Apostle Peter preaching to Cornelius and his household
An
exchange from 9 years ago.
Sing F
Lau
July 13,
2010 at 5:22 PM ·
Bible
studying friends, if you have read, and only if you have actually Acts 10 and
have it opened right before you, please tell us when did Cornelius begin to
fear God and work righteousness - was it BEFORE, or AFTER, he heard the gospel
from Apostle Peter? Please give the evidence. Thanks.
Elder
Keith
Before.
Displaying as many as 8 evidences of his regeneration prior to hearing gospel
message.
Sing
Be very
kind to us and state those 7+1 evidences you mentioned. Some sincere brethren
are not seeing any of them BEFORE he heard the gospel.
Let me
encourage you with these words:
19
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let
him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall
save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."
Elder
Keith
v 1 He
was Devout- godly Psalms 1:1-6
v 1 He
Feared God Psalms 36:1 Rom 3:18
v 1 He
gave Much Alms
v 1 He
was a praying man Psalms 32:6 Acts 9:10-11
v 3 He
had a vision Acts 2:17
v 4 He
manifest faith / pleased God Gal 5:22 2 Thes 3:2
v 35 He
is declared to be Righteousness 1 John 2:29 1 John 3:7
1 John
2:3
1
John3:14
1 John
3:24
1 John
4:7
1 John
5:1
Romans
8:16
Sing
Keith,
someone quoted v36 and insisted that Peter affirmed that Cornelius heard the
gospel before Peter came? What sayest thou?
"36
THE WORD which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching PEACE BY JESUS
CHRIST: (he is Lord of all:) 37 THAT WORD, I say, YE KNOW, which was published
throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John
preached."
Elder
Keith
Rom 10:8
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, [even] in thy mouth, and in thy
heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
If the
word had not already been in heart of Cornelius he would not have been a fit
candidate to receive gospel preaching. It took the gospel preaching to manifest
that which he already knew was in his heart.
Think on
that a bit and see if it answers your friend’s query.
Ashley
I agree
Keith... It was put there by the power of God and not the powers of man... But,
God used the word of His grace nonetheless.
Keith,
Do you believe that there are regenerate children of God among the nations who
work righteousness... and yet have never hoped in the promises of God's mercy?
I
understand that gospel revelation in the heart is always the effect of
regeneration. I also believe that the Spirit uses the word of God in this
revelation. (specifically gospel promises)Delete or hide this
Elder
Keith
@
Abraham. Yes I do think such has always been the case.
Sing
Abraham@
"I understand that gospel revelation in the heart is always the effect of
regeneration."
Please
elaborate your statement.
And
please answer my inquiries:
- Is
there regeneration without gospel preaching?
- Is
there gospel revelation without gospel preaching?
According
to your statement, would you conclude that every regenerated elect has the
gospel revelation in the heart?
In which
case, can you please tell us what is that gospel revelation?
Thanks.
Trying to understand you.
Thanks.
Sing
Abraham,
you can take v36 and interpret it to mean that Cornelius has heard the
gospel... and God still send Apostle Peter to preach the same to him.
I take
that verse as Peter reminding Cornelius and ALL other present - "YE
know" - that he himself and the rest are AWARE of what is happening in
Judea - the PHENOMENON of the word proclaiming peace by Jesus Christ has been
published throughout all Judea. And what is happening in the house of Cornelius
is part of that PHENOMENON.
Peter is
not saying that Cornelius has personal knowledge of the word proclaiming peace
by Christ Jesus, the word that Peter has been commanded to bring to Cornelius
and his house.
Your
interpretation is plainly against the context... but a desperate attempt to
make it fit a preconceived idea.
Distinction
is the essence of sound theology.
You are
making the passage to say that Cornelius ALREADY knew the word that Peter was
commanded to bring to Cornelius... in which case God sent Peter for a REDUNDANT
mission, sending Peter to do the unnecessary... And Peter is acting stupid
too... telling Cornelius what he himself affirmed Cornelius already knew. May
be he loves redundancies and repetitions.
Ok, I
understand you loud and clear.
Ashley
Cornelius
was not the only one who heard the word already. Peter's mission was not to
convert them. Rather, the whole purpose was to show that the gentiles were to
be included among the baptized believing Jews. The holy Spirit fell on them as
it did on the disciples in Acts 2. This does not mean that they became
converted. If so, then we might conclude that the disciples became converted
when the holy Spirit fell on them in Acts 2.
Acts
11:14 uses the word "saved". Many scriptures speak of believers being
continually saved in the sense of God continuing to manifest His grace in them
and unto them.
Psalms
80:3 >>
Turn us
again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Psalms
80:7 >>
Turn us
again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Psalms
80:19 >>
Turn us
again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Psalms
54:1 >>
Save me,
O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength.
Psalms
80:2 >>
Before
Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.
Psalms
106:47 >>
Save us,
O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy
holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.
This
verse in Romans 1 is speaking of the life of the believer. The gospel is
continually the power that directs us to look to Christ daily. It's not a one
time thing (as you well know). So Peter's mission was not in vain
Romans
1:16 >>
For I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Your
arguments on calling this stupid must consistently be used against all
endeavors to continually comfort believers with gospel promises if this was a
stupid mission.
[stupid - lacking common sense. sing.]
Ashley
@Is
there regeneration without gospel preaching?
>>Still
studying this. However, there is no regeneration without gospel revelation
@Is
there gospel revelation without gospel preaching?
>>Still
studying this. However, gospel preaching does not imply a meritorious
instrumentality of men. Men were used in God's sovereignty to crucify Christ.
Shall we conclude that our redemption is partly conditioned on the works of man.
Such an argument is silly and bizarre. Such is the case with your argument
that... gospel preaching which is needed before regeneration results in a
conditional redemption through the works of men. Very poor logic here on your
part.
@According
to your statement, would you conclude that every regenerated elect has the
gospel revelation in the heart?
>>Yes
@In
which case, can you please tell us what is that gospel revelation?
>>Hebrews
11 clarifies many cases of those who pleased God. They all had the faith which
is the assurance of things hoped for. This is evangelical faith and we cannot
please God without it.
Gospel
revelation is Spirit wrought teaching and assurance of the promises of grace
through Christ to the soul.
Ashley
Thanks
for your time Sing. I prefer not to discuss this with you any longer.
Sing
Nothing
to do with logic, even though the Scriptures is ALWAYS logical, and BEYOND
logic too... but never contrary to logic or irrational.
This is
a simple enough statement: " For the preaching of the cross is to them
that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of
God."
The
gospel COME to those that ARE SAVED - ARE SAVED... See More - ARE SAVED - those
ALREADY effectually called out of the state of sin and death to grace and
eternal salvation by the free and sovereign grace of God.
To such,
the gospel SPEAKS of the power of God in saving them.
It is
not logic... it is biblical REVELATION, and it is perfectly logical TOO.
If the
Holy Spirit requires gospel instrumentality for regeneration, then the promise
redemption in Jesus Christ WILL NOT BE SURE to all elect.
Sing
Richie,
many babes will get choked over your words of 'the saved be saved'! Ain't no
good giving them such a big slab of beef!
