Transcript

ANNOUNCER: This is Grace in Focus. Thank you, friend, for joining us today. We are considering Acts chapter 10 and the experience of Cornelius, asking the question when was Cornelius born again? Is it possible that he, like others in the book of Acts, received the Holy Spirit sometime after he was saved? And what is the point of Cornelius’ story? We are a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Find us on the web at faithalone.org. We’d love you to know about our national conference coming up next May 18th through the 21st. “Believe in Him for Life” is our theme, and we will be celebrating 40 years of Free Grace ministry. Get all the details, get registered, plan to come May 18th through the 21st, 2026. And the website again is faithalone.org. 

And now with today’s question and answer discussion, here’s Ken Yates, along with Kathryn Wright. 

KEN: We have a great question from one of of our listeners named Ruby. And it’s dealing with a very important, I guess we can say they’re all important, a very important person in the book of Acts. We would say a super important person. Go ahead and ask the question that Ruby asked, Kathryn. 

KATHRYN: She’s asking about Acts 10 and Cornelius. And her question is, is it possible that Cornelius already had everlasting life? I think she means before Peter came and preached, right, in his home, but needed to hear from a witness that Jesus was the Christ. 

KEN: So he would have been, for example, an Old Testament believer. So he was already a believer in the coming Messiah. 

KATHRYN: But now he just needs to know his name. 

KEN: Yeah. So he would have had eternal life when he believed in the coming Messiah before the time of Christ.

KATHRYN: And I think therefore received the Spirit because we have examples of people in Acts who came to faith, but did not receive the Spirit. 

KEN: When I first heard the question from Ruby, and since we don’t know for sure, I’ll throw this other option out here, I thought she meant that, was Cornelius like the people in Acts chapter two who believe in Acts chapter 2 verse 37. So they already had eternal life, but they didn’t receive the Holy Spirit until they repented and was baptized. Or the Samaritans in Acts chapter 8.

KATHRYN: Or Paul. 

KEN: Or Paul, Paul was saved on the road to Damascus.

KATHRYN: But didn’t receive the Spirit until three days later. 

KEN: Yeah. And Ananais came to him. So the question is, could it be possible that Cornelius, whichever one of those views, whichever those two views you take, was he a believer before he received the Holy Spirit? Now remember, it’s not just him. It’s his whole household. There’s a whole bunch of Gentiles that are in his house. And that that complicates Ruby’s question a little bit more because it is like, well, we’re all of them like that? We’re all of them like Old Testament believers, if that’s what she meant or did all of them believe before now, they were just waiting for the Holy Spirit. Or was this a household full of unbelievers? Okay. 

I like this question because years ago, I either read or heard, I can’t remember a Calvinist talking about Cornelius and how he struggled with Cornelius because the Calvinists believe that if you’re an unbeliever, you can’t do anything that’s good. You’re spiritually dead—

KATHRYN: Totally depraved. 

KEN: You can’t respond to God. 

KATHRYN: You’re a corpse at the bottom of the lake. 

KEN: That’s right. Not the bottom of a well, right? 

KATHRYN: Lake, well, I’ve heard them both. 

KEN: Okay. So, but when we’re introduced to Cornelius in Acts chapter ten verse two, why don’t you read that for us? What is what does Luke tell us about Cornelius? And this is before Peter preached to him. 

KATHRYN: It says that he was “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always.” 

KEN: And so we’re also told later that an angel of the Lord appears to him, right?In a vision. And so, so here’s a guy who’s described as devout. Here’s a guy who says, and it says, the angel says, your prayers have gone up to God and are pleasing to Him. And so here is a man that’s pleasing God. And the Calvinist struggle with this guy because, well, how can he be an unbeliever? If he spiritually dead and an unbeliever can’t do anything that God, how can Cornelius and the rest of his household be described this way, right? 

And so the Calvinists that I remember either reading or listening two years ago said, he was already saved. That that was his view. And so the Calvinist believes that you could be saved before you believe. And so this guy said, okay, God gave him eternal life before he believed. 

KATHRYN: Before he even knew who Jesus was. Okay. 

KEN: So he wasn’t an Old Testament believer, wasn’t anything. God just gives him—he was God’s elect. Elected and gave him eternal life. 

KATHRYN: Some Calvinists correct me if I’m wrong, but they they hold that somebody could be quote unquote saved, but then not know, not believe in Jesus for a decade. KEN: Sure. And if the Calvinist is that particular Calvinist was right, and he’s not, it’s crazy. If he’s right about Cornelius, Cornelius may have been one of those guys. How how long it Cornelius been saved before he believed. I mean, it’s it’s silly, but that’s what they believe. 

So more importantly with Ruby’s question, could he have been a believer, you know, Cornelius heard about Christ, believed in Him or believed in the coming Messiah, and now he just didn’t have the Holy Spirit yet. 

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KEN: So more importantly with Ruby’s question, could he have been a believer, you know, Cornelius heard about Christ, believed in Him or believed in the coming Messiah, and now he just didn’t have the Holy Spirit yet. And the reason this is a good question is because in Acts chapter 10, when Peter preaches, it’s not recorded in Acts chapter 10 that Peter ever mentions eternal life. He does in Acts 10:43, he mention the forgiveness of sins, all who believe in him received the forgiveness of sins. And when he said that, Cornelius and everybody in his household received the Holy Spirit. And so again, could this be something like in Acts chapter 8, the Samaritans didn’t receive the Holy Spirit till later, after they believed, and the same with the Jews in Acts chapter two?

Well, I would argue, no. And I would do that for a couple of reasons. Number one, I think the point of Acts chapter 10, the reason why Peter in Acts chapter 10 does not mention eternal life is because we don’t have that recorded. That’s what I would say that Cornelius and his household, the point of what happens to them is showing that the Gentiles are equal to Jewish believers in every single way. They receive eternal life when they believe, but they do not have to be baptized in order to receive the Holy Spirit. And that’s a difference between the Samaritans in Acts chapter 8 and the Jews in Acts chapter 2. 

KATHRYN: And Paul. 

KEN: And Paul, right, as he describes his conversion, he was saved on the road to Damascus, but did not receive the Holy Spirit or the forgiveness of sins until he was baptized by Ananias three days later. But do you notice the Gentiles here in Acts chapter 10, they receive the Holy Spirit before they’re baptized. After they receive the Holy Spirit, they are baptized. So this is different than the Jews in Acts chapter 2 and the Samaritans in Acts chapter 8 and Paul. 

So the point of Cornelius’s story and the reason he’s so important in the book of Acts is he shows that Gentiles again are equal to the Jews in every single way. They not only receive eternal life, which by the way, the Jews knew that Gentiles could receive eternal life. But here, they have fellowship with God. Their sins are forgiven at the moment they believe and they have fellowship with God and they receive the same gift as the Jews did, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

So I would argue that Cornelius is acceptable to God because he’s responding to the information that he has. He was around Jews. He’s described as a God-fearer in the book of Acts that normally describes a Gentile who is associated in some way with the synagogue. So he has been exposed to the Old Testament Scriptures, how much he knows we don’t know, but he knows enough to pray to the God of Israel to seek him. And he’s told in a vision to call for Peter and it says that the angel told Cornelius, this is in Acts chapter 11 verse 14, to call for a man named Peter and it says in verse 14, “who will tell you words by which you and your household will be saved.” 

Now the question is, say from what? If you follow grace teachings, you know that in the New Testament “saved” doesn’t always mean saved from hell, but I’m going to argue here that it does, that Cornelius was somebody who did not have eternal life, but he was seeking God and God was going to give him more revelation. 

Now later in the Jerusalem council in Acts chapter 15, they discuss what happened with Cornelius and it says in Acts chapter 15 verse 11, that what they learned from Cornelius is, “we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” Jews and Gentiles are saved in the same manner—by grace. So I would say that this is an indication that this is salvation from hell, salvation from the lake of fire, it is by God’s grace. 

And the other thing that I would say, the reason I think that Cornelius was an unbeliever before Peter came and talked to them about eternal life is because they—they did not have the Holy Spirit yet. And the whole point of the New Testament or one of the points of the New Testament is when Gentiles believe, they receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of faith. Okay, Acts chapter 2 is different. The Samaritans are different. The disciples of John the Baptist who were Jews in Acts 19, but Cornelius and his household received the Holy Spirit while Peter was preaching because that’s when they believed and that’s when Gentiles received the Holy Spirit in the Church Age. 

So I would say that Cornelius was not a believer until Peter came and preached to him.

KATHRYN: What a great question Ruby. 

KEN: Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think we as a Church need to do more work in the book of Acts. 

KATHRYN: Read. 

KEN: Thanks for the question Ruby. And for our listeners, remember, keep grace in focus. 

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On our next episode: how do we know which parts of Scripture can be directly applied to us? Please join us for that and until then, let’s keep grace in focus.