4
No. 1
Did "the Church" begin at Pentecost?
A consideration of the attitude of Peter toward Cornelius and its bearing upon this important question.
The following pages are reprinted from an expository monthly entitled The Berean Expositor. It is re-issued in
the present form in the hope that it will cause the reader to examine afresh the teaching of the Scriptures as to the
place that Pentecost occupies in the purpose of God, and to consider the unique character of the revelation of grace
to the Gentiles as found in the epistle to the Ephesians, a revelation made to Paul when Pentecostal conditions were
suspended at the setting aside of Israel in Acts 28.
The vision that Peter had of the great sheet, and his subsequent visit to Cornelius, form part of the great
movement that we see taking place in Acts 8 to 11, which prepares the way for the work of Paul, the Apostle to the
Gentiles. It will be found that there is nothing in Acts 10 to warrant the idea that Peter had a ministry among the
Gentiles, for the vision of the sheet and the visit to Cornelius were exceptional. They accomplished their purpose,
but Peter was left free to pursue his ministry among the circumcision.
The subject before us falls into four parts :
(1) THE VISION OF CORNELIUS
(Acts 10:1-9).
(2) THE VISION OF PETER
(Acts 10:9-24).
(3) THE MINISTRY OF PETER
(Acts 10:24-48).
(4) THE EFFECT UPON THE CHURCH
(Acts 11:1-18).
Just as we find that the burning words of Stephen anticipates the wider ministry of the apostle Paul, so it is
possible that the way was partly prepared for Peter, by the work done among the Samaritans and in the interview
with the Ethiopian by Philip. Speaking humanly, it is most certain that, had Peter not received this revelation from
heaven, and had he not been instrumental in the conversion of the Gentile, Cornelius, the opposition that met Paul"s
emancipating message would have been even more bitter and intense than it was. The God of grace is all-sufficient,
and Paul would have endured to the end, whatever had happened to Peter, but God in His grace uses means, and
Stephen, Philip and Peter were used to prepare the way for this new and wider ministry. There is a most marked
contrast between the character of Cornelius and that of the heathen to whom Paul was sent. Cornelius is described
as:
"A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to
God alway" (Acts 10:2).
Paul"s converts are described variously as:
"Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led" (1 Cor. 12:2).
"When ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods" (Gal. 4:8).
"At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12).
Yet it is abundantly clear from Acts 10 that had he not had the vision of the sheet Peter would have called the
devout, prayerful Cornelius "common and unclean". How is this attitude possible if it is true that the Church began
at Pentecost? Many commentators incline to the opinion that Cornelius was a proselyte, and it will be of service if
we pause here to make sure that all our readers appreciate the status of a proselyte.