Acts 10:28

And he said unto them, Ye yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to join himself or come unto one of another nation; and yet unto me hath God showed that I should not call any man common or unclean: wherefore also I came without gainsaying, when I was sent for. I ask therefore with what intent ye sent for me?

This introduction by Peter was probably spoken as much for the brethren who were with him as it was for the benefit of the company before whom he spoke. We learn from Acts 11:12 that there were six of these witnesses who had accompanied Peter; and the apostle's strategy here was clearly directed to their enlightenment. Root believed that "Peter did not yet realize that he was there to preach the gospel; and if this seems absurd to us, it is because we fail to realize the gulf between Jew and Gentile."[17] Considered apart from the presence of the six brethren who accompanied Peter, Root's opinion would appear true; but the view here is that Peter fully anticipated the entire event, and that it was precisely in view of what Peter had already concluded would take place in Caesarea that he invited the brethren to accompany him.

One of another nation ... Bruce informs us that this expression is frequently used in the Septuagint (LXX) to denote "an uncircumcised Philistine."[18] It is in this that all thought of Cornelius' possibly being a proselyte disappears.

Cornelius at once responded with a resume of the circumstances which had prompted his request.

[17] Orin Root, op. cit., p. 79.

[18] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 222.