Father Libert Froidmont's Commentary on Acts 10:34-43
Acts 10:34: "Then Peter, opening his mouth..."
["Then Peter, opening his mouth"]: As though about to begin a somewhat longer discourse on a matter of the greatest importance—as was said concerning a similar phrase in Acts 8:35.
["In truth I have perceived/comprehended"]: "I have now learned by experiential knowledge in this example." Nevertheless, Peter knew this doctrine of faith which follows from another source, namely from Sacred Scripture or divine revelation.
["That God is not a respecter of persons"]: That God, in the distribution of His graces, does not regard that which pertains not to the cause [of merit], as do those who are said to "accept persons" [personas accipere], because in the distribution of goods they look not to the cause and merit, but to other qualities of the person—such as whether one is a Spaniard or an Italian, a Frenchman or a Fleming.
And indeed, in the first distribution of His grace, God is not a respecter of persons, because He owes that grace to no one. However, "proper" respect of persons is a sin against the requirement of distributive justice, as St. Thomas says (II-II, q. 63, art. 1). For we all are guilty and debtors before God, whereas He owes us no grace whatsoever. But if someone has two debtors and remits the debt to one while demanding it from the other, he gives to whom he wills, yet defrauds no one; nor is it to be called "respect of persons" when no injustice is done, as St. Augustine says.
In the second distribution of grace, however—when He renders grace for grace, that is, a later grace on account of the merit of a preceding one—God does not regard the person, whether one is Jew or Gentile, but only the quantity and proportion of merit.
Acts 10:35: ["But in every nation"], whether Jewish or Greek, ["who fears Him"] with filial fear, which is the offspring and effect of charity; ["and works righteousness"]: just works and such as are pleasing to God, such as were the works of Cornelius, done by the grace of God preventing him.
For if anyone were to say that a man by the powers of nature can fear God with that fear and work righteousness by which works he binds God to himself so as to be dear and acceptable to Him, this would be pure Pelagianism, as Bartholomaeus a S. Concordio says—as though grace were given on account of the merit of works which man has from himself, and yet grace would not be grace unless it were the reward of human merit, contrary to that passage: "Who has first given to Him, and it shall be repaid to him?" (Romans 11:35).
["Is acceptable to Him"]: From this it may be gathered that sinners who perform works of piety by the aid of grace, insofar as they are considered as clothed, as it were, with such works, can be said to be acceptable to God. For it is the opinion of many that at that time Cornelius's sins had not yet been remitted through the infusion of sanctifying grace, although above (v. 2) I thought the contrary more probable.
Acts 10:36: ["God sent the Word"]: the evangelical Word. For not only persons, but also words and utterances are said to be "sent," as: "He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs swiftly" (Psalm 147:15), where in the Greek of the Seventy Interpreters, "command" and "word" is ὁ λόγος, just as in this passage.
Many interpreters, however, understand "the Word" here as the Incarnate Word, and they refute Maldonatus, who on Luke 1:2 writes that he has observed that Christ the Lord is called "the Word" by no one except by St. John alone.
["To the children of Israel"]: For the word of the Gospel was first sent and scattered among the Jews, and thence passed over to the Gentiles.
["Preaching peace"]: evangelizing by this evangelical word the reconciliation of the human race with Himself.
["Through Jesus Christ"]: the sower of that Gospel of peace.
["This One is Lord of all"]: both man and simultaneously God; Lord of the world and of all things. Whence, because He is Lord not only of the Jews but of all other nations as well, He wills that all be saved. This also implies that the promulgator of this evangelical Law is far more excellent than was Moses, the promulgator of the old Law.
It may also be understood thus: "Preaching peace through Jesus Christ," [a peace] to be accomplished through the blood and merit of Jesus Christ.
Acts 10:37: ["You know"], I say, ["what word/event has come to pass"] that was announced ["throughout all Judea"].
Here "Judea" seems to be taken specifically for that part of the Promised Land which the tribes of Judah and Benjamin once occupied, so as to be distinguished from Samaria, Galilee, etc.—in which sense it is taken in Acts 1:8. Sometimes, however, by the name "Judea" the entire Promised Land is designated, as from its more noble part.
In this passage, the "word" in the Greek text is no longer λόγος as in the preceding verse, but ῥῆμα, which properly signifies a spoken, flowing word. Whence it seems to explain what kind of "word" Peter had understood by λόγος in the preceding verse.
The Greek reading also differs somewhat from the Latin and from the preceding verse, reading thus: "The word or discourse which He sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace, etc.—you know," so that the accusative "word" or "discourse" seems to depend upon the verb "you know" in the following verse.
["Beginning indeed from Galilee"]: that is, from the place of Christ's upbringing. For the evangelical word began to be scattered from Galilee toward Judea; for Christ began to gather disciples and to propagate the Gospel in Galilee, around the shores of the Sea of Gennesaret.
["After the baptism which John preached"]: For Christ at length began His evangelical preaching after the minds of the Jews had been prepared by the baptism and preaching of John for receiving the Gospel.
Acts 10:38-39: ["Jesus of Nazareth"]: You know also how God the Father spiritually anointed Jesus, who by upbringing was a Nazarene.
The particle enim ["for"], as Erasmus notes, seems here superfluous, after the manner of Hebrew speech.
["With the Holy Spirit"]: with all the graces and charisms of the Holy Spirit, with which the soul of Christ was most abundantly anointed and imbued—indeed, not only with the created gifts of the Holy Spirit, but also, in a wonderful manner, permeated by the very uncreated divinity of the Divine Word. Moreover, the grace of the Holy Spirit is often called "oil" because it shines and warms; for it makes the soul splendid, beautiful, lovable to God, and fervent with charity.
["And with power"]: of working miracles, by which power Christ most especially manifested His divinity. For to work supernatural miracles by one's own proper authority and power—not merely by ministerial agency—is of God alone.
["Who went about"]: who walked and conversed for about three years among men.
["Healing all who were oppressed"]: by diseases and miseries, both of soul and of body.
["By the devil"]: for by besieging or surrounding souls and bodies with various vices and torments, the devil torments and oppresses men.
["Because God was with Him"]: "according to His humanity," says Chrysostom; for in that humanity dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead (cf. Colossians 2:9).
Acts 10:40: ["And granted that He be made manifest"]: through various appearances by which He manifested Himself to His apostles and others after the Resurrection.
Acts 10:41: ["Not to all the people"]: by exhibiting Himself visibly indiscriminately to all men, as He had done before His death and Resurrection.
["But to witnesses preordained by God"]: but to certain men whom the providence of God had preordained to be eyewitnesses of His Resurrection.
["To us"]: namely, to His disciples. Moreover, St. Augustine testifies (Tractate 76 on John) that none of the impious saw Christ after His Resurrection. Whence Bartholomaeus a S. Concordio censures painters who are accustomed to depict the soldiers guarding the tomb as though they saw Christ rising and were awakened from sleep by the splendor of His body.
["Who ate and drank with Him"]: with Him also eating and drinking with us.
["After He rose from the dead"]: so that by human and vital action—eating and drinking—He might prove Himself to be a true and living man.
This proof, however, seems weak, since the angel of Tobit and the three angels whom Abraham received as guests (Genesis 18:9) appeared to eat, and yet were not true men. St. Thomas replies (III, q. 55, art. 6, ad 1) that from the mere external appearance of consuming food and its passage into the inner parts of the body, it cannot be sufficiently understood whether the eating is done by a soul informing a human body or by an angel assuming a body; nevertheless, all the testimonies taken together sufficiently proved the Resurrection of Christ, especially, he says, with the addition of the testimony of the Sacred Scriptures, of the angels, and of Christ Himself.
Acts 10:42: ["And He commanded us"]: to me and the other apostles.
["To preach to the people"]: to every people and nation, not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles (cf. Matthew 28:19).
["That He is"]: that He Himself is
["Who has been appointed"]: according to His humanity,
["By God"] the Father, who gave to the Son power to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man (John 5:27). For it was fitting that all who were to be judged at the final Judgment should see their Judge with their bodily eyes.
["Judge of the living"]: whom the end of the world shall find alive;
ET MORTUORUM ["And of the dead"]: who have died in past ages and shall then have risen.
Some, however, understand "the living" as the elect, living with spiritual life, and "the dead" as the reprobate.
Acts 10:43: ["To Him all the prophets bear witness"]: either openly or veiled under certain figures, although we often do not understand them. For all the prophets were, as it were, forerunners of the Messiah, foretelling the advent of the Savior of the human race; indeed, the entire Kingdom of the Hebrews was like one great prophet. For all—not only the prophecies which consist in words, but also the sacred priesthoods, the Tabernacle or Temple, the altars, the sacrifices, the ceremonies, the feast days—signified and foretold those things which, for the eternal life of the faithful, we believe to be completed in Christ, see to be fulfilled, and trust to be yet fulfilled, as St. Augustine says (City of God, Book 7, ch. 32). See also what we have said above on this matter regarding Acts 3:24.
["To receive forgiveness of sins"]: that they were to receive remission of past sins and protection from future ones.
["Through His name"]: through faith in His name.
["All who believe in Him"]: For faith in Christ is the door and first grace, through which one enters into sanctifying grace and into works meritorious of eternal life.
CONTINUE
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