Acts 11:14

Act_11:14

Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

Words whereby we may be saved

I am about to tell you such words; yet I am far from supposing that this announcement of my purpose is calculated to ensure to my message that attention which it demands; for man is interested about anything rather than the salvation of his soul--and yet, what should it profit man? The soul once lost is lost forever.

I. Every mans first and chief concern ought to be about the salvation of his soul.

1. Every man is a sinner, and without salvation he must perish. You may be too proud to acknowledge this, or too much occupied to give it attention, or too indifferent to ponder it, or ready to deny it in the sense which we contend. Well, you make God a liar, and His truth is not in you, for God has included all under sin. Perhaps you will point me to that abandoned woman, or to that bloody blasphemer, or to that iron-hearted jailer, and bid me go preach this doctrine to such as these. Ah, the question is not whether you have sinned like this or that man, but whether you have sinned at all, for so it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Oh, you will say, I never did anybody any harm, I have been a kind parent, an upright tradesman, my reputation without a blemish; but that is not the question; the question is, hast thou loved the Lord thy God with all thy heart? etc. I see you shudder and shrink back! I hear you cry, But God is merciful--so He is, but then, if you appeal to His mercy, you give up the point, you confess yourselves sinners, for if you be not sinners you may appeal with confidence to His justice.

2. Every mans first and chief concern ought to be about the salvation of his soul, because, being a sinner, he is placed by his sin in circumstances of the most imminent peril. The wretch that trembles on the brink of a tremendous precipice, over whose head a sword is suspended by a hair, upon whom the volcano is ready to burst or the earth to yawn, is in safety compared to that sinner who has transgressed the law of God, and is exposed by his transgression to His righteous indignation and wrath. Oh, then, what will you do to be saved? Will you present an atoning sacrifice for your sins? Where will you obtain it? Have you wealth to purchase it? The ransom of ten thousand monarchs would do little, rivers of oil and oceans of blood are not sufficient. Do you propose to work out a righteousness whereby you can be justified in the sight of God? How can you do it? Can an imperfect creature work out a perfect righteousness? and even if you could for the time that is to come, how would it avail for the atonement of the sin that was past? Listen, it is our business to tell you the response to this cry from heaven.

II. The gospel is the only source from which satisfactory information is obtained on this most momentous of all subjects. Take this question, What must I do to be saved, to the system of modern infidelity or of ancient philosophy. What answer do you get? The sneer of derision, or the sullen silence of despair--they cannot tell. Take it to this Book, and the answer is instant, decisive, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. What does the violated law of God demand? Perfect obedience. Behold it in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Does justice demand an infinite atonement? Behold it in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

1. In the gospel there are words whereby we may be saved, and the salvation they announce is precisely adapted to the sinners case. You are guilty, but there is forgiveness for you, and you are condemned, but there is a righteousness that justifies you freely; you are a rebel and an outcast, but there is an Advocate that pleads for you; you are polluted, but there is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.

2. These are words whereby you may be saved individually. Let us hear your personal history. I hear one say, I am a child of pious parents, and I have sinned against early instruction and impressions! Well, but thou mayest be saved! I hear another, I trampled under foot a fathers admonitions, and despised a sainted mothers tears, and brought down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave! Well, but you may be saved! I hear another say, Ah, but I mingled with infidels and apostates, I mocked the Bible, at God, I blasphemed Christ! Ah, but you may be saved!

3. But while these are words whereby you may be saved, rejecting these, you must perish. He that believeth not shall be damned. How shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation? (T. Raffles, D. D.)

Saved by the Word

1. Cornelius was no common publican or sinner, but possessed all the qualifications of a saint, if a saint can grow in the sell of this earth, without a seed from heaven. If any man could be just with God apart from Christ, surely this is the man. Yet the Word of God treats him as a sinner, and tells him what he must do to be saved. There is no escape from the force of this case. It effectually shuts out all hope of merit. The difficulty of attaining a conviction of sin is greater where sins are less gross. Hence publicans and harlots go into the kingdom more readily than Pharisees.

2. By what means shall Cornelius be saved? By words. Strange when the loss is so deep and real that words, articulated air, should bring deliverance. It was natural for Naaman to toss his head in contempt at the proposal of a bath in Jordan as a cure for disease, and there is a class of scholars in our day who sneer at the proposal to cure sin by words. They have no confidence in doctrines that enter the mind from without; they would rather trust to principles that spring up within. Beware of wandering into the mist here. Words become life or death when God employs them to proclaim His will. God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Lazarus, come forth, and he came. Even in the ordinary experience of life men are saved or lost by words. An ocean steamer is rushing through the water--two words, Breakers ahead! from the watchman, Starboard hard! from the master, words that passed away as breath on a breeze, saved five hundred human beings from a watery grave. Humanity is like that ship, and God sends words whereby we may be saved.

3. Truth, like spirit, is invisible till embodied, and words are the body of truth. They may be spoken, or printed, or wired, it matters not what form they assume, they are the body in which truth dwells. Satan embodies himself in words whereby man may be destroyed, the Holy Spirit in words whereby we may be saved. Take heed how ye hear; the missing of a word may be the loss of a soul. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 11:14 . ἐν ἷς σωθ . σὺ καὶ πᾶς ὁ οἶκ . σου : words not found in 10, but may be fairly taken as implied; the prayers of Cornelius we can scarcely doubt had been that he might see the salvation of God, and his household were devout like himself, cf. Act 10:2-6 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved--The historian makes the angel express this much more generally (Act 10:6). So also the subsequent report of it by the deputies and by Cornelius himself to Peter (Act 10:22, Act 10:32). But as Peter tarried with Cornelius certain days, and they doubtless talked over the wonderful scene together, perhaps this fuller and richer form of what the angel said was given to Peter; or the apostle himself may have expressed what the angel certainly designed by directing them to send for him. Observe, "salvation" is here made to hang upon "words," that is, the Gospel message concerning Christ. But on the "salvation" of Cornelius, see on Act 10:34-35. On that of his "house," see on Luk 19:10.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. Thou and all thy house shall be saved.] This is an additional circumstance: before, it was said, Ac 10:6, Peter shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do; and, in Ac 10:32, who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. But, in Peter's relation, the matter is more explicitly declared, he shall tell thee words whereby thou and thy house shall be saved. He shall announce to you all the doctrine of salvation.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(14) Whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.—The words are not found in the report of the angel’s speech in Act_10:4-6, but may legitimately be thought of as implied in it. The prayer of Cornelius had been for salvation, and when he was told, in answer to that prayer, to send for one who should speak to him, it must have been clear to him that he was to hear of that way of salvation which he had been seeking.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And as I began to speak,...., That is, whilst he was speaking; the word "begin" with Luke, both, in his Gospel and in this history, is used not to denote the time or order of any action, but the thing itself; as in Luk 4:21 for otherwise it was towards the close, and not at the beginning of his discourse, that what follows happened:

the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning; of our ministry, since the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ; meaning on the day of Pentecost, and that the Holy Ghost fell on Cornelius and those that were with him, in a like visible form, and in the same kind of gifts, as speaking with tongues, as on them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And all thy house - Thy family. This is a circumstance which his omitted in the account in Acts 10: It is said, however, in Act 10:2, that Cornelius feared God with all his house. It is evident from Act 10:48 that the family also received the ordinance of baptism, and was received into the church.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

God promises that upon his obedience to this oracle, in sending for Peter, he should tell him those things that were necessary to be known by him and his whole family unto their salvation. Whatsoever was formerly the case of such as obeyed the precepts of Noah, (as they were called), after Christ is come, and preached unto the world, there is no other way unto salvation but through him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Be saved—An additional phrase implied in Act_10:6. They were, indeed, now saved, with a present salvation; and yet, now that Christ is presented, acceptance is necessary to a final salvation.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Speak unto for tell, A.V.; thou shalt be saved, thou, etc., for thou and all thy house shall be saved, A.V.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Saved - With the full Christian salvation, in this world and the world to come.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

saved

(See Scofield "Rom 1:16").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST FOR JEWS AND GENTILES ALIKE IN ALL AGES

14-18. “Who shall speak words unto you by which you and all your house shall be saved.” Does not this look like they were yet to be saved? Justification is primary salvation; sanctification, full salvation; and glorification, final salvation. Hence, so long as we are in this world, we are in the kingdom of grace, subject to the saving power and operation of the Holy Spirit, liable to temptation, defection, defeat and ruin. Never is the problem of salvation settled beyond defalcation till we reach glorification, pass the pearly portal and take our place among the redeemed. A very specious and exceedingly dangerous heresy is now extensively preached from popular pulpits, audaciously restricting the baptism of the Holy Ghost to the apostles alone, and utterly abnegating the possibility of its reception by any one else, however true and saintly.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes one verse 4

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. ἐν οῖς σωθ. κ.τ.λ.] This is implied in the angel’s speech: especially if the prayer of Cornelius had been for such a boon, of which there can be little doubt.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.