God bless you in the name of Jesus Christ!
In this issue of Chapter and Verse, I'd like to share a record from God's word concerning a wonderful man named Cornelius. This man was the first recorded Gentile to be added to the Church of God without becoming a proselyte. We begin in Acts chapter ten.
Acts 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,
There are two land areas known as Caesarea. Caesarea of Philippi, was situated at the foot of Lebanon near the sources of the Jordan in Gaulanitis, and formerly called Paneas; but afterward being rebuilt by Philip the tetrarch, it was called by him Caesarea, in honour of Tiberias Caesar; subsequently called Neronias by Agrippa II, in honour of Nero.
Caesarea of Palestine was built near the Mediterranean by Herod the Great on the site of Strabo's Tower, between Joppa and Dora. It was provided with a magnificent harbor and had conferred upon it the name of Caesarea, in honor of Augustus. It was the residence of Roman procurators and the majority of its inhabitants were Greeks. This Caesarea (of Palestine) is where Cornelius was stationed. Caesarea was the region's largest and the most strategic port city. It was also the capital of the Roman province of Judea, and therefore the home of the Roman governor and the home base of his military garrison. At full force, the Italian Regiment (or any other Roman regiment) would have been 6,000 soldiers, organized into 10 "cohorts" of 600 soldiers each.
Each cohort was in turn organized into 6 "centuries" of 100 soldiers, comparable to a "company" in the modern army.
A centurion was the officer in charge of a century of soldiers and therefore comparable to the commanding officer of a company in today's army.
One of the sources I checked eluded that the Italian band was one of the archery units of the Roman army I do not know.
The Roman army drew regiments from throughout its empire. The Italian Regiment was one drawn from Italy and was mostly comprised of volunteers.
Cornelius was a wonderful God fearing man. The name is Roman and belonged to distinguished families in the imperial city, such as the Scipios and Sulla. Thus, he was probably an Italian of Roman blood. Julian the Apostate reckons him as one of the few persons of distinction who became a Christian.
He was evidently a man of importance in Caesarea and well known to the Jews. He was a centurion in the Italian cohort. To understand this, we must note that the Roman army was divided into two broad divisions; the legions and the auxiliary forces.
Legions were never permanently quartered in Palestine until the Great War which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
From the year 6 AD, when Palestine was made into a province of the second rank, until 66 AD, it was garrisoned by auxiliary troops recruited amongst the Samaritans and Syrian Greeks.
The headquarters were naturally at Caesarea, the residence of the procurator. But it would not have been prudent for a garrison in Palestine to be composed wholly of troops locally recruited. Therefore the Roman government mingled with the garrison 600 soldiers, free Italian volunteers. With this cohort, Cornelius was connected as centurion.
Acts 10:2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.
He was generous to the people and prayed to God of the Jews constantly, but was a gentile who had not been circumcised, in which he would have been referred to as a 'proselyte' instead of a 'God-fearer': "one who feared God" ("All his household" were also God-fearers.)
Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
A proselyte is one who has come over from a Gentile religion to Judaism.
The Rabbis distinguished two classes of proselytes. The first class were called "proselytes of righteousness". These received circumcision and bound themselves to keep the whole of the Mosaic Law. They also vowed to comply with all the requirements of Judaism.
The second class were referred to as "proselytes of the gate". They dwelt among the Jews, and although uncircumcised observed certain specific laws, esp. the seven precepts of Noah.
These precepts were also referred to as the seven chief sins, idolatry, and blasphemy against God, homicide, unchastely, theft or plundering, rebellion against rulers and the use of "flesh with the blood thereof".
Acts 6:5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Acts 2:8-10 8And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Acts 13:43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Acts 10:3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.
The hours were counted from sunrise, deemed to be about 6am, so the ninth hour was around 3pm.
Acts 10:4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
Had the angel come to answer Cornelius' prayers? No! The angel came to tell Cornelius to send men to fetch Peter, whom God will use to deal with his prayers:
This provides us with some insight on prayers. Sometimes God will meet your needs through another person. However, if we are not meek to others we may miss our answer to prayer!
Acts 10:5-6 5And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: 6He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.
God would answer Cornelius prayer through Simon Peter. If Cornelius would obey God and act on the word of God brought to him by the angel of the Lord.
Another great truth here we see. Cornelius was a meek and humble man. This is quite a quality in that he was a centurion, a military man in charge of a number of men.
He was responsible to train and command these men on and off the field. His decisions could result in the life or death of these men.
Cornelius wasn't a slouch and yet he was a wonderfully meek and humble man whose heart was to know the great true God of Israel.
I have met men in the military I served under, men who would look down on you and wouldn't listen to a word you say. I have also served under men who were wonderful inspiring men who always made you feel like you mattered. Cornelius was this type of leader.
Acts 10:7-8 7And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; 8And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.
Why would Cornelius explain everything to them instead of just issuing a simple order?
The emissaries needed to explain to Peter why they had come for him, but also, Cornelius most likely wanted to share the news of the angel's visit with them.
Imagine an angel appearing to you and speaking to you about your prayers. Wouldn't you be excited to share the news with a believer close to you? Cornelius cared about his people and was excited about God's word.
He wasn't silenced like our military men and woman are commanded today. Can you imagine what would happen if a solider spoke out about God today?
Under the order of our ungodly president our men would face court martial or worse if the name of Jesus is spoken and taught. And yet he encourages evil and sin by downplaying homosexuals and radical Islam.
Hell, he wounded and killed American soldiers who endangered their lives to rescue a deserter Bowe Bergdahl and then bragged about it.
Obama swapped five Taliban leaders with terrorism links for Bergdahl. However, the army has brought court-martial charges against Bergdahl for desertion. Where is our president's head? Up his @$$.
To be continued… ÿ