| Acts 10 Previous Chapter | Next Chapter 1 Now there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the cohort called the Italian Cohort, 2 He was a devout man who feared God along with all his household, who gave many charitable gifts to the poor, and who prayed to God always. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw a vision of an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, "Cornelius." 4 And when he saw him, he was afraid and said, "What is it, Lord? " And he said to him, "Your prayers and acts of charity to the poor have come up as a memorial before God. [Notice, Cornelius feared God, gave many charitable gifts to the poor, and prayed always; that is what caused God to send Peter to him, and Peter calls this "works of righteousness" in verse 34 below.] 5 And now send men to Joppa, and ask for Simon whose surname is Peter. 6 He is staying with a tanner named Simon whose house is by the seaside; he shall tell you what you need to do." 7 When the angel who had spoken to Cornelius had departed, he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who served him continually; 8 And when he had related all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. 9 Now on the next day, as they were on their journey and drew near the city, Peter had gone up on the housetop to pray at about the sixth hour. 10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten; but while they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance. 11 And he saw heaven opened and a certain vessel descending upon him, like a great sheet knit at the four corners, and lowered down to the earth. 12 Within this sheet were all kinds of the four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice saying to him, "Rise Peter, kill and eat." 14 But Peter said, "Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is impure or unclean." 15 Then the voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed, do not call it impure." 16 This was done three times, and then the sheet-like vessel was taken up again into heaven. 17 Now while Peter was questioning in himself what this vision that he had seen actually meant, behold, the men who were sent from Cornelius had inquired the location of Simon's house, and they stood outside the gate. 18 And they called and asked if Simon, who was surnamed Peter, was staying there. 19 And while Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men seek you. 20 Arise therefore, and go down and leave with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them." 21 Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him by Cornelius, and said, "Behold, I am the one you seek. For what purpose have you come here?" 22 And they said, "Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one who fears God, and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by a holy angel to send for you at this house and to hear your words." 23 Then Peter invited them in1 and gave them lodging. On the next day Peter went away with them, accompanied by several brothers from Joppa. 24 And the next day they arrived at Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them, and he had called together his kinsmen and near friends. 25 And as Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. 26 But Peter raised him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself also am a man." 27 As he talked with him, he went on in, and found many who had come together. 28 And he said to them, "You know that it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to keep company, or visit anyone of another nation; but God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. 29 So I came to you without objection, as soon as I was sent for. Therefore I ask, why you have sent for me? " 30 And Cornelius said, "Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, 31 And said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your charitable gifts to the poor are held in remembrance in the sight of God. 32 Therefore send to Joppa, and ask for Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is staying with a tanner named Simon whose house is by the seaside; he shall tell you what you need to do.' 33 Therefore I immediately sent for you; and it was good of you to come here. Now therefore we are all here in the sight of God to hear all that you are commanded by God." 34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, "In truth I perceive that God is no respecter [shows no partiality] of persons, [God is fair, God is pure, God is just, and God anonymously pleads with every man to turn from their selfish, evil ways because God would have all men to be saved; but man must heed God's convictions in his day of visitation. However, the vast majority of men love their own, selfish, evil ways; and so they deny the truth and flee from God's revealing of their deeds, unaware it was the light of God reasoning with them and attempting to save them from the consequences of their continued evil, selfish life.] 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness2 is accepted by him. [The beginning works of righteousness are to regret your past sins, turn from evil as you know it, share from your excess with those who do not have the necessities of life, and make every effort to: not lie, be honest, not take advantage of anyone, not oppress people, not want more, and not complain. Further righteousness results from obedience to God's commands to you, which you hear and see as you wait on God in humble silence, listening and watching for His spoken words and revelations to you.] 36 The word that God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, the Lord of all; [In this time God did not send scriptures to the children of Israel. Jesus is the word that God sent to the children of Israel, who already had scriptures, heard them read every Sabbath, but demanded that Jesus be crucified. Several Bibles have translated instead "The message that God sent" not "The word that God sent." Yet in the original Greek of this verse the Greek word is logon, a derivative of logos, which does not include "message" in its meaning; this shows the translators are trying to perpetuate the myth that the Bible is the word of God; and they have done the same slight-of-hand in verses 37 and 44 of this chapter also.] 37 You saw the word arise throughout all Judea to lead, in origin from Galilee, after the baptism that John preached;3 [Clearly the word that arose throughout all Judea was not the Bible. In this time, the scriptures of the Old Testament were on bulky, expensive, rare, fragile scrolls. Bibles did not become available to the general population until the late 1500's, and the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not even available until around 90 AD. The word was Jesus as the next verse indisputably identifies; He came to lead them to peace and freedom, but the Jews, who had the scriptures and tried Him with the scriptures, rejected Him as a blasphemer, and insisted He be crucified.] 38 Jesus of Nazareth, that God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all the things that he did, both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hung on a tree. 40 But God raised him up the third day, and showed him openly; 41 Not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen by God; even to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that it is he who was ordained by God to be the Judge of living and the dead. 43 All the prophets have witnessed about him, that through his name whoever believes [trusts in, depends on, obeys] in him shall receive remission [release from the bondage] of sins." 44 Now while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all of those who heard the word.4 [Notice! Peter's words that he spoke was "the word" they heard. Peter spoke the Word of God, the word from within his heart; words supplied by the Spirit of Christ that gave Peter the words to speak. Thus it was Christ speaking through Peter, and because of that, the Holy Spirit fell on his listeners.] 45 And the many of the circumcision [Jewish believers], who had come with Peter, were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had also been poured out on the Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speak in other tongues and magnify God. Then Peter said, 47 "Can any man forbid water, so that these should be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we have?" 48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they pleaded with him to remain several there days. Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | |||||||||
1 This was a huge step of obedience for Peter because for Jews to associate with Gentiles was strictly forbidden by Jewish law. They considered the Gentiles to be unclean; and a Jew was defiled if he touched a Gentile, even the hem of a Gentile's garment.
2 Those who fear him and work righteousness are accepted by God. Cornelius' works of righteousness were: he feared God, gave many charitable gifts to the poor, and prayed always, not presumption of righteousness because you believe Jesus was the son of God. However, today the requirements of fear and working righteousness are ignored, denied, and ridiculed by Christendom throughout the world. You must fear God to begin turning from evil; this starts with fear of consequences. The beginning of fear is to cease stealing, lying, cheating, adultery, fornication, violence, oppressing others, etc. To work righteousness is to give to those who lack life's necessities as Cornelius had acts of charity to the poor; and then to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness as your first priority in life, no longer trying to get rich, gain possessions, etc. To seek God is go to him, wait on him, with the humility of a sinner needing his changing grace, listen in silence, hear him speak to you, and practice and obey what he teaches and commands you.
Thus Peter saw that God no longer favored the Jews, as prophesied by Isaiah and Malachi, but instead turned to the Gentile nations.
I the LORD have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you for a covenant to the people, for a light to the Gentiles, Isaiah 42:6
Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard for the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. Isaiah 49:22
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign and standard of the people; the Gentiles seek it, and his rest shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:10
For from the rising of the sun till its going down my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense and a pure offering shall be offered to my name; for my name shall be great among the heathen, says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 1:11
3 You saw the word arise throughout all Judea to lead, in origin from Galilee, after the baptism that John preached; It is amazing how far the translators have stretched the truth to support their fantasy that the word is the Bible. Look below how the King James Version states this verse:
That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
Yet the Greek for this verse has no word that even faintly resembles the word "published," and the Greek word they have translated as "published" is genomenon, which has the following possible meanings: "1) to become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being 2) to become, i.e. to come to pass, happen 2a) of events 3) to arise, appear in history, come upon the stage 3a) of men appearing in public 4) to be made, finished 4a) of miracles, to be performed, wrought 5) to become, be made." None of which faintly resemble "published," but by using the word "published," they make it appear that the word was scriptures.
In the time of the early church of the Apostles, scriptures were in bulky, rare, fragile, very expensive scrolls, unavailable to most all; and if available, typically limited to the Old Testament from synagogues. The letters of Paul, John, James, and Jude quote from the Old Testament, but never from a book of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John; those books were not available. Paul had been extensively schooled in the Old Testament scriptures by the leading authority of the time, Gamaliel, so he uses many scripture quotations, but all are from the Old Testament; for the few quotations they made, Peter, Jude, James, and John easily had access to many Old Testament scriptures in Jerusalem. For the next 250 years after the time of the Apostles, there were many different Christian books, (including what now makes up the New Testament as early as 90 AD), and writings on parchment scrolls, primarily, possessed by the so-called bishops of major cities such as Alexandria, Rome, Carthage, Antioch, Caesarea, Nicomedia, and Asia Minor centers; each major city having written or favoring different books that often centered on petty doctrinal disagreements, which showed no unity of Spirit within organized Christendom; (this is hardly surprising because even when John was alive there were already many antiChrists that had gone out from the true believers). After a long controversy over which books would be included, settled by a vote of men, the Bible with a New Testament was first assembled with 50 copies created in 331 AD by order of Roman Emperor Constantine, the effective head of Christendom, (who had poisoned his son and boiled his wife to death). The many differing versions of Christian writings were then ordered to be burned throughout the Roman empire, (what few remained because all Christian writings were previously ordered to be burned in 303 by Emperor Diocletian). This massive official Roman version, hand written on parchment, was in Latin to facilitate public reading in the Roman Empire's publicly built "churches." For centuries the Bible was only available to the clergy; later, any non-clergy person, (the laity), that possessed a Bible was considered a heretic and put through the Inquisition, (death); and translation from Latin to a native language was always strictly forbidden. The first Bible was printed in 1456. In the late 1500's after the Reformation and spread of printing presses, Bibles first became available to the general public in their own language. So, the early church thrived in Spirit and power without the Bible because the real Word of God spread as the Book of Acts reports: "the word of God multiplied, the word of God increased, and they spoke the Word of God." From His mouth, God put his word in their mouths to speak, which created more believers who could speak the Word of God too.
And this verse gives further proof that the word, which rose throughout Palestine and began in Galilee, is Jesus speaking, whose name is the Word of God, which word formed the worlds; created the heavens, the earth, and all that is in them; destroyed the world by water; and reserves fire to destroy the world and ungodly men on the day of judgment.
4 Now while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all of those who heard the word. Notice! Peter's words that he spoke was "the word" they heard. So the words in the previous verses that Peter spoke were "the word." Peter spoke the Word of God, the word from within his heart; words supplied by the Spirit of Christ that gave Peter the words to speak. Thus it was Christ speaking through Peter, and because of that, the Holy Spirit fell on his listeners. So Peter was a minister of the Spirit, not a minister of the letter, (who quote scriptures from their carnal mind of death, which is enmity with God).
Jesus Christ is the word of God, and what He speaks himself is the word of God. If the Spirit of Jesus speaks through a minister of the Spirit, who hears from the Spirit what to say just before speaking, that minister also speaks the word of God; such a minister is a minister of the Spirit. Jesus said, "whatever I speak is just as the Father tells me to speak," John 12:49-50; and "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of the One who sent him, that man is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him." John 7:18. So when a minister speaks any words from their own mind, they are ministers of the letter, seeking their own glory; and that is what is universal in Christianity today, men speaking from their carnal minds and their evil imaginations.
This verse is another sad example of how the Babylon-trained Bible translators have deliberately mistranslated the Bible in order to support their false doctrine that the word is the Bible. The original Greek of this verse the Greek word is logon, a derivation of the word logos and which means: 1) of speech; 1a) a word, uttered by a living voice, embodies a conception or idea; 1b) what someone has said; yet five out of seven Bibles have translated "word" to be "message," and one dropped any mention of it, in an attempt to preserve their false doctrine that the word is the Bible.
Every reference to "the word" or "the word of God" or "the Word of the Lord" in the New Testament is either logos or rhema, both of which mean "words spoken by a living voice." There is a web page that shows this detail for every verse that references "the word" or "the word of God" or "the Word of the Lord" in the New Testament, (click to see); and the word logos is the same Greek for word found in John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was god.
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