The conversion of Cornelius's household was a truly momentous event: the Gentiles also had received the word of God (10:44-45; compare 8:14; 17:11). The gospel had decisively crossed its last cultural threshold. The scope and level of the reporting also shows the import of this milestone. The church throughout Judea, even the apostles, heard about it.

Peter is not summoned, yet he may anticipate some trouble, so he goes up to Jerusalem, taking along corroborating witnesses (see v. 12). There he immediately encounters criticism from circumcised believers. The reference to circumcised believers does not seem to refer here to the whole church, which was completely Jewish at this time (contrast Longenecker 1981:397). Rather, it points to certain believers who were particularly zealous for the law and insisted on no social intercourse between circumcised and uncircumcised (Bruce 1988:220; Gal 2:12). They charged Peter with making himself ritually unclean by entering a Gentile's house and eating with him (see comment and background information at Acts 10:28).

Commentators may speculate about the motivation behind these charges—perhaps fear of persecution from unbelieving Jews (Bruce 1988:219) or Jewish-Roman tensions under Caligula (Kistemaker 1990:408). But what is clear is that prejudice led to a myopic view of the situation (compare the Pharisees' treatment of Jesus: Lk 5:30; 15:1). How sad it is when man-made rules designed to protect our holiness and bring us close to God prevent us from seeing and rejoicing when God grants salvation to those who had not known his grace.