Acts 10:41Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“To us who ate and drank with Him.” This is the greatest testimony to the Resurrection.

“And He granted Him to appear, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen beforehand by God, to us.” Although He Himself chose them, Peter attributes even this to God. He says, “chosen beforehand.”

See how he proves the Resurrection: by eating. Why, after the Resurrection, did Christ perform no sign, but eat and drink? Because the Resurrection itself was a great sign. To prove its reality, nothing could be greater than that He ate and drank.

“But to witnesses chosen beforehand.” Although Jesus Christ Himself chose them, the expression “chosen beforehand” attributes even this to God the Father.

“We who ate and drank with Him.” See by what he confirms the truth of the Resurrection. Why, after rising, did Jesus Christ not perform any miracle, but eat and drink? Because the Resurrection itself was a great miracle.

Moreover, there is no greater miracle in this case, nor could there be one, than that He ate and drank.

“And to testify.” He says, to testify plainly, so that they might not fall into ignorance.

Since the Good Shepherd had to lay down His soul for the sheep, in order by His own death to destroy death, He became, through human nature, the Captain of our salvation. He was at once the Offerer of the sacrifice and the Lamb, and He endured death because He could share in suffering. Since death is nothing other than the separation of soul and body, He who was united to both, I mean to body and soul, was not separated from them. For the gifts of God are irrevocable, as the Apostle says in Rom 11:29. While remaining with both body and soul, He opened paradise to the thief by His soul, and by His body He brought corruption to an end. This is the destruction of death: corruption became inactive, abolished by the life-giving nature.

Since it belongs to all who live on earth to take food, the Lord necessarily showed the resurrection of the flesh through eating and drinking to those who did not believe it.

He did the same with Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus. For after raising her, He commanded that she be given something to eat (Mk 5:43). Likewise He had Lazarus sit with Him at table (Jn 12:2), thereby showing the truth of the resurrection.

To the witnesses, that is, to the apostles and His other male and female disciples, as is clear from the Gospels. Chosen beforehand by God: the Apostle contemplates Christ’s choice of the apostles as witnesses of His whole life and resurrection as accomplished according to the forechoice and predestination of God the Father. This accords with the sayings of the Lord Himself (Jn 17:6, 9, 11; Jn 6:37; cf. Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1, 15). We ate and drank with Him after His resurrection: see Lk 24:41-43; Jn 21:12. This eating of food was, for the apostles, an undoubted proof of the reality of the Lord’s resurrection. Here the Apostle points precisely to this circumstance in order to assure Cornelius unshakably. They, the apostles who ate food with Him, are unquestionable witnesses of the reality of His resurrection and of His true, not phantom-like, life after the resurrection. Cf. Chrysostom.

Presenting the doctrine of Christ historically, the Apostle Peter also speaks of the witnesses to the especially great events he proclaims. He speaks of all that He did in Judea and Jerusalem, ending with His death on the Cross. He speaks separately of Christ’s resurrection and the witness to it. At the same time, he notes that His appearances after the resurrection were before those chosen by God. These appearances were as evident as ordinary eating and drinking, which they did with Him. Thus there could not be even a shadow of doubt that His appearances were only phantom-like. These clear proofs of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and of His appearance after rising from the dead, are certainly not given without purpose.