Peter and Cornelius at Caesarea
Cornelius is a Roman centurion at Caesarea, devout and generous but not a Jew, and an angel tells him to send for Peter. Peter, meanwhile, is on a roof in Joppa, hungry, and sees a sheet let down full of animals with a voice telling him to kill and eat. He refuses three times on the grounds that he has never eaten anything unclean, and is told not to call impure what God has made clean.
He is still puzzling over it when the messengers arrive. He goes, enters a Gentile house — which he says plainly is not lawful for him — and finds Cornelius has gathered his relatives and close friends.
While Peter is still speaking the Spirit falls on the whole household, and he concludes there is no ground left to refuse baptism. Acts treats this as the moment the church's boundary broke open.
Where in scripture
[1] Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, [2] a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God. [3] At about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him, and saying to him, “Cornelius!” [4] He, fastening his eyes on him, and being frightened, said, “What is it, Lord?” He said to him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before God. [5] Now send men to Joppa, and get Simon, who is also called Peter. [6] He lodges with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the seaside. …
Acts 10:1–48 — opening verses
[1] Now the apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. [2] When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision contended with him, [3] saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men, and ate with them!” [4] But Peter began, and explained to them in order, saying, [5] “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: a certain container descending, like it was a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. It came as far as me. [6] When I had looked intently at it, I considered, and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky. [7] I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter, kill and eat!’ …
Acts 11:1–18 — opening verses
[11] But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. [13] And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy; so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that they didn’t walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do?
Galatians 2:11–14
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
