Reformed Expository Commentary ( Acts) Derek W. H. Thomas
What Cornelius did ( in giving alms and engaging in prayer) were good things. They were not things for which God would save him eternally; but they were good things, nevertheless. He was still in need of the gospel—hence the reason why Peter was there in his home. It would have been strange, after Cornelius had been told by an angel that God had seen his almsgiving and heard his prayers, for Peter to come in and immediately suggest that his good works were evil and that there was no goodness in Cornelius whatsoever. Our eagerness to expose human depravity and consequent inability can sometimes make us appear unkind. In an eagerness to appear biblical, we can easily appear to be denying the very concept of common grace. Even unbelievers are capable of doing good, but this is not sufficient to save them. Peter, therefore, began his sermon not with the doctrine of sin—something that might have shut the door of world missions had Cornelius taken offense to it—but with Jesus Christ!
Andy, you forgot to mention that this “marked a redemptive-historical breakthrough of the gospel into the Gentile world”
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
Reblogged this on Clearcreek Chapel Watch.
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Reformed Expository Commentary ( Acts) Derek W. H. Thomas
What Cornelius did ( in giving alms and engaging in prayer) were good things. They were not things for which God would save him eternally; but they were good things, nevertheless. He was still in need of the gospel—hence the reason why Peter was there in his home. It would have been strange, after Cornelius had been told by an angel that God had seen his almsgiving and heard his prayers, for Peter to come in and immediately suggest that his good works were evil and that there was no goodness in Cornelius whatsoever. Our eagerness to expose human depravity and consequent inability can sometimes make us appear unkind. In an eagerness to appear biblical, we can easily appear to be denying the very concept of common grace. Even unbelievers are capable of doing good, but this is not sufficient to save them. Peter, therefore, began his sermon not with the doctrine of sin—something that might have shut the door of world missions had Cornelius taken offense to it—but with Jesus Christ!
Andy, you forgot to mention that this “marked a redemptive-historical breakthrough of the gospel into the Gentile world”
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