Acts 10 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Acts 10:1-8

1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 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, ‘Cornelius!’

4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. ‘What is it, Lord?’ he asked.

The angel answered, ‘Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.’

7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

A. Find Out:    

1. What was Cornelius? v.1
2. How is he described? v.2
3. What happened to him? v.3
4. How was he affirmed? v.4
5. What was he told to do? v.5,6
6. So what did he do? v.7,8

B. Think:

1. What sort of man is Cornelius?
2. How would you describe the message he receives?
3. What does his obedience indicate?

C. Comment:

Luke now turns to one of the most significant incidents in the life of the early church, the clear bringing in of the Gentiles. Who does God choose to show this is His will for His church? A devout God fearing man who prays. He is a family man and a man of responsibility and authority. There is also an element of humility and mercy about him, for we are told he gives to the poor. He is a kind man. He is the man God has chosen to show the largely Jewish church that His plan is for the Gentiles as well as Jews.

Cornelius has a vision; he is awake and suddenly everything else disappears and all he sees is an angel who speaks to him. The angel first reassures him and then instructs him. The instructions are interesting! They tell him what to do but not why! He is simply to send for a man who is at a certain place. What is also interesting is that Cornelius doesn’t ask questions. He simply receives the message and obeys it. Here is a man if simple child-like faith who obeys God, and this man isn’t even a Christian! What a challenge he is to us, even before he becomes a true believer. Can WE say we are devout, God-fearing, pray regularly and give to the poor? If not we are less than this non-Christian!

D. Application:

1. Can I match Cornelius’s description?
2. God looks for such people to speak to and through.

Passage: Acts 10:9-23

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. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

14 ‘Surely not, Lord!’ Peter replied. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’

15 The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Simon, three men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.’

21 Peter went down and said to the men, ‘I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?’

22 The men replied, ‘We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.’ 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along.

A. Find Out:

1. What was Peter doing and what happened? v.9,10
2. What did he see? v.11,12
3. What was he told to do & what was his response? v.13,14
4. What was he told & how many times did it happen? v.15,16
5. What then happened & what was he told? v.17-20
6. So what then happened? v.21-23

B. Think:

1. What do you think Peter’s response to the vision showed about him?
2. What was the point of it?
3. How do you think we sometimes have the same problem?

C. Comment:

Cornelius’s men are on the way but, as things stand at the moment, they won’t be received. So, the Lord intervenes and deals with Peter. He speaks while Peter is praying and, while Peter is hungry, He uses food to convey His message. The vision is simple: food comes from heaven, but it comprises animals that Jews would consider unclean, not fit to eat. He’s told to eat them, but he balks at that. Then comes the key: “Don’t call anything impure that God has made clean” or, if you like, don’t refuse what God says is all right! Now this cut across all of Peter’s former understanding, for in many ways he is still a good Jew!

Then, before Peter has time to think about all this, Cornelius’s men arrive. The Holy Spirit can now speak into Peter’s prepared heart: receive them! Peter, who previously wouldn’t go near Gentiles, went down and met them and invited them in! Before he may not have understood that God’s heart was also for the Gentile part of the world, but at least he is obedient to his Lord’s leading. We’ll also soon see more of his Jewish pride, but for the moment let’s just rejoice in his initial response. Jew and Gentile are coming together!

D. Application:

1. Have we set our hearts in a particular doctrine that is actually contrary to God’s heart? Are we open to Him to speak to us about it?
2. God loves all people, whatever they look like, whatever their culture and He wants us to take His love to them. Can He send us?

Passage: Acts 10:23-33 

23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. 24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. ‘Stand up,’ he said, ‘I am only a man myself.’

27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them: ‘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. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?’

30 Cornelius answered: ‘Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me 31 and said, “Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 32 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.” 33 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.’

A. Find Out:

1. Who went with Peter? v.23
2. Who were with Cornelius? v.24,27
3. How did Cornelius greet Peter? v.25
4. What was Peter’s response? v.26
5. How did Peter explain his presence with them? v.28,29
6. How does Cornelius explain his side of things? v.30-33  

B. Think:

1. What does Cornelius obviously feel about Peter?
2. How do you think Peter’s speech comes over?
3. How does Cornelius graciously answer him?

C. Comment:

Peter has had his instructions from the Lord and so he goes. He is going to a Gentile and, because that is unusual, he takes along a number of other Jewish believers from Joppa. When they arrive Cornelius has obviously had word that they are on the way and has gathered his family and friends to hear what Peter is going to say.

Cornelius gives Peter the greatest acclaim possible, too much in fact, but that is how he feels about this “man of God”. Peter, on the other hand, it could be suggested, explains himself in somewhat condescending terms, basically saying, “I’m not supposed to meet with you Gentiles but as God’s told me to, here I am”. Is there a measure to which the church was still as blind to God’s purposes as the Jews had been beforehand (Do a study on “to the nations” and “to the Gentiles” in the Old Testament).    

God’s heart was to reach all men, yet many in the early church were still bound to their Jewish unbelief. Later on, when the apostle Paul started on his missionary journeys he mainly went to the Jews in their synagogues. It was only when the Jews rejected him that he eventually went to the Gentiles. When we have settled for one way of thinking for much of our life, it is very difficult to adjust, even if it is God who is telling us to change. 

D. Application:

1. We need to keep a humble spirit.
2. We need to be open to all people; God loves them.

Passage: Acts 10:34-48

34 Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

39 ‘We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, 47 ‘Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.’ 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

A. Find Out:

1. What had Peter come to realise? v.34,35
2. What did he say they knew? v.36-38
3. Of what does Peter say they were witnesses? v.39-41
4. What had they been commanded to do with what result? v.42,43
5. What then happened? v.44-46
6. What did Peter then instruct should happen? v.47,48

B. Think:

1. What did Peter assume that Cornelius had heard about?
2. What did he then add?
3. What do you think the coming of the Spirit signified?

C. Comment:

Peter acknowledges, after hearing Cornelius’s story, that God accepts Gentiles as well as Jews. He assumes that Cornelius had heard about the coming of Jesus and all that he did, but he then adds that they, the apostles, were witnesses to the resurrection. He also explains that belief in Jesus is the basis for forgiveness of sins.

It is significant that what happened, happened at this point in Peter’s preaching. We know the hearts of Cornelius and his friends were wide open to God, and so it is at the point that they hear about forgiveness of sins through Jesus (and presumably believe it), that the Holy Spirit comes on them. Note this clearly, they believe and then He comes. The evidence of His coming was that the listeners all started breaking into tongues and praising God. That was their heart response to the message they had just heard and it was then enabled by the Spirit.

This was of course, the first time that the Spirit had come on the Gentiles in such a manner. As on the Jews on the day of Pentecost, so this was a clear and visible sign of God’s approval and acceptance of these people. It amazed the Jewish believers but they could not argue with it! All that remained was for these new Gentile “believers” to be baptised for it to be sealed, and they were.

D. Application:

1. A believing heart is one for the Spirit to come to.
2. When He comes, there is no doubt.