80 Dimensions of Baptism
- Peter and his companions entered Cornelius's household (OIKOS ;
11.12); and, finally, - Peter reports that an angel had preceded him into the house
(OIKOS; 11.13) and had instructed Cornelius to send for Peter,
who would bring a message that would be effective for 'your
salvation' as well as that of'your household' (TTCXS 6 OIKOS aou;
11.14).
That the household functions so clearly as the deictic center of this nar-
rative sequence is crucial for several reasons. Matson is quick to point out
how this emphasis locates the Cornelius episode in interpretive relation to
Jesus' instructions regarding the missionary endeavor in Lk. 10.1-20, thus
indicating how Peter is following the pattern Jesus had set out. In addition
to this important observation, we should notice how the house(hold) has
become the substitute for the temple as a place of prayer, a place of divine
revelation, a place of instruction, and even as the locus of God's presence
(10.33: TTavTBs T\xf\s EVcoiTiov TOU 06oG TTapEO|JEv). If the movement of
the vertical axis from Jerusalem temple to house(hold) marks the household)
as sacred space, what of the horizontal axis? What life-world is embodied
there? What social maps radiate from this place? The social interaction on
display and broadcast here is one in which acceptance and friendship are ex-
tended and embraced across socio-religious lines. In the exchange between
Peter and Cornelius, such a life-world develops by means of a progression
of steps—in Peter's insistence that he is 'only a human being' (10.26), in
Peter's decision to forego the Jewish ban on sharing hospitality with
Gentiles (10.28-29), in Cornelius's testimony to the vision he has received
from God (10.30-33), in Peter's recognition that Jesus Christ is indeed
'Lord of all' (10.36), in the Spirit's coming upon Cornelius and his house-
hold (10.44), in the water-baptism of those who had received the Spirit
(10.47-48a), and in the sharing of household hospitality over the ensuing
days (10.48b).
Represented here is the conversion of Peter, who experiences a profound
transformation of theological and moral imagination; and of Cornelius and
his household, who joins and is embraced within the christocentric commu-
nity of God's people.^24 Interestingly, what happens here is anticipated in
- Linda M. Maloney objects to attributing 'conversion' to Cornelius and his
household ('All That God Had Done with Them': The Narration of the Works of God
in the Early Christian Community as Described in the Acts of the Apostles [AUS, 7;
Theology and Religion; New York: Peter Lang, 1991], p. 83 n. 2), but this is because