Acts 10:1-8 | It's for Everyone. Everyone!Näide

There’s a ring of truth to the idea that Gentiles would be under the authority of Israel. God promised that his blessings to all nations would come through Abraham (Gen 12:1-3), that Israel would be middle-men between God and the nations (a kingdom of priests; Exod 19:6); that God would reveal who he is to the world through his servant Israel (Isa 42:1-7); and Paul reminds us that Jews were entrusted with the covenants, the very words of God, and the Messiah through whom that light would shine on the Gentiles (Rom 3:1-2; 9:4-5).

So Cornelius sends for Peter. At this point, the story doesn’t tell us why. We only know that God tells Cornelius to do this. We saw the same thing happen in Acts 8 when the gospel came to the Samaritans. It was Peter who came, laid hands on them, and bestowed the Holy Spirit.

Read the Gospels and you quickly see Peter positioned as first among the apostles. He seems to take the natural lead – we’ve seen it in Acts 2. Other disciples look to him and Jesus himself bestows on him the keys of the kingdom of God (Matt 16:13-19).

It’s almost as if Acts is trying to show us that God is not starting something new. This call to repentance, forgiveness of sins, and outpouring of the Spirit found in King Jesus, which Cornelius and the Gentiles will soon experience, is not something separate or independent from what God has been doing all along through his people, Israel. Jesus was a Jew. His first disciples were Jews. Salvation in Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit first came upon the Jews. God is inviting Gentiles into the blessings of Israel, into the same salvation which he has been working and planning from the start. The gospel message of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins offered by him is the fulfillment of God’s salvation plan through Israel, not a cancellation of it. It’s as if Peter is showing us that Gentiles are now part of this. They are not on their own.

With the exception of a brief appearance in Acts 15 (where he argues that salvation for the Gentiles does not require them to first become observant Jews), Peter disappears from Acts after this story. Maybe because we need him to show us one last time that God wants to bring all people into his existing family, not into a separate family from the one he already has. Peter validates God’s salvation among the Gentiles. Once he does, there’s no need to focus on his story anymore.

God offers you salvation through Jesus Christ. When he does, you become a part of something big and grand. You are not on your own. Welcome to the family.