Acts 10:21

Acts 10:21. Then Peter went down to the men, See note on the last verse. This coming down the outside stair, and suddenly standing face to face with the strangers, with whom he was presently to make such intimate acquaintance, is one of the most vivid passages of the narrative.

Which were sent to him from Cornelius. These words are absent from the best manuscripts. They are either a gloss suggested by Acts 11:11, ‘Sent from Cæsarea unto me,' or they are introduced to make more complete a section set apart for public reading. The introduction of the words here, however, disturbs the true sequence of the narrative. At this time St. Peter knew nothing of Cornelius or of what had happened at Cæsarea.

Behold, I am he whom ye seek. This directness is like what we read elsewhere of St. Peter. Coram quem quaeritis adsum. But it is worth while at this point to turn in thought from him to the messengers. They must have been much startled by this sudden address. They saw in a moment the man whom they were seeking: they perceived that some supernatural communication had been made to him; and renewed strength must have been given instantaneously to their conviction that they were engaged in no common transaction.

What is the cause wherefore ye are come? He was entirely ignorant as yet of the details of their errand: and these he was to learn, not supernaturally, but by the usual methods of information. The two things which he had learnt supernaturally were, first, the general preparatory and as yet obscure lesson of the trance; and, secondly, the fact that those men whom he saw before him were divinely sent, and that he was to accompany them.