Acts 10:1-48

SANCTIFICATION OF CORNELIUS

1-48. Cornelius was a noted Roman officer living at Caesarea, the seat of the imperial government in Judea. The Holy Ghost pronounces him Eusebees, i. e., godly, and certifies that he “feared God with all his house, doing much alms to the people, and praying to God always.” The application of these inspired adjectives to a sinner is an irreconcilable contradiction. Of course, he was a Gentile Roman, having never been proselyted to Judaism; but he was not simply a pious heathen, like multiplied thousands who are now in heaven, but he knew and worshipped the God of Israel, having lived many years in that country. Meanwhile, since the revival at Pentecost, eight or ten years, the whole country had been overrun by blood-washed and fire-baptized Pentecostal evangelists, preaching from house to house, on every hill-top and under every green tree, till he had actually become familiar with the gospel of Christ. As Peter certifies (v.37), “This word you have known, and know yet better than ever, which was throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: