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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act_10:34-43
34Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. 36The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)—37you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. 38You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. 40God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, 41not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. 43Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."
Act_10:34 "that God is not one to show partiality" This is the beginning of Peter's sermon to Cornelius. It is a good example of the preaching of the early church to non-Jews. In the OT this judicial phrase characterized God (cf. Deu_10:17; 2Ch_19:7) and is required of His people (cf. Deu_1:17; Deu_16:19). It is also a common characterization of God in the NT (cf. Rom_2:11; Gal_2:6; Eph_6:9; Col_3:24-25; 1Pe_1:17). In the OT this phrase literally meant "to lift the face." In Hebrew courts the defendants kept their heads bowed so that the judge would not recognize the person and thereby be biased.
God has no favorites (nations, races, or individuals)! If this is true then how does predestination work? Or how is Israel special? Be careful of modern systems of theology!
Act_10:35 "in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him" This description does not refer to the concept of spiritual salvation, but apparently to the idea of almsgiving, prayer, and piety. See Special Topic at Act_3:2. This phrase must be theologically balanced with the mandate to receive the gospel (cf. Joh_1:12; Joh_3:16; Rom_10:9-13).
The major truth is that God accepts Gentiles without their becoming proselyte Jews. This set the theological stage for Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council.
Act_10:36-39 The Jerome Biblical Commentary (vol. II, p. 188) makes a several good comments about these names.
1. they constitute Peter's summary of the gospel (i.e., Kerygma)
2. they have poor syntax, which shows that Luke accurately records his sources and does not invent them or edit them
Act_10:36 "The word which He sent to the sons of Israel" This does not refer to the OT, but Jesus and the Apostles' preaching.
▣ "preaching peace through Jesus Christ" This may be an allusion to Isa_52:7. The term "peace" is used in three ways in the NT:
1. peace between God and humanity (cf. Col_1:20)
2. the subjective peace of the individual believer (cf. Joh_14:27; Joh_16:33, Philippians 4)
3. peace between human groups who respond to Christ (cf. Eph_2:14 to Eph_3:6; Col_3:16)
All human barriers are down in Christ (cf. Gal_3:28; Col_3:11)
▣ "(He is Lord of all)" This is an editorial/authorial comment. Here is the universal element of the message and invitation of the gospel of Jesus Christ that still sounded so radical in the mouth of an orthodox Jew (cf. Act_2:36; Mat_28:18; Rom_10:12; Eph_1:20-22; Col_2:10; 1Pe_3:22). He is Lord of all races and all things (i.e., cosmic Lordship)!
Act_10:37; Act_10:39 "you yourselves know the things which took place" Peter is using the same form as his Pentecost sermon (cf. Act_2:22; Act_2:33). They had heard about Jesus and what happened to Him in Jerusalem.
One wonders how these people would have had all this information. Is Peter using hyperbole? Were these somehow involved in some of the events in Jerusalem? Were some of these household servants Jewish? The text is too brief and we just do not know.
Some have used this sermon to assert:
1. Luke wrote all the sermons in Acts (but Luke is a good Koine writer and Act_10:36-38 are not good, acceptable Greek).
2. Luke was true to his sources and quoted them accurately without correcting their poor grammar.
3. This phrase is meant to be understood by later readers of Acts (cf. The Jerome Commentary, vol. II, p. 189).
Act_10:37 "after the baptism which John proclaimed" Why Jesus was baptized has always been a concern for believers because John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. Jesus did not need repentance or forgiveness, for He was sinless (cf. 2Co_5:21; Heb_4:15; Heb_7:26; 1Pe_2:22; 1Jn_3:5). The theories have been:
1. it was an example for believers to follow
2. it was His identification with believers' need
3. it was His ordination and equipping for ministry
4. it was a symbol of His redemptive task
5. it was His approval of the ministry and message of John the Baptist
6. it was a prophetic foreshadowing of His death, burial, and resurrection (cf. Rom_6:4; Col_2:12).
The baptism by John was seen as the beginning of Jesus' Spirit-filled, public ministry. All three Synoptic Gospels record this inaugural event. Mark begins his Gospel (Peter's eyewitness account) with this event. This was seen by the early church as the special start of the new age of the Spirit as it relates to the public ministry of Jesus.
Act_10:38 "Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power" Notice the things Peter affirms about Jesus.
1. God anointed Him (anoint is the Hebrew root word of Messiah)
2. with the Holy Spirit (the new age is the age of the Spirit)
3. with power (effective ministry)
a. doing good
b. healing all oppressed by the devil (power of evil and Satan)
4. God was with Him (He spoke and acted on behalf of YHWH, cf. Joh_3:2; Joh_9:33; Joh_10:38; Joh_14:10-11)
Apparently this refers to Jesus' baptism (cf. F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions, pp. 171-172).
Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, makes the interesting statement:
"The verb ÷ÑßÅÉÍ is used five times in the N.T. In four of these passages it refers to the anointing of Christ by His father, namely: Luk_4:18, which is quoted from Isa_61:1; Heb_1:9, quoted from Psa_45:7; Act_4:27, where it is used with special reference to the quotation from the second Psalm, which immediately precedes it; and Act_10:38, where we are told God anointed Jesus with the Spirit" (p. 183).
See Special Topic: Kerygma at Act_2:14.
▣ "healing all who were oppressed by the devil" See special Topics at Act_5:3; Act_5:16.
Act_10:39 "They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross" "They" refers to the Jewish leadership, the mob, and the Roman authorities. See note at Act_2:23. This concept of hanging upon a tree is mentioned in Act_5:30 and reflects Deu_21:23 (which originally referred to impaling on a stake after death to humiliate someone, but the rabbis of Jesus' day interpreted it as Roman crucifixion), whereby Jesus bore the curse of the OT law (cf. Isaiah 53) for us (cf. Gal_3:13).
Act_10:40 "God raised him" It is theologically interesting that Isa_53:4-6; Isa_53:10 asserts that it was YHWH's will and purpose that Jesus suffer and die (cf. Gen_3:15). YHWH used the agency of
1. Satan
2. evil Jewish leadership
3. manipulated Roman leadership
4. an angry Jewish mob
Evil is in the will of God! He uses it to accomplish His ultimate purpose for humanity made in His image/likeness. Wow! What a theology of sovereignty! He allows death, then brings resurrection life to Jesus and to all!
The NT affirms that all three persons of the Trinity were active in Jesus' resurrection:
1. Spirit (Rom_8:11)
2. Jesus (Joh_2:19-22; Joh_10:17-18)
3. Father (Act_2:24; Act_2:32; Act_3:15; Act_3:25; Act_4:10; Act_5:30; Act_10:40; Act_13:30; Act_13:33-34; Act_13:37; Act_27:31; Rom_6:4; Rom_6:9)
This was confirmation of the truth of Jesus' life, death, and teachings about God. This was a major aspect of the Kerygma (i.e., sermons in Acts, see Special Topic at Act_2:14).
▣ "on the third day" Because of 1Co_15:4, some relate this to Psa_16:10 or Hos_6:2, but more probably Jon_1:17 because of Mat_12:40.
Act_10:40-41 "granted that He become visible, not to all the people" Jesus appeared to several select groups (cf. Joh_14:19; Joh_14:24; Joh_15:27; Joh_16:16; Joh_16:22; 1Co_15:5-9).
Act_10:41 "who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead" Although Jesus' resurrection body did not need physical nourishment, He ate and drank to show His special witnesses He was real and to express His fellowship with them (cf. Luk_24:35; Luk_24:41-43; Joh_21:9-13).
Act_10:42 "He ordered us to preach to the people" The pronoun refers to Jesus (cf. Mat_28:18-20; Luk_24:47-48; Joh_15:27). This witness was to begin in Jerusalem but reach to all the world (cf Act_1:8).
▣ "Judge of the living and the dead" Christ is the Father's agent in judgment (cf. Dan_7:13-14; Joh_5:22; Joh_5:27; Act_17:31; 2Co_5:10; 2Ti_4:1; 1Pe_4:5) as He was the Father's agent in creation (cf. Joh_1:3; Col_1:16; Heb_1:2). Jesus did not come to judge, but to save (cf. Joh_3:17-19).
The phrase "living and dead" refers to eschatological judgment, the Second Coming. Some believers will be alive (cf. 1Th_4:13-18).
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Act_10:43 "Of Him all the prophets bear witness" Jesus showed the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (only recorded in Luk_24:13-35) where and how the OT referred to Himself. These showed the disciples in the upper room and this information became the standard approach of witnessing to Jews (cf. Act_3:18). Jesus opened the disciples' minds (cf. Luk_24:45).
▣ "through His name" (cf. Joe_2:32 and Luk_24:47)
▣ "everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins" This is the gospel message:
1. everyone
2. through His name
3. who believes in Him
4. receives forgiveness of sin (cf. Luk_24:46-47)
It is Jesus-focused, not performance focused (i.e., the new covenant of Jer_31:31-34, cf. Eze_36:22-38). All that needs to be done for everyone, anyone, to be saved has been done! God has chosen to work with fallen humanity through covenant. He initiates it and sets the agenda, but He has also demanded that humans respond by repentance, faith, obedience, and perseverance. Humans must receive God's gift in Christ (cf. Joh_1:12; Joh_3:16; Rom_10:9-13). It is not an automatic transfer.
Frank Stagg, New Testament Theology, has an interesting comment about forgiveness and its assumed relationship to repentance.
"Forgiveness calls for a new awareness of sin and a turning from it. The assurance is given that forgiveness and cleansing will certainly follow upon the confession of sins (1Jn_1:9), but no promise is given where confession does not obtain. In the home of Cornelius, Peter related forgiveness to faith, declaring that to this one (Jesus) all the prophets bear witness: 'that through his name everyone who trusts him shall receive forgiveness of sins' (Act_10:43). In this trust, with its repentance and confession, one both 'owns and disowns' his sin. This does not mean that repentance wins forgiveness; even repentance does not make one worthy of forgiveness. As another has put it, the sinner must accept his rejection and accept his acceptance, although he knows himself to be unacceptable. The sinner is not forgivable until he is willing to accept God's no in order to hear his yes" (p. 94).
For "believes in Him" see Special Topic at Act_3:16.