Acts 10:35Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see how he instills humility by the words, “in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is acceptable to Him”? It is as though he said: He rejects no one, but receives all who believe.

Paul also writes about this: “For when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things of the law” (Rom 2:14).

Here Peter gives both doctrine and rules of life.

If God did not despise the Magi, the Ethiopian, the thief, and the harlot, then certainly He will not despise those who work righteousness and desire to believe.

Why, then, are there people who are good and meek, and yet do not wish to believe? You yourself have given the reason: because they do not wish to.

On the other hand, by good he does not mean here the meek man, but the one “who works righteousness.” That is, one well-pleasing to God in everything.

Such a man exists when he has the proper fear of God. God alone knows such a person.

See how this man was “acceptable.” As soon as he heard, he obeyed.

And now, you will say, anyone would obey if an angel appeared. But the present signs are far greater than those, and yet many do not believe.

“Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city” (Mt 10:15).

In that case, how can one who does not honor the preaching of His Son, and does not believe in it, be acceptable to God?

Such a person neither fears God nor works righteousness.

In the same sense, understand what the Apostle Paul says: before the preaching of Christ, “glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, first to the Jew and also to the Greek” (Rom 2:10).

After this preaching, “even if... an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we preached to you, let him be anathema” (Gal 1:8).

Saint John Chrysostom, interpreting Acts 10:35, says: “Here Peter gives both doctrine and rules of life.

“If God did not despise the Magi, the Ethiopian, the thief, and the harlot, then certainly He will not despise those who work righteousness and desire to believe.

“Why, then, are there people who are good and meek, and yet do not wish to believe? You yourself have given the reason: because they do not wish to.

“On the other hand, by good he does not mean here the meek man, but the one who works righteousness. That is, one well-pleasing to God in everything.

“Such a man exists when he has the proper fear of God. God alone knows such a person.”

Once, during prayer, an angel of God stood before him and said, “Cornelius! Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.

“Now send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is called Peter. He will speak to you words by which you and all your household will be saved” (Acts 10:3-6).

The prayers and alms of Cornelius were so powerful that the merciful Lord looked upon them. Yet by themselves they did not give Cornelius salvation.

They made him capable of believing in Christ, and faith in Christ gave him salvation.

Here is the exact valuation of the good of fallen nature. This good has value when it leads to Christ.

But when it is satisfied with itself and separates from Christ, then it becomes the greatest evil. It deprives us of the salvation given by Christ, a salvation that it can never give by itself.

The action of the Old Testament is like the action of natural good. To turn away from it before the coming of Christ was apostasy from God.

The desire to remain with it after the coming of Christ became apostasy from God (Gal 5:4).

The Old Testament was a servant of salvation, preparing men for faith in Christ, by which salvation is given.

But for the Jews who wished to remain forever with the Old Testament, it became an advocate and instrument of perdition.

The soul-destroying error of the Jews lies in this: through pride and self-opinion, they gave the covenant given them by God a meaning other than the one God gave it.

For the sake of the Old Testament, which was a living shadow of the Truth, the New Testament, they rejected the New Testament.

For the sake of the shadow, they rejected what the shadow prefigured. For the sake of a temporary guide to salvation, they rejected salvation itself, Redemption and the Redeemer.

Homily 23 on Acts.

This does not mean that Peter had not been certain of this before. It means that his certainty received a new and undoubted confirmation in so striking an event as the present one.

The concept of God’s impartiality is further explained by this: in every nation, and therefore not only in the Jewish people, chosen and guided by the Law, but in every Gentile nation, those left by God to walk in their own ways, the one who fears God and acts righteously is acceptable to Him.

That is, the one who acts justly, according to the demands of the natural law of conscience, is well-pleasing to Him. God shows favor to such a person.

The expression of this favor is that such people are brought into the Church of Christ in one way or another, just as Cornelius is now being brought to Christ.

This expression does not mean that one may believe however and whatever one wishes, and still be acceptable to God, provided only that one fears Him and acts according to natural righteousness.

Nor does it mean that Christian faith is unnecessary in order to be acceptable to God.

Judged by the connection of the whole speech and by the event at which it was spoken, it means that God grants such people the means of salvation in Christ.

Such people have the capacity to become Christians. It does not mean that they are blessed without Christ, or receive blessedness outside the Church of Christ.

Thus this saying expresses not religious indifference, but the indifference of nations in the matter of faith in Christ and of attaining through it justification, or righteousness, before God.

The one pleasing to God in every nation becomes righteous before God through Christ. Therefore, in one way or another, he is brought to Christ.

“How then? Is even one belonging to the Persians, for example, acceptable to Him? If he is worthy, then he will be acceptable in such a way as to be counted worthy of the faith.

“Therefore He did not despise the eunuch from Ethiopia. But what, they will say, are we to think of God-fearing people who are nevertheless left in contempt?

“No, no God-fearing person is left in contempt. For no such person can be despised” (Chrysostom).

Second, Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of all.

The foundations of this teaching are as follows. For the first thought, God is impartial. For the second, Jesus Christ was sent to the sons of Israel to establish peace in its broadest meaning, though they did not understand this.

He is our Peace, who slew enmity by the Cross and preached peace to those far off and those near, as the holy Apostle Paul says.

For through Him both have access to the Father in one Spirit (cf. Eph 2:14-18).

The thought of acceptability, or being pleasing to God, must be understood in an inseparable connection with the adjoining thought of Jesus Christ’s lordship over all.

This acceptability must be understood in relation to Him. Everyone who fears God and lives according to conscience can be received by Jesus Christ as desired and pleasing to Him.

Apart from this connection, the apostle’s first word cannot be taken by itself. It was spoken precisely for the sake of the second thought, in which the essence of the apostle’s Christian preaching lies.

Otherwise it would not be Christian, since according to Christian teaching there is no other name by which one must be saved (cf. Acts 4:12).

The Apostle Peter carries through the same thought here, only presenting it differently. Yet he preaches the doctrine of Christ as fully as possible.

He presents Him as the Anointed One, Wonderworker, suffering Savior, risen Judge of the living and the dead, and merciful Rewarder of those who believe in Him. According to their faith, He can forgive their sins (verse 43).

“How?” asks Saint John Chrysostom. “Is even one belonging to the Persians acceptable to Him?

“If he is worthy, then he will be acceptable in such a way as to be counted worthy of the faith. Therefore He did not despise the eunuch from Ethiopia.

“But what, they will say, are we to think of God-fearing people who are nevertheless left in contempt? No, no God-fearing person is left in contempt.

“For no such person can, indeed never can, be despised.”