FROM EVERY NATION
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Peter had taken some convincing to encourage him to accept the invitation to Cornelius’ home. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit had already done the work before the men sent by Cornelius arrived, and Peter was prepared to go with them.
But a greater revelation came when he arrived at Cornelius’ home and encountered his entire household, as well as extended family and friends.
They shared their stories. Cornelius told Peter his story, including the appearance of the angel three days earlier. Peter responded by again telling the story of the time he had spent with Jesus: “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem” (Acts 10:39). While this was a significant experience for Cornelius, and the story recounts how the Holy Spirit then came upon him and his family and that they were then baptized, Peter and his traveling companions were also having a kind of conversion experience of their own. “The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles” (Acts 10:45).
Peter recognized that what he was now witnessing was important.
This experience of the faithfulness of Cornelius and the work of the Holy Spirit among the Gentiles was stretching the theology that Peter and his companions had grown up with. It was consistent with what Jesus had taught and told them, but this was the first time they had seen the Spirit act in this way. Peter recognized that this was not only about Cornelius and his household but about God’s acceptance of those from every nation who would seek Him.
Peter’s worldview, theology, and understanding of the mission that God had given him was growing rapidly.
