Acts 10:20Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See what the authority of the Spirit is. What God does is called the action of the Spirit. The angel does not speak in this way. He first says, "Your prayers and your alms," and then says, "have come up," to show that he was sent from above. But the Spirit, as sovereign, says, "I have sent them." See that He did not say, "This is why the vision appeared to you," but, "I have sent them." He teaches that one must obey God in this way, without asking for reasons. For complete conviction, it is enough to hear from Him, "Do this," or, "Say this," and to require nothing more.

"Go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them." Great is the authority of the Spirit. For what God the Father does, the Holy Spirit also does. The angel said, "Your prayers and your alms," to show that he had been sent from there. The Spirit does not act so, but says, "For I have sent them." Therefore one must obey the Spirit.

Peter is commanded to come down from the roof and go to preach. Thus the Church contemplates the Lord not only in His ascent upward, but also as He descends to those below and, as it were, outside.

Yet they knock at the door of Simon, which signifies obedience.

The Church is to preach by returning to the active life, as though rising from a bed. Of this the Lord says: You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, Jn 1:51.

His house, as was well mentioned above, was beside the sea, Acts 10:6. The sea signifies those driven by the waves of the confusion and storm of this age.

There wicked men, like greedy fish, pursue and devour one another.

But the saints have their citizenship in heaven, Phil 3:20. When the earthly house of this dwelling is destroyed, they have from God a dwelling in the heavens, a house not made with hands, eternal, 2 Cor 5:1.

When the Apostle Peter's vision and ecstatic state had ended, he was perplexed and reflected within himself on the meaning of the divine lesson.

Then those sent by Cornelius came to the house of Simon the tanner, where Peter was staying, Acts 9:43; Acts 10:6. They asked for Simon, called Peter.

The Holy Spirit said to him: behold, three men are seeking you. Arise, go down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.

After this new prompting of the Spirit of God, only one thing remained for the Apostle Peter in order to clarify the meaning of the vision.

He had to learn who those seeking him were, with whom he was to go without any hesitation.

Doubting nothing: Peter was to learn from the messengers that they were Gentiles and that a Gentile was calling him to his house.

He could have fallen into new perplexity, wondering whether he should follow this invitation, since a Jew was forbidden to associate with, or draw near to, a Gentile, verse 28.

For this reason a new revelation of the Spirit is given to Peter, so that he would follow the invitation without hesitation.

For greater assurance the Spirit directly tells him that He has sent them.

Peter's state of ecstasy and the vision are a special action of the Holy Spirit, 2 Pet 1:21. Therefore it is said that this same Spirit sent the messengers from Cornelius.

The meeting of the Apostle Peter with those sent by Cornelius took place with the assistance of the Spirit of God.

He appeared here, evidently, so that Peter might be assured by God concerning all that had happened.

Therefore Peter went at the summons with complete confidence in its full goodwill and fruitfulness. Otherwise one might have thought that a soldier, accompanied by servants, wanted to seize him and bring him to judgment, and perhaps even to death.

As for guilt, Peter knew from the example of Saint Stephen, and even of Jesus Christ Himself, that the authority of that time could put the innocent to death.

Therefore this divine warning was very necessary and comforting for him.