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Easter Season · Resurrection of the Lord · Year A

Acts 10:34-43 or Jeremiah 31:1-6

God Shows No Partiality

April 5, 2026

St Peter and Cornelius the Centurion, Bernardo Cavallino
St Peter and Cornelius the Centurion, Bernardo Cavallino, 1640sGalleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome
Peter arrives at the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius, who has gathered his relatives and soldiers; the crowd presses in at the doorway to hear him.Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him … God raised him on the third day.”Bernardo CavallinoA Neapolitan painter of small, intimate, dramatic biblical scenes, who died young in the plague of 1656.Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, RomeThe Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Rome.Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelJohn 20:1-18Jn 20:1-18 orMatt. 28:1-10Mt 28:1-10
EpistleCol. 3:1-4Col 3:1-4 orActs 10:34-43
Old TestamentActs 10:34-43 orJer. 31:1-6Jer 31:1-6
PsalterPs. 118:1-2, 14-24Ps 118:1-2, 14-24

Overview & Insights

“Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.” (Acts 10:34)

The Revised Common Lectionary appoints a reading from Acts in place of the Old Testament through the Easter season, with Jeremiah 31:1-6 offered as the alternative. Peter is speaking in a Gentile house, having just been shown that what God has made clean is not to be called unclean, and the sermon opens by naming what he has learned, that God is not one to show partiality (v. 34). What follows is the most compact summary of the gospel story anywhere in Acts, and its outline, beginning from Galilee after the baptism John proclaimed and ending in Jerusalem, matches the shape of a written Gospel closely enough that the two have long been compared. The proof offered in verse 41 is oddly domestic, that the witnesses ate and drank with him, which is also how Luke ended his first volume (24:41-43).

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Take it further: Acts 10:34-43 or Jeremiah 31:1-6

Commentary

Commentary on Acts 10:34-43 workingpreacher.org

Lutheran voice on Peter's declaration that God shows no partiality.

Acts 10:34-43 Commentary cepreaching.org

Reformed reading of Peter's Gentile-inclusion sermon at Cornelius's house.

Acts 10 - Bible Commentary enduringword.com

Evangelical commentary on Cornelius's household and Peter's Easter proclamation.

Jeremiah 31 CommentaryJer 31 Commentary preceptaustin.org

Verse-by-verse word study on the alternate Hebrew-scripture reading's promise of restoration.

Jeremiah 31:1-6 CommentaryJer 31:1-6 Commentary cepreaching.org

Reformed commentary on the alternate reading's Book of Comfort hope.

Background & Word Study

Acts 10 Interlinear biblehub.com

Greek interlinear text for Peter's sermon to Cornelius.

Jeremiah 31:1-6Jer 31:1-6 sefaria.org

Hebrew/English text of the alternate Old Testament reading; used only for the Hebrew-scripture passage.

The Church Fathers

Acts 10 catenabible.com

Patristic catena on Peter's sermon to Cornelius (the Greek New Testament passage, not the Hebrew alternate).

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