Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Acts 10:44

Second Pentecost at CæsareaBaptism of Cornelius and his Friends, 44-48.

Acts 10:44. While Peter yet spake these words. In his own account afterwards (Acts 11:15) he says that the miraculous interruption came ‘ as he began to speak' He was, therefore, evidently intending to address the assembly at much greater length. We need not speculate on the substance of what he intended to say. The other speeches in the Acts of the Apostles would furnish to us a sufficient analogy to guide us to a right conclusion. What is of the utmost importance to us to mark is, that an occurrence took place on this occasion which is recorded on no other occasion of the same kind. This is enough to mark off these event at Cæsarea as having a character and meaning of their own. The sudden interruption was far more forcible in its effect on the hearers than any additional words from Peter would have been. The arguments from history, from miracle, from prophecy, from conscience, were suddenly merged in something higher. The force, too, of this new and Divine argument was of the utmost weight for the ‘apostles and brethren at Jerusalem' as it is indeed for every subsequent age of the Church, including our own. It is observable, moreover, that the interruption came just when the word ‘ faith' was pronounced in connection with ‘the remission of sins.'

The Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. The same verb, fell (ε ̓ πε ́ πεσε), is used in St. Peter's account. The new impulse came from above. It was manifestly supernatural and Divine. So far there is a close resemblance with what we read in Acts 2:2, of the sound which came from heaven. The expression of St. Peter, too, at Jerusalem is distinct and express: the Holy Ghost fell on them at Cæsarea, ‘ as on us at the beginning.' The manifestation of the Spirit then was an appeal to the senses, probably to the sense of sight, and certainly to that of hearing. It is said below (Acts 10:46) that they were heard ‘speaking with tongues and magnifying God.' How far the phenomena had a closer affinity with what is described in the second chapter of the Acts, or with what we learn from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, may be difficult to determine. Possibly it was a link between the two.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Acts 10:44

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