Who was Cornelius, and why was he so important?

Today Bible Study:

Who was Cornelius, and why was he so important?

In Acts 10:1, it states that Cornelius was a centurion—one of 60 officers in a Roman legion, each of whom commanded 100 men. He was of the “Italian Regiment” or “Italian Cohort.” Ten cohorts of 600 m 8 en each made up a legion.

Cornelius was a “devout man and one who feared God” (v. 2). This is a technical term used by Jews to refer to Gentiles who had abandoned their pagan religion in favor of worshiping the Lord God. Such a person, while following the ethics of the Old Testament, had not become a full proselyte to Judaism through circumcision. Cornelius was a Gentile who was about to receive the saving knowledge of God in Christ. Cornelius was told in a vision that his prayers, devotion, faith, and goodness were like a fragrant offering rising up to God, “a memorial” (v. 4). He was even given specific directions on how to reach Peter.

The next day “Peter went up on the housetop to pray” (v. 9). All kinds of worship occurred on the flat roofs of Jewish homes (2 Kin. 23:12; Jer. 19:13; 32:29). In a trance Peter sees a great sheet descending from heaven, and “in it were all kinds of four-footed animals,” both clean and unclean animals (v. 12). To keep the Israelites separate from their idolatrous neighbors, God set specific dietary restrictions regarding the consumption of such animals (Lev. 11:25,26). But a voice speaks to him and says, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat” (v. 13). With the coming of the New Covenant and the calling of the church, God ended the dietary restrictions (Mark 7:19).“What God has cleansed you must not call common” (v. 15).More than just abolishing the Old Testament dietary restrictions, God made unity possible in the church of both Jews, symbolized by the clean animals, and Gentiles, symbolized by the unclean animals, through the comprehensive sacrificial death of Christ (Eph. 2:14).

The vision and the confirmation by the Holy Spirit (v. 19) made it crystal clear to Peter that the gospel was for all people. The proof is that when the men from Cornelius arrived, he “invited them in” (v. 23). Self-respecting Jews did not invite any Gentiles into their home, especially soldiers of the hated Roman army.

©BY PASTOR JUDAH OLATUNDE