all his house, which
gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always.
3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of
God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.
4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, Lord?”
And he said unto him, “Your prayers and your alms are come up for a
memorial before God.”
5 Now
send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.
In the 1st
century, Gentiles were divided up into a number of groups. There were
pagans or heathens, who did not know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
and there were proselytes who had converted to Judaism. But in addition to
these two categories of Gentiles, there were also God Fearers
who, although not totally converting to Judaism, believed in the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Today they are also known as righteous
Gentiles.
As we saw
in the previous chapter, the School of Shammai did not believe that an
ethnos (a Gentile who was not a full convert to Judaism) had a place in
the world to come. Cornelius, being a centurion, would not be allowed,
(under military restrictions), to become circumcised. Therefore, he would still be
considered a pagan or heathen by the School of Shammai.
Kill and Eat
Continuing
in Acts 10:9.
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and
approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was
being prepared, he fell into a trance.