Acts 10:34-48
Peter: Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. (vv. 34-35) Obvious question: Gandhi…? My Study Bible goes on to point out that Cornelius “qualified” under this guideline, but that was not enough – He “lacked faith in Christ”. But they don’t go on to explain that caveat. I think my Study Bible notes were written by Baptists! I’d have rather they explained what was meant by “acceptable to Him”. But this item is a longer theological discussion…!!
God raised Him on the third day and made Him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. (vv. 40-41) The Gospels only report on Jesus’ appearances with His disciples, but in reading about these appearances I had never thought about Jesus not appearing to others beyond His disciples. But Peter makes it clear here that Jesus appeared only to His disciples, which begs the question – why did Jesus not appear to anyone except His disciples? I’m imagining the impact He might have had if He had appeared to Pontius Pilate or to Annas or Caiaphas or other influential Jewish leaders. Look at the impact He had on Paul – and on the entire Christian Church to this day – when He appeared to him. But please bear with me – with all that, it is always clear to me that I am not God!! He did what He did for His purposes. It was just an intriguing item that I had not considered before – why Jesus appeared only to His disciples…
And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. (v. 45) This is a striking outcome, completely unexpected by Peter and his friends. I posted yesterday about Cornelius’ “expectant faith” – his expectation that things would be done according to what he believed God was doing. So here we have an example of an “un-expectation” – God “showed up” in the form of the Holy Spirit and surprised Peter and his friends. So yesterday I posted about “expectant faith”. Now today we need to also consider “unexpectant faith” – God can and will show up when we least expect Him. That is, when there are “hard cases” out there where we don’t see any possibility for God to act – He can! I have two in mind right now and I will be praying for them as soon as I post this! Thank you, Lord!
Slava Bohu!