(34) Then Peter opened his mouth and said:  “In truth I perceive that God Shows no partiality.  (35) But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.  (36) The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ – He is Lord of all – (37) that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:  (38) how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,  for God was with Him.

Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke and is a history of the early church.  Jesus commanded his disciples to go and preach the gospel to all of the known world just before he left them.  The Apostles were also told to stay together in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit would come to them and they would be given power and strength to preach the gospel.  When one considers that the Apostles fled the Garden of Gethsemane the night that Jesus was arrested – and that Peter denied Christ three times that terrible night – one can begin to realize just how far these uneducated, terrified men had come since the crucifixion of Jesus.

The Apostles were all Jewish men.  They were raised to believe that Israel was set aside as a monotheistic nation that alone would receive God’s favor.  The Law and the traditions of Israel strictly forbade certain foods and practices to the Jewish nation – indeed, the Gentiles were considered unclean.  Now Peter has a vision in which God tells him that there are no further barriers of food or fellowship to the Jewish man and his neighbor.  Up to this point the Jewish Christians resisted evangelization of the Gentiles or any acceptance of Gentiles as Christians without a relationship to Judaism.  Peter was the chosen instrument in this opening of the door and the Jerusalem church subsequently accepted a Gentile conversion to Jesus as Messiah apart from any allegiance to Judaism.

At the same time Peter had his vision,  a man named Cornelius, a centurion or captain of men in the Italian – read Roman and superior – regiment, had a vision in which he is told to send for Peter and Peter will tell him about Christ.  When Peter arrives and enters the house of Cornelius where he has assembled his household,  Peter begins to teach what they already know – the account of Jesus of Nazareth that has been proclaimed in all Judea and Galilee – and then Peter begins to teach what they did not know.  The importance of this story is God has now clearly shown that Jesus Christ is the Messiah to all men.  There is no more wall between the Jew and the Gentile.  Christianity is both exclusive and inclusive.  Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life – no one shall know God except through Him –  and He is also the Messiah and High Priest for all who believe.  A powerful message indeed and God has made it known that forgiveness and salvation is for all men.