The Gospel Preached to the Gentiles

The book of Acts follows the geographical expansion of the Church as described in Acts 1:8, where Jesus said, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Since the Church began in Jerusalem, the first converts to Christianity were primarily Jewish. In fact, most early Christians did not think of themselves as changing religions. They considered their belief in Jesus as the Messiah as a continuation and culmination of their Jewish faith. After all, the promise of the Messiah was given to the Jewish people. However, this would prove to be a source of contention between Jewish and Gentile believers.

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In the New Testament, the term "Gentile" was used to describe any one who was not a Jew. It is a translation of the Greek word ethne, which simply means "the nations." So, in the book of Acts, we find that one of the earliest controversies in the Church was over the inclusion of Gentiles (non-Jews). As Peter states in today's reading, the Jews were not to associate with non-Jews. And yet Jesus had commanded them to preach the gospel to all nations (ethne).

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Today's reading describes the conversion of Cornelius, who was a God-fearing Gentile. In the first century, there was a category of people known as "God-fearers." These individuals were Gentiles who worshipped the God of Israel and were in some way attached to a synagogue, yet they did not submit to Jewish conversion rites, specifically the rite of circumcision. So, even though Cornelius was a Gentile, he already was attached to the Jewish worshipping community.

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God chooses Simon Peter to be the one to proclaim the gospel to Cornelius. Peter was a devout Jewish man and, therefore, had reservations about associating with a Gentile. God gives Peter a vision of a large sheet filled with animals, many of which would have been considered "unclean" and therefore unfit to eat by a law-observing Jew living the first century. However, God instructs Peter to "Rise, Kill, and Eat" and declares that all of God's creation is "clean." This vision prepared Peter for his encounter with Cornelius, who would have been considered "unclean" as a Gentile. After hearing Peter's proclamation of the story of Jesus, Cornelius and all who were present received the gift of the Holy Spirit, an outward and visible sign of genuine saving faith. Consequently, Peter commands that they be baptized with water in the name of Jesus.

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This encounter between Cornelius and Peter is only the first step toward the inclusion of Gentiles into the Church. The question of whether Gentiles should still be required to be circumcised remained a point of debate. Finally, in Acts 15, a gathering of Church leaders was held in Jerusalem, where it was decided the Gentile converts did not need to be circumcised in order to be full members of the Church. As Peter said in today's reading, "God shows no partiality."