Cornelius

Overview

Cornelius was a Roman centurion stationed in Caesarea, described in Scripture as 'a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.' Though a Gentile and not under the Mosaic law, his sincere devotion was seen by God, and an angel appeared to him in a vision instructing him to send for Peter in Joppa. At the same time, God prepared Peter through a vision of a sheet lowered from heaven containing unclean animals, teaching him that he 'should not call any man common or unclean.' When Peter arrived at Cornelius's house and preached Christ, the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and his household even before baptism, astonishing the Jewish believers who had come with Peter, since 'on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.' Peter then baptized them, and the event became the decisive proof, later cited at the Jerusalem council, that God had granted salvation to the Gentiles on the same terms of faith as to the Jews.