Later, in Acts 11:3, the believers back in Jerusalem query Peter, not about baptizing Gentiles, but about eating with them. Peter and Cornelius express the idea of friendship and neighbor-love, reflecting the conviction that God has made them equals in a new way. More and to Peter’s decision (along with his fellow Jewish believers) to stay with Cornelius for some days. Much later baptism became one of the sacraments of the Church, the action by which a person is incorporated. While the term may refer to people, objects, time, or places, holiness in Judaism and Christianity primarily denotes the realm of the divine More Spirit on Cornelius and his household confirms Peter’s interpretation and leads to baptism Jesus was baptized (literally, "dipped") in the Jordan River by John the Baptizer, at which time he was acclaimed from heaven as God's Son, the Beloved. The coming of the Holy Holy is a term that originally meant set apart for the worship or service of God. The two men come together and Peter understands that God has decided to end the separation of clean and unclean. Yet he is called upon to reinterpret his own Scripture in order to follow the paths that God continues to put before him. Peter knows that for a Jew to enter and remain in the home of a Gentile and risk eating unclean foods is unacceptable, even unfaithful to God’s commands. Peter receives a vision that is puzzling precisely because it requires him to ignore Scripture itself, as well as the long-held tradition of his people concerning clean and unclean things (see, for example, Leviticus 20:22-26).īoth Cornelius and Peter follow the promptings of their visions, Peter at the additional prompting of the Spirit. More (a form of repentance among Jews), sees a vision that will answer his prayers. While not discouraging people from giving alms, Jesus cautions against the practice if it is done in a hypocritical manner. Now, in Acts 10, through a series of experiences, Cornelius, a Gentile who prays to God and gives alms Giving alms is generally regarded as freely giving money or food to those in need. More/Tabitha from death in the preceding scenes (9:32-41). Peter, who up to this point in Acts has been the primary leader among the believers, is given great credibility for healing Aeneas and raising Dorcas Christian woman who lived at Joppa. This is again true in the story of Peter and Cornelius. This is a major step in Acts, requiring the full length of Acts 10 to bring it to fruition and two repetitions of the story (11:1-18 15:6-11) to explain it.įrom the beginning of Luke’s story (see Luke The "beloved physician" and companion of Paul More 1:1-4), it has been clear that the ordering of events in both Luke and Acts is crucial to understanding their meaning. In the book of Acts, stories are told of various persons and their households, like. A household would embrace all the members of a family, including servants and slaves. In the story of Cornelius, a Roman centurion stationed in Caesarea, Peter is the first of the apostles (who were all Jews) to stay in the house of a Gentile and eat with him and his household A household is a living unit comprised of all the persons who live in one house. Unclean things were numerous and included leprosy, menstruating women, dead bodies, shell fish, and pigs. To go to Cornelius’s house and stay there, Peter must leave behind the scriptural commands of God that require separation of foods and persons into the categories of clean and unclean In Hebrew law many regulations warned against impurity. More revealed in Jesus Jesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity More. In Martin Luther's favorite expression from the Apostle Paul, we are saved by grace through faith, which means that God showers grace upon us even though we do not deserve it. More, to tell him about God’s grace Grace is the unmerited gift of God's love and acceptance. More named Cornelius An early Gentile convert to the Christian faith. Jesus healed a centurion's servant, and a centurion, at Jesus' crucifixion, acclaimed him to be God's Son. ![]() More, a Roman centurion A centurion was a Roman officer who commanded a military unit made up of one hundred men. The term, which is derived from words that the Bible uses to denote the "nations" of the world, reflects beliefs that God had designated Israel as a nation that would be distinct from others, and a blessing. Peter The disciple who denied Jesus during his trial but later became a leader in proclaiming Jesus More is called to go to the house of a Gentile A gentile is anyone who is not Jewish.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |