WHY was the story of Cornelius written? What are the lessons we are to gather from it? To answer these questions it is needful to recall the commission the risen Lord Jesus gave to His disciples. Matthew tells us that He authorized them to"disciple the nations" (chap, 28:19).Mark says He told them to '' preach the gospel to every creature in all the world" (16:15).Through Luke we learn that after He had instructed them concerning the preaching of "repentance and remission of sins among all nations," He told them to "tarry at Jerusalem until they received power from on high " (24:47-49).In Acts 1:8,we read He said to them, "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the-earth."Another passage in John 16:must also be remembered. Speaking of the Holy Spirit whom He had promised to send to them, He said, "He will guide you into all truth " (ver. 13).

Now, these passages make it clear the risen Lord not only authorized the proclamation and establishment of Christianity in Jerusalem, in all Judea and in Samaria, but also in all the world; and further, that the Holy Spirit, whom He would send to them, would guide them into all the truth they would need in order to carry out their commission.

Turning now to Acts 2:, where we have the account of the descent of the Holy Spirit, we find that the preaching of repentance and the remission of sins began at Jerusalem (ver. 38). In chap. 6:7 we read, "And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith."Up to this time there does not appear to have been any thought of Samaria, nor of the great Gentile world. In chap, 8:, we learn of a great persecution breaking out, scattering the assembly "abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria," though the apostles themselves still remained at Jerusalem (ver. i).The fugitive disciples, wherever they go, carry with them the joyful message that has been proclaimed in Jerusalem (ver. 4).Thus the commission of the Lord to His disciples was carried out in the regions of Judea. While this was going on Philip goes to Samaria proclaiming the message there. Numbers, "both men and women," believed. The apostles, still at Jerusalem, hearing of the work going on in Samaria, send Peter and John, who having "prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost," laid their hands on them and thus owned the Samaritan believers as sharers with themselves in the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Though evangelizing many of the Samaritan villages they return to Jerusalem with no thought apparently that the Gentile world is to be invaded with the gospel of repentance and remission of sins. The converted Ethiopian returning joyfully to his own land, of which in due time they must have heard, one would think would have suggested this, but there is no hint that it did. Nor did the conversion of Saul and his call to bear the name of Jesus before "Gentiles and kings" as well as "the children of Israel" remind them of their Lord's command to go "into all the world."It was necessary, then, that the Holy Spirit Himself should force it upon them. It was hard for them to believe that God would grant "repentance unto life" to the Gentiles. It went against all their prejudices to allow that a Gentile, even though he be a believer, was a fellow-citizen with them, and with them in the household of God. These things had to be demonstrated to them, and that, too, in a way they could not resist. This demonstration the case of Cornelius supplies. An examination of the account will make it manifest. It will clearly appear that the Holy Spirit, in all the incidents and circumstances connected with Cornelius was guiding into the truth. Let us, then, study the inspired record-the infallible account of how a Gentile believer was encouraged to take his place among the sanctified through faith in Christ Jesus, and the believing Jews themselves forced to own him as one with them in the household of God.

In the first place we may notice that by his name -Cornelius-he belonged to a distinguished Roman family. He could point to a long list of honored ancestors-men who had taken a conspicuous part in a history of which every patriotic Roman was proud. But this was not his title to take his place among the sons of God:nor was the honorable office he filled – the centurion, or commander, of a choice band of soldiers. But these things, coupled with his great generosity to the Jews, tended to weaken Jewish prejudice against him. He was indeed a man "of good report among all the nation of the Jews "(chap. 10:22).Nevertheless, it was not "a lawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company " with even so good a Gentile.

But, besides all this, we must notice that he had renounced the Roman religion and was a worshiper of the God of the Jews, to whom he continually prayed and whom he feared, guiding his family in the fear of God also. He was not a proselyte to the Jewish religion, but through the testimony of the Jews, imperfect as it was, to the one true God, he had been converted from Paganism and become a worshiper of God. Now here we may ask, what was the position of such as he under the law of Moses? What was the relation of such to Israel? Did they form part of the commonwealth of Israel? No; they were strangers and aliens. They were not sharers with Israel in her blessings. If they saw fit to dwell within Israel's gates they received the stranger's portion, but even thus were excluded from Israel's nearness. Israel had what was exclusively her own. But Christianity had now come and was being established in the world. Is this old exclusiveness to be continued? Is a Gentile worshiper to be kept in the far off place, and only Jewish believers to have the near place? No; "the grace of God which bringeth salvation to all men " has now come. Under this grace, a believing Jew not only has the knowledge of a hope of life and incorruptibility beyond death, but of a present place in the favor of God and a present assurance of the remission of his sins. But these are not blessings that belong exclusively to the believing Jew. They are the blessings and portion of the believing Gentile as well, and the truth of it must be demonstrated.

But it must be demonstrated in such a way that not only the believing Gentile will boldly claim, and take, and enjoy his blessing, but the believing Jew acknowledge his right. An angel is, therefore, first of all, sent to Cornelius to assure him that his "prayers" and "alms" are "a memorial" before God. It is not that they are the ground of blessing or of the favor of God, but rather the witness of the faith that is in him-the memorial of a faith that is not a "dead faith"-but a living, fruitful faith. But blessed as it was for Cornelius to learn that his prayers and alms were acceptable to God, apart from the mediation and intercession of the Jewish priesthood, he needed to learn more than this. He needed to learn that it was his privilege to take openly and publicly the place God gives now to the children of God. He needed to learn that he had a God-given right to a place in the household of faith. So the angel directs him to send for Simon to receive a message from God through him. How easy it would have been for the angel to have given the necessary divine communication ! How readily might the Spirit of God have spoken the needed message directly to Cornelius. But neither was the way of God. He would have those who maintained the bars by which the believing Gentile was shut out and held in the far-off place, throw down the bars and proclaim the unity of the believing Gentile with the believing Jew.
But if the believing Jew is to do this he must learn that a vessel, however naturally unclean, when God has cleansed it, is no longer to be treated as unclean. Simon Peter, while dwelling with Simon the tanner, must surely have had opportunity to become familiarized with the idea of "cleansing unclean things for holding pure water," for a part at least of a tanner's business was to prepare the skins of which the water bottles were made. But however familiar with this process, he certainly had not thought of it as symbolizing the cleansing of the Gentiles. At this time he would not have allowed that Cornelius was "sanctified in Christ Jesus."But he must be brought to see in him a vessel cleansed of God. This is the lesson of the vision of the " great sheet " full of, to a Jew, every kind of unclean animals. Bidden to " slay and eat," he refuses on the ground that they are unclean creatures; but the divine voice rebukes him for calling unclean '' what God has cleansed."That the lesson of the vision has to do with the Gentiles he soon learns, for as he is wondering what it all means, the Spirit who is guiding into the truth, tells him of the arrival of three men who are seeking for him, and that he must go with them without misgivings, as He had sent them.

When Peter met them he found them to be messengers from the Gentile Cornelius, who by divine guidance had sent for him to come and to give him a message from God. It was impossible to resist. To do so would be to resist God. If God had cleansed Cornelius, Peter could not oppose it.

He went, therefore, as he says, '' without gainsaying." When he had arrived at the home of Cornelius, he reminds him that it is unlawful for a Jew " to keep company, or come unto one that is of another nation," and then declares that God had broken down his prejudice and scruples, and taught him to regard him as a cleansed person. But the matter could not be left there. The simple recognition that a believing Gentile is cleansed is not enough. There must be the ministry of the blessing that belongs to faith. Peter had been told that Cornelius had been instructed to expect a message from God through him. But before the message is given the case must be made clear. Peter, therefore, inquires, "For what intent have ye sent for me? " To which Cornelius replies that he had received, through an angel, assurance from God that his prayers were heard, and that his alms were acceptable in the presence of God; that God had a communication to make to him, and that he, Peter, had been designated as the one who was to give him the communication. He then adds, "Now therefore we are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God."

The case is now clear to Peter. He understands that not only is a believing Gentile a cleansed vessel, but that the fruits of faith in such are a rich odor in the presence of God, and that it is the will of God that the Jew, who has by grace obtained from the risen and exalted Lord Jesus the forgiveness of sins, should communicate his incomparable blessing to the believing Gentile, and thus openly and publicly acknowledge faith's title to the blessing wherever it is found, whether in Jew or Gentile. This he accordingly now does. He tells Cornelius that he now understands that God does not hold the person of a Jew above that of a Gentile; that, wherever there is faith, there is one who is accepted with God. Then he says, You know the word-the message – God sent to the children of Israel, which they in their unbelief rejected, hanging upon a cross the One who brought it. Now God has raised Him up from the dead-a fact of which there is creditable testimony. As thus risen, He gave a commandment that we should proclaim Him to the people, to be the Judge both of the living and of the dead. Now the combined testimony of the prophets is that whoever believes in this man-rejected, but God-exalted Man, shall receive the remission of sins-1:e., the believing Gentile shares, along with the believing Jew, in the grace that is in the hands of the risen Jesus to bestow. Thus Cornelius is assured that the blessing of the house of faith is his; that he is a sharer with the saints in their portion and privileges. C. Crain

(To be concluded in our next issue.)