Acts 10:3

Vision of Cornelius at CaesareaMessengers sent to St. Peter at Joppa, 3-8.

Acts 10:3. He saw in a vision evidently. The language seems carefully chosen so as to assert the certainty and absolute distinctness of the vision. This was not a dream or a trance. What Cornelius saw was addressed to his waking senses. His own language afterwards (Acts 10:30) is that ‘a man stood before him and spoke;' and Peter, at a later period still (Acts 11:13), remembering the account given to him by Cornelius, told the apostles and elders that he ‘saw an angel standing and speaking to him.' It should be noted, too, that in each of these passages, where the event is subsequently related, the words ‘in the house' occur.

About the ninth hour of the day. This is the first place where the question necessarily arises, whether Cornelius was at this time a proselyte to Judaism or not. The ninth hour (i.e. three in the afternoon) was one of the stated Jewish hours of prayer. It was at this time of the day, specially named as an hour of prayer, that we have seen Peter and John going to the Temple (Acts 3:1). Other hours of prayer were the third (Acts 2:15) and the sixth (Acts 10:9). Moreover, though nothing is said about prayer in the verse before us, Cornelius distinctly says afterwards (Acts 10:30) that he was at that time (and he names the hour) engaged in prayer. Thus it is evident that Cornelius, besides having formed the habit of prayer, had adopted some of the customary Jewish regulations affecting prayer. The whole tone of the narrative, however, and its place in the history convey the impression that Cornelius was by no means a proselyte in the sense of having been circumcised. There were various degrees of approximation to strict Judaism among those Gentiles who, at the period of the Roman Empire, were in contact with the Jews; and Cornelius seems simply to have been drawn into sympathy with the religion of the Hebrews on its moral and spiritual side. Thus it is correct to say (and it is an important way of stating the matter) that he was ‘the first Pagan baptized by an apostle.'

An angel. This fact would weigh forcibly with' the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, when these occurrences were brought before them. Thus Peter in his apologetic account (Acts 11:13) lays stress upon it. The messengers (Acts 10:22) use the phrase ‘holy angel.' The description given by Cornelius himself (Acts 10:30) is, that what he saw was ‘a man in bright clothing,' which is strictly in analogy with the account of angels in the Gospels (John 20:12; see Acts 1:10).

Coming in. This is part of the description which helps to give definiteness and certainty to the vision (see below, ‘when the angel departed,' Acts 10:7). Cornelius distinctly saw his heavenly visitant come and go.

Saying unto him, Cornelius. This addressing of the person by name is, again, according to the analogy of the visions recorded in the Bible, as in the cases of Samuel in the Old Testament, and St. Paul at his conversion. A distinct appeal was made at Cæsarea to the hearing, as well as the seeing, of Cornelius. Stier says: ‘This was the answer to his entreaties; it was as if the holy messenger had said to him in the name of the Lord, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.'