What does Acts 10:13 Mean?

Context Summary

At this point the Church took a new departure, and the gospel broke over the walls of Jewish exclusiveness and was preached for the first time to pure-blooded Gentiles. Caesarea, built by the great Herod, was practically a Roman city, and the official seat of the Roman government in Judea. Cornelius was an officer of high rank, and it would seem naturally of noble character. He had no sympathy with the religious fables and sensuous indulgence of his time, and was attracted to the Jewish faith, which stood alone in the world for pure and undefiled conceptions of God. He adopted some of its characteristic features-its hours of prayer, its practice of fasting, and its almsgiving.

He had apparently set apart the whole of this memorable day for earnest inquiry as to the way of salvation, and as the sun was declining an angel brought the necessary indication of the steps that he should take. In the meanwhile God was about to prepare Peter to bring Cornelius into the perfect light. On the following day, as the messengers of Cornelius were nearing Joppa, the vision of a redeemed world from which Hebrew restrictions had vanished, opened to the Apostle a new and wider conception of God's purpose. [source]

Chapter Summary: Acts 10

¹  Cornelius, a devout man, being commanded by an angel, sends for Peter,
¹¹  who by a vision is taught not to despise the Gentiles;
¹⁷  and is commanded by the Spirit to go with the messenger to Caesarea
²⁵  Cornelius shows the occasion of his sending for him
³⁴  As he preaches Christ to Cornelius and his company,
⁴⁴  the Holy Spirit falls on them, and they are baptized