10:24,25
Caesarea was about thirty miles from Joppa, hence Peter’s inviting them in to stay the night before they made the journey, and they had an overnight stop on the journey. Cornelius was expecting them, and called together his friends and relatives. Cornelius was expecting something significant to happen, as indeed he would since an angel had appeared to him.
Cornelius fell at Peter’s feet, worshipping him. He is showing the utmost respect to Peter. Remember that Rome is the occupying power, so they had power over the Jews, so this is a most unusual action. Cornelius is showing that he knows he has something to learn from Peter.
10:26
Peter rightly refused to accept the “worship”. In this he responded in a way similar to the angel in Revelation (Rev 22:9). “I am only a man myself”. Before Christ we are all, in one sense, nothing. All are equal before Him. Equally unworthy, equally in need fo grace. And by faith, all equally receive eternal life from Him. We need to be very careful if we start thinking more of ourselves than we should, and we should beware of all preachers, leaders, evangelists or prophets who start demanding worship of themselves.
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