The Cornelius Event and Its Aftermath

I. Supernatural Preparation A (Cornelius’ encounter with an angel) and Cornelius’ Faith 10:1-8

—An angel of God revealed to Cornelius that he was not saved in spite of his being a devout, God-fearing, family centered, charitable, given-to-prayer, and just man with a nationwide good reputation. He would only be saved by hearing specific words from a specific person, Peter.

Cornelius obeyed immediately, showing his genuine faith even though he was not yet saved. He thus exemplified the teaching of Hebrews 11:6.

II. Supernatural Preparation B (Peter’s vision of the sheet) 10:9-16

—Through a remarkable vision that was repeated three times, God showed Peter that he should not call any man unclean.

III. Supernatural Preparation C (The Spirit speaks directly to Peter) and Peter’s faith 10:17-24a

—The Holy Spirit spoke directly to Peter to command him to go with the men whom the Spirit had sent to him. The Spirit thus was preparing supernaturally both the sinners who would be evangelized and the evangelist who would evangelize them.

Although he did not yet fully understand what the Spirit was intending to do through him (cf. Acts 10:29, 34), Peter obeyed. He showed his faith by doing so.

III. Cornelius Further Demonstrates His Faith 10:24b-29

—Believing what the angel said about his household being saved, Cornelius gathered his relatives. He also gathered his close friends, showing his faith that they would also be saved through hearing Peter’s message.

IV. Cornelius Provides Peter with a Striking Prompt for His Message That Further Showed His Faith 10:30-33

—Cornelius told Peter that they were all gathered together before God to hear all that God had commanded him to speak to them. Saying this, Cornelius showed his faith that it would be the totality of Peter’s God-given message that would save him and not just meeting Peter himself.

V. Peter’s Message 10:34-43

—Peter’s message includes two remarkable statements that correlate directly with teaching that we have studied from multiple passages. He testified that Jesus was the Spirit-anointed One who delivered everyone who was oppressed of the devil. Saying this, he in effect testified to Jesus’ being the Seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15.

Moreover, Peter declared that Jesus had commanded the apostles to testify that He was the One appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. He thus testified to the same essential truth that we have seen repeatedly in our examination of several passages in previous lessons.

His doing so at the climax of his message signals the importance of this truth in the message that brought salvation to all his hearers. He also communicated that the Great Commission that Jesus gave to His disciples included this truth that is not found explicitly anywhere else in the passages that are traditionally considered to be the Commission passages.

VI. The Spirit Ends Peter’s Message 10:44

—The Spirit decided when Cornelius and those with him had heard all that they needed to hear to be saved. His doing so further highlights His role in this evangelistic encounter.

VII. Responses of Believers 10:45-11:19

1. Responses of believers present in Caesarea 10:45-48

—The circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles. Peter argued on that basis that no one should withhold the water for these to be baptized. He then commanded them to be baptized. This account clearly refutes the teaching of baptismal regeneration because all these people were saved prior to their being baptized.

2. Widespread dissemination of news about the Cornelius event 11:1

—The believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had received the Word of God, showing that this event was unique in that sense.

3. Opposition in Jerusalem from circumcised believers 11:2-3

—Circumcised believers in Jerusalem confronted Peter about going and eating with Gentiles.

4. Peter’s defends himself by rehearsing what that took place 11:4-17

—Peter defended himself by rehearsing how God had supernaturally directed every facet of what took place and argued therefore that he was not anyone who could therefore stand in God’s way.

5. Positive response from circumcised believers who had been critical of Peter 11:18

—The circumcised believers were satisfied with Peter’s defense and glorified God in response to what He had done to grant the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.

VIII. Importance of the Cornelius event in the Proceedings of the Jerusalem Council 15:1-29

1. Jewish false teaching in Antioch about Gentile salvation 15:1

2. Intense conflict results among believers and leads to the church of Antioch’s decision to send representatives to Jerusalem to address the issue 15:2

3. Report of intervening activities on their trip to Jerusalem 15:3

4. Reception in Jerusalem by three groups of believers 15:4

5. Jewish false teaching in Jerusalem about Gentile salvation 15:5

6. Leadership meets to respond to the false teaching 15:6

7. Much debate and then Peter’s address to the Council 15:7-11

8. Barnabas and Paul’s address to the Council 15:12

9. James’ decisive remarks to the Council 15:13-21

10. Leadership chooses representatives to send to Antioch with a letter relating the conciliary decision 15:22

11. The Council’s letter 15:23-29

IX. Trip to Antioch and delivery of the letter to the church at Antioch 15:30

X. Joyful response of the church at Antioch to the reading of the letter 15:31

XI. Judas and Silas speak at length to encourage and strengthen the people 15:32

XII. Representatives from Jerusalem sent back in peace to those who had sent them out 15:33

Please note: rather than reiterating in detail what I taught about these points in Sunday school, I refer you to my post that brings out many of the key ideas that I developed from this passage: Putting Peter in His Place: Learning Evangelistic Theology and Practice from the Jerusalem Council. In fact, this post treats key ramifications of this passage that I did not have time to develop in Sunday school.

See the other lessons in this Sunday school series here

For more on the glorious account of Cornelius’ salvation, see The Salvation of a Good Man

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Last week, we saw that Habakkuk expressed his faith in God’s promises to him by praying and singing about those promises. We then looked at Psalms 75 and 94, which corroborate the same truth.

We then examined Luke 18:1-8 because it is clear NT teaching that also teaches us similarly. We saw that the elect (Luke 18:7) are just people who live by faith. Their righteous living by faith expresses itself in their praying to God day and night for Him to grant them justice (Luke 18:7). By faith, they long for the coming of the Son of Man who will be God’s agent to bring about justice for them (Luke 18:8).

Today, we continue to examine our theme, The Just Shall Live by Faith: A Faith That Works, by looking at the next account, Luke 18:9-14. This passage transitions us to considering directly how our theme pertains to evangelism, which is one of our major objectives for this study.

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told this parable about two men who came to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed proudly about how he was better than other people were and touted his own religious activities, but the publican abased himself before God.

In Psalm 75, we saw that God the Judge exalts those who humble themselves and humbles those who exalt themselves. Applying that teaching to Jesus’ concluding statement about these two men (Luke 18:14), we learn that He justifies those who humble themselves by praying to Him that He would be merciful to them as sinners.

The publican displayed what Heb. 11:6 teaches about faith; he came to God believing that God was the merciful Judge who would reward with mercy those who come diligently to Him seeking mercy. This passage, therefore, correlates directly with what we saw about Abraham’s interceding with the Judge of all the earth (Gen. 18:25) for mercy upon sinners.

This parable teaches that for a lost person to become just by faith, he must believe that God is a merciful Judge who will justify him as a sinner if he humbles himself before Him. It also plainly shows that a person who tries to be saved by his works will not be saved.

I have used this passage evangelistically many times. It is excellent for dealing with people who think that God will accept them because they are not as bad as other people are or because of the religious things that they do. It also provides a model prayer for guiding a sinner in praying to God to have mercy on him for his sins.

Acts 10

Our previous account was in Luke. The natural place to go next to learn more about how prayer pertains to a lost man who becomes one of the just who live by faith would be to go to Acts because it is the sequel that Luke addressed to the same man (Theophilus) to whom he wrote the Gospel of Luke. In fact, Luke-Acts comprises more of the NT than the writings of any man, including Paul (unless Paul wrote Hebrews).

Like Luke 18, Acts 10 concerns a lost man who prayed to God. It also provides more information about how faith and works relate in a lost person’s becoming just by faith.

This evangelistic account is important for our study for many more reasons, including the following:

1. Whereas the previous passage was a parabolic account, this account relates an event that actually happened.

2. It is the longest record concerning an apostolic evangelistic encounter that we have in Scripture – 66 verses (Acts 10:1-48; cf. 11:1-18).

3. It explicitly records divine activity to bring lost people to salvation in a way unmatched by any other evangelistic account, both in the preparation of the evangelist and of the lost people who would hear his message.

4. It answers in a decisive way some crucial questions about how faith and works relate, such as do people have to be baptized to be saved.

5. It is the only account of mass evangelism where every person who heard the message was genuinely saved.

6. It ties directly to much of what we have already studied about our theme

Because of the importance of this passage to our study, we will treat it both this week and next week.

A Selective Exposition of Acts 10 with Reference to Our Theme

I. Supernatural Preparation A and Cornelius’ Faith

Through a remarkable encounter with an angel, God informed Cornelius that He had heard his prayers and had remembered his alms. Strikingly, we as the readers of Luke are given four reports of this angelic encounter.

The angel instructed him to send for Peter, through whose words Cornelius and his entire household would be saved. Although he was still a lost man, he obeyed immediately, showing his faith in what God had revealed and promised to him.

II. Supernatural Preparation B

Peter went up to pray on the top of the house in which he was staying. While he was there, God gave him a perplexing vision that was repeated three times. Luke provides two separate reports of this vision that God used to prepare Peter for his evangelistic ministry to Cornelius and his household.

III. Supernatural Preparation C

While Peter was pondering the meaning of the vision, the men whom Cornelius had sent arrived where he was staying. The Holy Spirit then spoke to Peter to inform him that because He Himself had sent these men, he should go meet them and return with them to Cornelius.

When Peter inquired of them why they were looking for him, they informed him that Cornelius had sent them to him at the direction of the angel who had appeared to him. Peter hosted them for a day and on the next day departed with them to Caesarea.

IV. Cornelius Further Demonstrates His Faith

When Peter and those who were traveling with him arrived at and entered the house of Cornelius, they found that he had gathered his household and his close friends. Gathering his family, Cornelius showed that he had believed what the angel told him about how he and his household would be saved by hearing a message from Peter.

Remarkably, Cornelius, however, also had gathered his close friends with his relatives to hear Peter’s message. He thus showed faith that went even beyond what the angel had said to him.

V. Cornelius Provides Peter with a Striking Prompt for His Message That Further Showed His Faith

Encountering Peter, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. Peter rebuked him for doing so.

Peter explained how God had directed him to come meet him and then inquired why Cornelius had sent for him. Cornelius explained that he had sent for him because the angel who appeared to him told him to do so in order that he might hear words from him by which he and his entire household would be saved.

Cornelius then told Peter that they all were there before God to hear all that the Lord had commanded him to tell them. Saying this, he showed his faith that it was Peter’s God-given message that was essential for them to hear.

Next week, we will look at the rest of Acts 10 and then examine Acts 11:1-18. From there, we will go to Acts 15.

See the other lessons here

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

1. Habakkuk 1:1-4 testifies to the appalling lack of justice in Judah at this time. (This reality closely parallels the state of our own country at this time.) When Habakkuk inquired of God about why God was not acting to deal with the situation, God answered by informing Him that He would judge the wicked among His own people through the wicked Babylonians (Hab. 1:5-11).

This revelation perplexed Habakkuk, so he inquired of God how He could use such wicked people to judge His own people (Hab. 1:12-2:1). The Lord answered him with an emphatic assurance that He would judge the wicked Babylonians as well one day and that Habakkuk would have to wait patiently by faith for that promised judgment (2:2-20).

2. When we correlate Hab. 2:2-4 and then 2:5-20 with Psalm 75, we strengthen what we discovered last time about what the just who live by faith must believe. Psalm 75 teaches that God is the Judge who exalts the righteous and abases the proud (Ps. 75:7).

He has promised that He will judge all those who are wicked, and by faith, we must await the fulfillment of that promise (Ps. 75:8). As we await His promised judgment, we are to sing of that promise (Ps. 75:9).

3. What righteous response should those who live by faith have to God’s promise of future judgment of the wicked and salvation of the righteous? Hab. 3 instructs us that righteous response is prayer (Hab. 3:1-2) and music (Hab. 3:19)!

Based on this observation, we understand that living by faith manifests itself in believing prayer and believing singing about God’s promised coming to judge and save.

4. Psalm 94 furthers our understanding of such prayer and music. The psalmist asks the Judge of the earth to lift Himself up to render judgment on the proud (Ps. 94:2; cf. Hab. 2:4). He asks a very similar question to the one that Habakkuk did about how long the wicked would triumph (Ps. 94:3; cf. Hab. 1:2).

He expresses confidence in God’s future judgment of the wicked (Ps. 94:23) and testifies to the Lord as His defense and rock of his refuge (Ps. 94:22; cf. Hab. 3:19). These close similarities between Psalm 94 and key ideas in Habakkuk show us that Psalm 94 is an example of what the just who live by faith should pray and sing.

5. Luke 17:20-18:8 moves us into the NT and directly into the teaching of the Son of Man Himself! The elect (Luke 18:7) are the just who live by faith; what is their righteous living by faith to be like? They must cry to Him day and night for Him to grant them justice (Luke 18:7). They must by faith long for the coming of the Son of Man who will be God’s agent to bring about justice for them (Luke 18:8)!

(For a more detailed treatment of Luke 18:1-8, see Praying for God to Avenge Us)

6. From the flow of thought from Hab. 1-2 to Hab. 3, we learned that prayer is a key way that the just shall live by faith. Our study of Psalm 94 and Luke 18:1-8 corroborated that understanding. What then should we pray?

Here are three Scriptural prayers that the just who live by faith should pray as they await God’s promised judgment on all the wicked:

Hab. 3:2 “In wrath, remember mercy.”

Psa 7:9 “Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.”

Rev. 22:20 “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

See the other lessons here

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

For the next 9 weeks, we will be studying the Bible’s teaching about how two key subjects relate—faith and works. We will base much of our study on Habakkuk 2:4, a key OT statement about faith, and its use in three NT passages (Rom. 1; Gal. 3; Heb. 10). We will also examine many other related NT passages.

1. To put Habakkuk 2:4 properly in its full biblical context, we first need to go all the way back to our first parents, Adam and Eve, to understand what faith in God has entailed from the beginning. Prior to the Fall, they had to exercise faith in God’s warning them about death (Gen. 2:17), something with which they would not have had any previous experience.

Tempted by the serpent, Adam and Eve fell (Gen. 3). God pronounced judgment on the serpent, Eve, and Adam. In His judgment on the serpent, God proclaimed that the Seed of the woman would suffer at the hands of the serpent and that the Seed would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).

Exercising faith in the first evangelistic promise made to fallen humanity (Gen. 3:15), therefore, required that Adam and Eve believe what God promised His Seed would do in destroying the serpent. As just people, they had to live by faith in God’s promise about His future judgment, a promise that they never saw fulfilled.

2. After Adam and Eve, we have the first biblical account that exhibits a difference between people in how faith and works interrelated in their lives: Cain and Abel (Gen. 4). Although they were both sons of Adam and Eve, Cain was also of the evil one (1 John 3:12)—he was thus the first person who was one of the serpent’s seed spoken of in Gen. 3:15.

We infer that Cain, as one who was of the evil one, rejected God’s promise of future judgment and lived his life as an unjust man who did not fear God. His offering to God was rejected because he was an unbeliever who did not give God the best that he had (cf. Exod. 34:26). We should likely regard Cain as the forefather of those Pharisees who were hypocritical unbelievers in Jesus’ day—cf. Jesus’ statement to the Pharisees that they were of their father, the devil (John 8:44).

Instead of repenting when God graciously counseled him, Cain persisted in his unbelief. Because he did not fear God and believe what he knew about God, he later murdered his brother Abel. Cain did so because his (Cain’s) deeds were evil.

3. We then come to Enoch, the next great exemplar (based on those who are mentioned in Heb. 11) of a just man living by faith (Gen. 5). Enoch walked with God for 300 years. Scripture reveals that God took him because he was pleasing to God (Heb. 11:5).

In Jude 14-15, we learn that Enoch was a preacher who proclaimed a message that essentially was a continuation of the great promise made to Adam and Eve about the Lord’s coming to judge through her Seed. Enoch thus was a just man who lived by faith in God’s promised coming to judge, a promise that he never saw fulfilled.

4. By faith, Noah also believed in and preached about God’s upcoming judgment for more than a century before it actually came (Heb. 11:7; 1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5; cf. Gen. 6:3). He thus was another just man who lived by faith in God’s promise of His future judgment.

5. Abraham received the promise of the gospel (Gen. 12:3). Interestingly, God also informed him at this time that He would curse those who cursed him. He thus received another promise of God’s future judgment of the wicked.

Somehow, he also knew and believed in the righteous judgment of the Judge of all the earth (Gen. 18:25) and witnessed a foretaste of the future destruction of the wicked that He will execute (Gen. 19). Based on these passages, we see that Abraham’s living by faith as a just man included his belief in God as the righteous Judge who would render future judgment against the wicked.

Based on our study of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham we should understand that just people must live believing and acting upon their belief in the future coming of God to judge the wicked and save the just.

6. We now zoom ahead to Habakkuk 2. The prophet expressed his concern that God had not judged Israel for her unfaithfulness (Hab. 1:1-4). God responded by saying that He was going to judge her by using an even wickeder people, the Babylonians (Hab. 1:5-11). This caused greater perplexity for the prophet (Hab. 1:12-17).

God answered by saying that His judgment on the wicked Babylonians would also come in His time and that the righteous by faith must wait patiently and faithfully for it to come (Hab. 2:2-5). In its original context, therefore, the statement the just shall live by faith is an exhortation to a life of faithfulness while awaiting the fulfillment of God’s promises concerning His judgment of the wicked and His salvation of the righteous and doing so despite how unlikely their fulfillment may seem in your present circumstances.

From what we have learned from this analysis of Hab. 2:4 in its larger biblical context, we see that for just people to live by faith includes living faithfully while believing in God’s promised future judgment of the wicked. The full title of our Sunday school series The Just Shall Live by Faith: A Faith That Works reflects this biblical truth.

7. Our new SS series actually is closely tied to the series that we just concluded in Hebrews 11. Let’s turn back to the end of Hebrews 10 so that we can see this close connection. Based on Heb. 10:35-39 followed by 11:1, the faith that is specifically in view is faith in the Second Coming that will bring destruction for those who draw back and salvation for those who live by faith.

8. Survey of future weeks:

Romans 1 – righteous standing apart from works

Galatians 3 – justification by faith, not law; a right understanding of a frequently misused term legalism

Hebrews 10 (and James) – persevering faith leads to righteous works

Final judgment – works play a major role in that judgment Rom 2:6-11

9. Objectives: When the nine weeks are done, what do we want to accomplish?

• evangelistically: explain properly to lost people how faith and works interrelate in how we come to God
• sharpen our skills in using these passages for personal edification/correction as well as for helping others; counseling self and others, including working with believers who may have lapsed into erroneous thinking about faith/works
• challenge others to live righteously in keeping with their righteous standing before God
• motivate ability to address these issues

See the other lessons here

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.