To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:43)
This is a very familiar portion of the Scriptures which most of us hold dearly. One of those
"whosoever" was you and me, and your wife, and your husband, and your dad, and your
son and... We all fall under the merciful grace of God. We seem to really believe that
whosoever believeth in him shall be save, do we?
The disciples struggled with this. Even though Jesus himself taught them several times on
this subject they missed it. In John chapter 3, Jesus ends his conversation with Nicodemus
with a global outreach never heard before.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
John 12:8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of
man also confess before the angels of God:
Jesus made it very clear. Salvation was for anyone in the world who would confess His
name before men. Light had come into the world and the world, through him, would be
saved. Easy to understand for you and me. But the disciples did not understand. Shortly
after that, in Chapter 4, John relates the story of the Samaritan Woman. Not only was she
a prostitute, for the Jews she was a Samaritan, a dog, trash, good for nothing. Jesus knew
this and also knew that she was deep in sin:
John 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that
saidst thou truly.
Nevertheless Jesus extended her an invitation to salvation. She was one of the whosoever
he had taught about a few days before.
John 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water
that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
There was Jesus applying his teaching of global outreach. He stopped at the well to extend
a salvation invitation to a Samaritan woman. However the disciples did not approve the
encounter.
John 4:27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet
no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
This bring us to Acts chapter 10. For a period of eight years since Pentecost the Gospel
had been preached to the Jews only.
Thus terminates what has not been improperly called the first period of the Christian Church,
which began at the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1, and continued to the resurrection of Dorcas; a
period of about eight years. During the whole of this time the Gospel was preached to the Jews
only, no Gentile being called before Cornelius, the account of whose conversion, and the
Divine vision that led to it, are detailed in the following chapter. Salvation was of the Jews:
theirs were the fathers, the covenants, and the promises, and from them came Christ Jesus;(1)
Acts chapter 10 starts talking about Cornelius, a devout man and one that feared God with
all his house. Not only do we know that he was a just man and that his house was in order,
but we know that he was full of the Holy Spirit. Verse 3 relates Cornelius' vision:
Acts 10:3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God
coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.
The fact that he saw a vision from God is proof enough that he was full of the Holy Spirit
as we read in Acts 2:17:
Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit
upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall
see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Before the vision, Cornelius had been fasting and praying for something untold to us.
However, try to imagine Cornelius position. He was a devout man who feared God. He
knew about Jesus, his teachings, and his death on the cross. He probably heard about his
miracles, and probably was friend with the soldier at the foot of the cross, the one who
said: "Truly this was the Son of God" He heard the story of his death, "Eli, Eli, lama
sabach thani", "Father forgive them; for they know not what they do", "Verily I say unto
thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise", "It is finished", "Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit" He heard of the earthquake, the darkness, the veil. Oh yes, claims of
resurrection, and a "Christian" church among Jews believers.
Why was he so troubled about this Jesus? Even if he was truly the son of God, He was the
God of the Jews. Why would the God of the Jews deal with a soldier of the oppressing
army? Yet he felt this burning fire shut up in his bones. I believe he was praying for
heavenly guidance. For a revelation of how to worship the true God. His family and
friends noticed it, praying and fasting for so long. Then came the vision...
Acts 10:4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
5 And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter:
6 He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what
thou oughtest to do.
Send men to Joppa and get Peter, he will tell you what to do. He will tell you about the fire
that is consuming you. At the same time the Lord was speaking to Peter:
Acts 10:11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
On this vision the Lord was commanding Peter to eat "unclean" animals. It was
unthinkable for a Jew to eat such a thing. Verse 16 says that the vision was repeated three
times. It probably took that many times for Peter to grasp and understand what was being
said. Peter had no idea what the vision meant. The idea of eating unclean animals
sounded repulsive, even sinful. Then there was the knock on the door and the revelation
from God to go with the servants of Cornelius, a Roman soldier, a gentile.
The Bible says that they did not depart immediately. Cornelius' servants spent the night
and they all departed the next morning (verse 23). That had to be a sleepless night for
Peter. First that troubling vision and now the Lord commanded him to go to a gentile's
house. What was he supposed to tell to these unclean people, to the enemies of his country?
Somewhere in the middle of the night Peter was able to put together the vision, Cornelius,
and whosoever (verse 28). Memories of Jesus, his beloved Master, talking to the Samaritan
woman. And that word kept sounding in his memories, whosoever, whosoever, whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Eight years after Pentecost
Peter understood the global outreach of the Gospel.
It is evident that even though Cornelius was full of the Holy Spirit he felt like a second class
citizen. So he humbled in front of Peter and tried to worship him. He was still convinced
that the blessings of Jesus were for the Jews but maybe he and his family could take part of
it as servants:
Acts 10:25 And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.
26 But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.
After all the proper introductions and explanations, Peter began to speak:
Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
This was new for Cornelius and his family, "What does he exactly means by every nation?"
They might have thought.
Acts 10:37 That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
39 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;
41 Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.
42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was
ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
Peter was saying, "you know about Jesus, his miracles, his death and his resurrection. You
know we are his servants and that we are commanded to preach the Gospel. All these you
know but there is something you don't know:
Acts 10:43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in
him shall receive remission of sins.
I believe that the word "whosoever" floated in space for what seemed an eternity . The
power of such a revelation must have made the place tremble. Immediately Cornelius and
his family had a full understanding of the saving grace of God. Grace that surpasses any
ethnic group or life situation. Now they knew hope. No longer second class citizens but
sons and daughters of God with all the benefits and responsibilities.
This well known portion of the Scripture teaches us who whosoever is. Peter thought he
knew, he heard Jesus himself speak the word. Little he imagined that the gentiles, the
unclean people, they were whosoever. Are you "whosoever"? Are you so removed from
God that you think his mercies can't reach you? Do you see yourself as a sinner that can't
reach God? Then you are a sinner that can not reach God on your own. However, you are
not too far from his presence, from his mercy. The Bible teaches that "whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins.", that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
You did not know that you are "whosoever", but now, like Cornelius, you know. There is
still hope for you. Give your life to Jesus.
If you are saved, do you know who "whosoever" is? There is still hope for your husband,
son, daughter, mom, dad. But maybe they don't know, they need a Peter to explain them
that they are "whosoever". Can you be that Peter? There are more "whosoever", your
enemy, that obnoxious coworker, the brother/sister you have not talked to in years. The
alcoholic parents who you blame for all your problems. The person from a different ethnic
background who your culture taught you to hate. The politician, the policeman, the
teacher. Maybe none of these know that they are "whosoever". Would you tell them?
BACK HOME
If you have been blessed by this study or have any questions please send me an E-mail.
1. Clarke, Adam CLARKE'S COMMENTARY THE NEW TESTAMENT, VOLUME 5B JOHN THROUGH ACTS, THE SAGE DIGITAL LIBRARY COMMENTARIES, SAGE Software Albany, OR USA Version 1.0