Acts 10:48 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

NIV: So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

NASB: And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.

CSB: He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.

NLT: So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.

KJV: And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

NKJV: And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.

A room of Gentiles has heard the bare minimum about Jesus when the Holy Spirit decisively comes upon them (Acts 10:34–44). Peter and six other Jewish Christ-followers (Acts 11:12) witness the Gentiles spontaneously speaking in languages they don't know and "extolling God" (Acts 10:46). Peter challenges the six: if the Holy Spirit has accepted these people, the church must as well, in the form of baptism.

There is undue controversy today over whose name believers should be baptized in. Jesus said the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). This is at least the second time Peter has only mentioned Jesus' name (see Acts 2:38). But the wording isn't meant to be used as a magic formula. "The name of" doesn't mean the syllables and sounds need to be just right or the baptism isn't legitimate. In this case, some of the Gentiles are already God-followers (Acts 10:2). The Holy Spirit has already taken the initiative and baptized them with Himself. Peter now identifies them with the Jesus-worshiping church in Jerusalem started by the disciples of Jesus.

When the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles, Peter had barely begun to speak (Acts 11:15). The new converts ask him to stay in Caesarea Maritima, probably to finish his teaching. Undoubtedly, they will eventually meet Philip the Evangelist who is either there or on his way (Acts 8:40) and will make Caesarea his home (Acts 21:8). For now, the foremost of Jesus' disciples stays to teach them what they need to know as new believers and validate that they are, indeed, followers of Jesus—an argument he will then take to the church in Jerusalem (Acts 11:1–18).

Acts 10:44–48 records the start of the international church. Peter is in Caesarea Maritima, sharing the story of Jesus with a houseful of Gentile God-followers. Before he is even finished presenting the gospel, the Holy Spirit falls on them. This is the only occasion in Acts where the Holy Spirit comes on people before they were baptized. This will rock the Jewish church to its core and prepare the way for Paul's ministry (Acts 11).

Peter has been a dominant voice in the spread of Jesus' message to Jews and proselytes. Now he brings the gospel to Gentiles. An angel tells Cornelius, a centurion, to ask Peter to come to him. Peter is praying when he receives a vision of food—including non-kosher food—and God's voice telling him to eat. When the centurion's messengers arrive, Peter realizes the dream meant that Gentiles are no longer unclean. He follows the messengers and tells Cornelius' household about salvation through Jesus. Before Peter can lay his hands on them or baptize them, the Holy Spirit falls on them.

Jesus told the disciples they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Oddly, the disciples didn't understand this meant the Holy Spirit would come upon Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles alike. After several years reaching Jews and proselytes in Jerusalem (Acts 1—7) and Samaritans in Samaria (Acts 8:4–25), God calls Peter to bring the message to Gentiles. Peter's witness that Gentiles can be saved (Acts 11) clears the way for Paul's ministry to Gentiles in modern-day Turkey, Greece, and Italy (Acts 13—28).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.