Acts Chapters 10 and 11 tell the story of Cornelius, a Roman centurion in the city of Caesarea which was about halfway between the modern-day Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv along the Mediterranean coast. The Lord used Peter to bring the gospel to Cornelius and his family – it was a major event in that it was the first recorded conversion of a Gentile to faith in Christ. It’s a great story to read of God’s leading of both Peter and Cornelius, much like Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Chapter 8. I only want to point out two verses in the narrative. The first is Acts 10:2, where Cornelius is described as:
A devout man, and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people, and prayed to God continually.
That’s an impressive spiritual resume of any man, one that many professing Christians in our day would likely conclude: he’s a good man – probably already a Christian; or at least a godly and religious man who doesn’t need to hear the gospel.
However, in Chapter 11 when Peter later reports of his encounter with Cornelius to the church back in Jerusalem, he tells them of the angel’s words to Cornelius to call for Peter:
Send to Joppa, and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he shall speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household (Acts 11:13-14).
The angel’s words indicated loud and clear that Cornelius and his household were not saved and needed to hear the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins (see Acts 10:36-43). I have spoken to numerous persons through the years who, like Cornelius, were good, religious, even God-fearing people, but had never heard that salvation was by God’s grace through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. And some of them are ready to receive God’s gift of salvation upon hearing the word of truth. Let’s be ready to share the gospel with those we meet, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Romans 1:16).