Acts 10:1

Peter Visits Cornelius

10:1 Now there was a man in Caesarea ¹  named Cornelius, a centurion ²  of what was known as the Italian Cohort. ³ 

Acts 10:24

10:24 The following day ⁴  he entered Caesarea. ⁵  Now Cornelius was waiting anxiously ⁶  for them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

[10:1]  ¹ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). It was known as “Caesarea by the sea” (BDAG 499 s.v. Καισάρεια 2). Largely Gentile, it was a center of Roman administration and the location of many of Herod the Great’s building projects (Josephus, Ant. 15.9.6 [15.331-341]).

[10:1]  ² sn A centurion was a noncommissioned officer in the Roman army or one of the auxiliary territorial armies, commanding a centuria of (nominally) 100 men. The responsibilities of centurions were broadly similar to modern junior officers, but there was a wide gap in social status between them and officers, and relatively few were promoted beyond the rank of senior centurion. The Roman troops stationed in Judea were auxiliaries, who would normally be rewarded with Roman citizenship after 25 years of service. Some of the centurions may have served originally in the Roman legions (regular army) and thus gained their citizenship at enlistment. Others may have inherited it, like Paul.

[10:1]  ³ sn A cohort was a Roman military unit of about 600 soldiers, one-tenth of a legion (BDAG 936 s.v. σπεῖρα). The Italian Cohort has been identified as cohors II Italica which is known to have been stationed in Syria in a.d. 88.

[10:24]  ⁴ tn Grk “On the next day,” but since this phrase has already occurred in v. 23, it would be redundant in English to use it again here.

[10:24]  ⁵ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi).

[10:24]  ⁶ tn Normally προσδοκάω (prosdokaw) means “to wait with apprehension or anxiety for something,” often with the implication of impending danger or trouble (L&N 25.228), but in this context the anxiety Cornelius would have felt came from the importance of the forthcoming message as announced by the angel.