to the believers as a gift (see note Acts 2:38^6d).

This included their believing into the Lord (v. 43; John 5:24; Rom. 10:14; Eph. 1:13).

Outwardly and economically (see note Acts 1:8²). In the case of the house of Cornelius, the Holy Spirit's entering into the believers essentially for life and falling upon them economically for power occurred simultaneously when they believed in the Lord. However, only His falling upon them economically is noted here, because it was outward and could be realized by others through their speaking in tongues and magnifying God (v. 46). His entering into them occurred silently and invisibly. They received both aspects of the Holy Spirit directly from Christ the Head, without any mediatorial channel, before they were baptized in water by other members of the Body of Christ. This indicates emphatically that the spreading of the gospel of the kingdom of God to the Gentiles was of the Lord, and that the Head of the Body baptized the Gentile believers into His Body directly, without the laying on of hands of any member of His Body, in contrast to the cases of the Samaritan believers and Saul of Tarsus (Acts 8:17; 9:17).

This proves that even though Cornelius feared God and worked righteousness and his prayers and alms had been accepted by God, he still needed God's forgiveness of his sins through his believing into Christ, the Redeemer (see note Acts 10:4^1b and note Acts 10:35¹).