Acts 10:1-35: God Shows No Partiality

Acts 10:1-35: God Shows No Partiality

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Acts, and today the next passage we come to is Acts 10:1-35 as the passage upon which today’s message will be based. So, in preparation, we’ll be reading a portion of the verses in that passage. It says,

1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. 9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”… 34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 

You know, we live in a very fractured society. You don’t have to be an astute cultural observer to see and feel the various kinds of tensions that exist in our society today—political tensions, moral tensions, and, of course, racial tensions. And to be candid with you, I have to scratch my head a little bit at that last one. It’s now been more than 150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation and more than 50 years since the Civil Rights movement, yet racial tensions still seem just as high as they’ve ever been. It’s very troubling and is certainly a painful reminder that we live in a fallen and broken world. And I don’t believe our society has any idea—or at least not any idea that shows promise—about how to fix that. I kind of picture our society right now as an animal limping around with a broken leg without any ability to fix what’s broken.

Yet that’s not to say that there aren’t any answers—because there are—if we’ll look in the right place. And I’m convinced the place for us to look is the Bible. It turns out that the Bible has a lot to say about racial tensions, as we’ll see this morning in Acts 10. The main idea of this passage is that God shows no partiality. That comes straight from the lips of Peter in verse 34. God shows no partiality. So that’s where this passage is headed, but let’s see how it gets there. 

And to do that, we actually have to go way back to Acts 1:8. That’s the key verse that outlines the progression of the entire book of Acts. Right before Jesus ascends into heaven, he tells his disciples, “…You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And that’s exactly what happens, as we’ve seen over the past several months. In Acts chapters 1-5, we saw the gospel being spread around Jerusalem. Then, in Acts 6-9, we saw it being spread around Judea and Samaria. And that’s a pretty big deal, by the way, because it’s well documented how deeply the Jews despised the Samaritans. So it took a lot for the church of Jerusalem to accept these new Samaritan converts as genuine Christians and true brothers and sisters in the Lord. We saw in chapter 8 how the Lord very wisely brought that about by delaying giving his gift of the Holy Spirit to the Samaritans until the Apostles Peter and John arrived on the scene and were able to witness for themselves the Holy Spirit coming into the new Samaritan converts. 

However, there was still one enormous ethnic barrier that remained—the barrier between Jews and Gentiles. In case you’re not aware, the term “Gentiles” simply refers to people who aren’t Jews. Unlike the Samaritans, who were half-Jewish, Gentiles by definition have no Jewish blood. And this barrier between Jew and Gentile was even more formidable than the barrier between Jew and Samaritan. Yet, here in Acts 10, that final barrier is going to be broken. For the first time, the gospel’s going to spread, in the words of Acts 1:8, “to the end of the earth.” And that would be nothing short of revolutionary. The whole idea of God’s saving blessings being offered to the Gentiles would have been revolutionary—even scandalous—to the Jewish mind. It would require that deeply engrained racial prejudice be overcome. And that’s exactly what we’re going to see unfold here in Acts 10. 

Let’s look first at verses 1-8: 1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

So Cornelius was a centurion in the Roman army, meaning that he had 100 soldiers under his command. He was also a Gentile but is described in verse 2 as “a devout man who feared God.” In the New Testament, for someone to be described as a “God-fearer” means that they had heard about the God of Israel and were devoted to him but hadn’t taken the ultimate step of circumcision in order to fully convert to Judaism. Yet God-fearers had at least forsaken idol worship in order to worship Yahweh. The text also says that Cornelius “gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.” And because of that—because he followed and accepted what revelation about God he did possess—God was going to bless him by sending a missionary. Of course, God could have just had the angel in this passage tell Cornelius about Jesus, but as we’ve already seen in Acts, that’s not that way God’s chosen to work. He’s chosen to use human instruments to accomplish his mission of taking the message of Jesus to the world. 

And that’s what Cornelius desperately needed. You see, it wasn’t enough that Cornelius feared God, gave money to charity, and prayed continuously. None of that could save him from his sins or merit God’s favor. Cornelius needed Jesus. Only Jesus can bridge the gap between sinful humans and a holy God. As we’ve already seen in Acts 4:12, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

But let’s continue on in our main passage by looking at verses 9-16: 9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. 

Now I’m sure that, after reading this passage, some of you are probably pretty excited that you finally have biblical grounds—even a biblical command—to eat meat. In verse 13, God clearly tells Peter to “kill and eat,” right? So you don’t have to mess around with any of those fake meat products that are being marketed nowadays. You can go home and sink your teeth into a nice juicy steak without feeling any guilt. Praise God for that. 

Yet, that’s not really the main point of these verses. In order to understand the full significance of what’s going on here, you have to understand Jewish food laws. In the Old Testament, God told his people that certain foods were “clean,” while others were “unclean.” So the Israelites were allowed to eat certain foods, while other foods were off limits. And according to Leviticus 20:24, the reason for those dietary restrictions was to keep the Israelites separate from the idolatrous nations around them. The idea was that imposing dietary restrictions would hinder social interaction with the Gentiles and thereby help the Israelites to stay religiously pure. 

Yet now, of course, with the mission Jesus laid out for his disciples, social interaction with Gentiles is quite desirable. Consequently, God’s essentially telling Peter that these Old Testament dietary restrictions no longer apply. God gives Peter a vision of a mixture of clean and unclean animals and tells him to “kill and eat.” And that must have been a radial thought for Peter. As we’re about to read in verse 17, Peter was greatly perplexed about this vision—and understandably so. Just imagine that you’re Peter, and God’s directive for your life has always been to only eat kosher foods. Yet now, all of a sudden, God tells you that it’s okay to eat foods that were formerly unclean. It’d be kind of like us walking into Target or something and having a vision in which God tells us, “You see that candy bar over there? I want you to steal that. Even though you’ve been told your whole life that stealing is wrong, I want you to steal that candy bar.” I imagine that’s sort of the way it felt for Peter. To suddenly be informed that he’s not bound by the Old Testament Law any longer must have been a radical thought indeed. And as we continue on in this passage, we’re going to see that God wasn’t just telling Peter it was okay to eat unclean foods. He was actually preparing Peter to accept people who were formerly regarded as unclean.

Look at verses 17-23: 17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. 19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” 21 And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” 22 And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” 23 So he invited them in to be his guests….

So, already, we can see the wall between Jew and Gentile showing a few cracks. Typically, a Jew wouldn’t have ever given lodging to Gentiles. Yet that’s what Peter does in these verses. 

We then learn in the subsequent verses that, the next day, Peter accompanies these messengers sent by Cornelius back to Cornelius’s house—a journey of about 30 miles—and arrives to find Cornelius along with his relatives and close friends assembled and ready to hear whatever Peter has to tell them. Peter then says to the group in verse 28, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.” So Peter’s beginning to grasp that the gospel’s not just for Jews but for Gentiles as well. He then goes on to say in verses 34-35, 34 …“Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

Now, again, don’t miss how radical this is. Peter entering the home of a Gentile would have been considered by most Jews to be a scandalous act. Jews and Gentiles just didn’t mix, period. And part of that separation was commanded in the Old Testament law, but a lot of it was actually just rules that the Jewish religious authorities had taken upon themselves to add to the law. God had commanded his people to be distinct from the nations and separate to some degree, but the Jews of this time period took that idea several steps further and refused to even associate with Gentiles at all. In fact, they despised Gentiles. In modern terms, they were racists, plain and simple. It’s actually recorded how, when a Jew had to travel to a Gentile nation for business and then returned home again, he would actually shake the dust off his sandals so that he wouldn’t contaminate the Holy Land with Gentile dust. Also, if a young Jewish man or woman was disobedient and married a Gentile, their family would have a funeral service in order to symbolize how their child had, for all practical purposes, died. And, as we can see here in Acts 10, Jews wouldn’t even enter Gentile homes or allow Gentiles to enter theirs. So all of that to say that what we see happening in Acts 10 is radical indeed. 

As Peter’s now beginning to understand, God has a heart for the nations. Again, as Peter says, “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.” Nobody’s ineligible for salvation. Jesus came to save people from all over the world. He came for the nations. And, by the way, this wasn’t anything new. The Jews of Peter’s day didn’t understand it, but God had actually revealed his heart for the nations in many places throughout the Old Testament. For example, God says in Isaiah 42:6, addressing the Messiah, “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations.” That was the Messiah’s mission—to be “a light for the nations.” In addition, Jesus himself told his disciples in John 10:16, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.” And there are many other passages in which we see the same thing. Jesus came to save people from all over the world. 

And the way he accomplished that mission was just as unexpected as the scope of the mission. Even though everyone expected the Messiah to triumph over his adversaries in a very visible way, Jesus actually allowed himself to be crucified. Yet his crucifixion wasn’t the defeat that many would assume but was actually the ultimate victory—because in his suffering and death, Jesus was actually suffering the judgement for our sins. The fact is that we’ve all sinned against the God of the universe and deserve his righteous judgment. Yet Jesus acted as our substitute and endured that judgement in our place on the cross. That’s the way he accomplished our rescue. Jesus then rose from the dead three days later to demonstrate that God the Father had indeed accepted his sacrifice. Yet the rescue Jesus offers isn’t automatic. The Bible says that, in order to receive the rescue Jesus offers, we have to turn away from our sins and put our trust in Jesus alone as our only hope of being right with God. That’s a message we call the gospel. 

And that gospel message offers hope not just for Jews but for Gentiles as well—as Peter, through the events of Acts 10, has now come to understand. Through the gospel, both Jews and Gentiles are adopted into the one family of God. 

And that’s the ultimate answer not just to the racial tensions between Jew and Gentile but to all racial tensions among all groups and throughout all time. Listen: humans are tribal by nature. It’s in our fallen nature to ally ourselves with people who are like us and view those who aren’t like us with mistrust, prejudice, and even at times hatred. Yet through the gospel, God takes people who are in different tribes and brings them together into the same spiritual family. To state it another way, not only does the gospel reconcile people to God, it also reconciles people to each other. 

Paul describes it this way in Ephesians 2:11-16—again, using the barrier that used to exist between Jew and Gentile as an example: 11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 …that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 

So, through his death on the cross, Jesus “has broken down…the dividing wall of hostility”—not just between people and God but between different groups of people. Verse 16 states that Jesus effectively killed the hostility. Jesus died so that all divisions would die. He was killed so that all divisions would be killed. And again, the way that happens is that people from different groups are saved into the same spiritual family and are no longer enemies—the way society would expect them to be—but brothers and sisters in the Lord. 

So, to state the obvious, we as Christians should be the very first ones to denounce all racial prejudice as evil. And not just racial prejudice but all kinds of prejudice. As John MacArthur observes, “We are quick to exclude from our group those we deem undesirable—those who fail to flatter us, support our opinions, reinforce our prejudices, boost our pride, or feed our egos, or whose style of life is significantly different….Even the church is not immune to this tendency. Those of another culture, skin color, social status, educational group, or income level often find themselves…unwelcome in the church….Such intolerant exclusivism grieves the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.” And to that statement by MacArthur, I’d like to add my own emphatic agreement. 

And since racial tension in particular seems to be an issue in our society—and since it’s also clearly in view back in our main passage of Acts 10—I’d like to use the final portion of our time together to explore the way in which the Bible offers our society a vastly superior path to racial reconciliation. By the way, in doing this, let me assure you I have no interest whatsoever in being politically correct or gaining the approval or applause of secular society. My goal isn’t to gain approval but to give assurance. That is, I’m not trying to gain approval from society but rather hope to give assurance to Christians that the beliefs we hold dear offer society real hope—and the best hope—for true racial reconciliation. So let me give you four reasons why the Bible offers a superior path toward racial reconciliation—a path that’s vastly superior to secularism. 

First, the Bible offers a foundation for racial reconciliation that secularism lacks. Secularism is rooted in evolutionary assumptions about the origin of human life. And, as you know, evolution revolves around the idea of the survival of the fittest. So where did the idea come from, then, that all people have inherent value, dignity, and worth? Where did the idea come from that those who have power should help those who don’t? It didn’t arise from secular assumptions, that’s for sure. In fact, the evolutionary mechanism of the survival of the fittest would seem to argue against helping those who have less power and who are marginalized and oppressed. Instead, it would seem to imply that those who have power should avoid doing anything to help those without power so that the human species can continue to progress. That would be the logically consistent conclusion of secular assumptions. 

Yet, of course, secularists don’t say that. Instead, they’re adamant that those with power should indeed help those without it. Yet how in the world do they get that virtuous idea? Well, the only place they can get it from is Christianity. So understand that secularists can’t even pursue their own goals without using Christian capital and borrowing Christian ideas. It’s the Bible that gives us the idea that every single person has inherent value and dignity and worth—and not just because we say they do but because they’ve been created in the image of God. As Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” And that’s the all-important foundation for the pursuit of justice in society and therefore for racial reconciliation. It’s a foundation that secularism lacks. Secularists have to pursue justice and racial reconciliation in spite of secularism’s deeper-level assumptions, while Christians are able to pursue those virtuous goals as a result and an outgrowth of their biblical beliefs. 

Second, not only does the Bible give us a foundation for racial reconciliation that secularism lacks, it also gives us a method for racial reconciliation that secularism lacks. You see, true racial reconciliation requires that people be changed on the inside. External coexistence can be forced, but true reconciliation can’t be forced. It requires a profound internal change. And that’s exactly what Christianity offers—a change of heart that occurs at conversion that’s more radical than anything we’ve ever imagined. Theologians refer to this change of heart as “regeneration.” It’s also described in the Bible in John 3 as being “born again.” The fact is that Jesus changes people’s hearts and that he’s the only one who can change hearts. Listen, guys: legislation can’t change people’s hearts. Public shaming on Twitter or in the media can’t change people hearts. Only Jesus can change people’s hearts. He’s the only one who can take proud, hateful hearts and change them into humble, loving hearts. The only real method secularists seem to have is to try to beat their ideological opponents into submission—which doesn’t currently seem to be working very well. But Jesus can take even the most hateful people and put it in their hearts to love. 

Third, the Bible gives us resources for racial reconciliation that secularism lacks. And I’m thinking of two resources in particular that I believe are essential for racial reconciliation. First, the idea of loving our enemies. That’s a distinctly Christian idea. Jesus commands his disciples in Luke 6:27 to “Love your enemies” and “do good to those who hate you.” He then models that love during his crucifixion. As Jesus is hanging on that cross, he prays that God would forgive the people who are crucifying him. The only way secularists seem to be able to approach their enemies is hating them, while Christians are taught to love their enemies. So that’s one idea. And the other idea that serves as a critical resource for racial reconciliation is forgiveness for the sinner. Secularism designates certain people as “sinners” of sorts and proceeds to crucify them—usually, again, on Twitter. But Christians are able to extend forgiveness to others, knowing that we ourselves have been forgiven by God. 

Then, fourth, the Bible offers us a certainty of racial reconciliation that secularism lacks. How miserable it must be to be a secular social justice warrior and spend your entire life pursuing justice in society only to see progress, at the end of your life, that’s superficial at best. How depressing to be on your deathbed departing from a world that’s just as broken as the world you were born into. Yet the Bible gives us a hope for racial reconciliation that won’t be disappointed. Revelation 7:9-10 teaches us about 9 …a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” What a beautiful picture of the perfect racial harmony that God will one day bring about.  

And, actually, we can see it starting to take shape already. According to data from the Pew Research Center, Christianity is by far, the most geographically diverse religion in the world. Only about 12% of professing Christians live in North America, 26% live in Europe, 24% live in Latin America or the Caribbean, 24% live in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 13% live in Asia or the Pacific. That’s way more diverse than secularism or the “unaffiliated” religious perspective. So not only does Christianity have the confident expectation of worldwide racial harmony in the future, Christianity has already achieved—within itself—greater racial diversity in the present than any other religion or worldview. All of that to say that the Bible offers us a certainty of racial reconciliation that secularism lacks.

So, as Christians, we’re in a unique position to offer our society a path toward racial reconciliation that’s vastly superior to anything secularism can offer. And again, our motivation for doing so isn’t to win applause or to virtue signal but to glorify God by being salt and light in this world—a city on a hill that can’t be hidden.