LiTERATtrRE. — In addition to the authorities cited throughout the article, see A. P. Stanley, Epistles of St. Paul to the Cor- iiithians*, 1876; J. A. Beet, St. Paul's Epistles to the Cor- inthians, 1885; G. G. Findlay, EOT, '1 Cor.,' 1900; J. H. Bernard, EOT, '2 Cor.,' 1903; G. H. Randall, Epistles of St. Paul to the Corinthians, 1909 ; P. Bachmann, Der erste Brief des Paidus an die Korinther, Leipzig, 19u5, Der zweite Brief, do. 1909 ; Commentaries on 1 Cor. : T. C. Edwards (21SS5), C. J. EUicott (1887), H. L. Goudge (Westminster Com., 1903), Robertson-Plummer {ICC, 1911) ; on 2 Cor. : A. Plummer (Camb. Gr. Test., 1903), A. Menzies (1912) ; artt. in HDB and
£^i- G. H. Clayton.
CORNELIUS (KopyTjXios). — Cornelius was a Roman centurion stationed at Csesarea in the early years of the history of the Church (Ac 10^). His name is of Roman origin, and he is described as belong- ing to the Italian band or cohort. An inscription recently discovered in Vienna proves that an Italian cohort was stationed in Syria about A.D. 69, but Schiirer holds that this could not have been the case under Agrippa in A.D. 40-44, which is the date of Cornelius (cf. Schiirer, GJV* i. [1901] 463, also Expositor, 5th ser., iv. [1896] 469-472; W. M. Ramsay, Expositor, 5th ser., iv. [1896] 194-201, V. [1897] 69). Leaving aside altogether the question as to the presence in Ceesarea at this date of an Italian cohort recruited from Romans settled in the district, there is no reason why Cornelius even apart from his cohort may not have been there on duty in the years referred to. Native princes often received assistance from Roman officers in training their home troops (cf . Knowling, EGT, 'Acts,' 1900, p. 250). Cornelius enters into the history of the Church through a series of mutual visions received by him and the Apostle Peter, who admitted him into the Church by baptism. According to the narrative in Acts, St. Peter, in the house of Simon the tanner of Joppa, saw in a vision a cloth let down from heaven on which were four-footed beasts, creeping things, and fowls of the air, many of which in the eyes of the Jews were regarded as unclean. When St. Peter refers to their ceremonial uncleanness, the message is given, ' What God hath cleansed make
260 CORNER, COEj^ER-STONE
COS
not thou common ' (Ac 10^'). After the vision had passed messengers arrived from Csesarea telling St. Peter of Cornelius, who in a trance had received a command to send to Joppa for him. The next day the Apostle, accompanied by some of the Christians of Joppa, went to Csesarea and preached Jesus to Cornelius and his household, who gladly accepted the message, received the Holy Ghost, and were baptized. An important question arises as to the exact significance of this act of St. Peter. Luke evidently, from the space devoted to this in- cident, regards it as of supreme importance and as marking a decided step in the forward progress of the Church. Cornelius is described as ' a devout man and one that feared God.' The phrase 'a devout man' might be used to denote goodness characteristic of a Gentile, but, in connexion with 'one that feared God,' it implies that Cornelius was a proselyte, although there is no reason to be- lieve that he had been formally admitted to the Jewish Church by the rites of circumcision and baptism. He belonged to that large class who found greater truth and satisfaction in the teach- ing of Judaism than in their own heathen religions, and who observed the Jewish law of the Sabbath and the regulations of ceremonial cleanness (cf. Schurer, GJV* iii. [1909] p. 177, where Bertholet's view is combated that cpo^oOnevoi rbv debv, ' fearers of God,' is not in Acts a terminus technicus). The distinction which was drawn by later Judaism between ' proselytes of righteousness ' and ' prose- lytes of the gate ' is not found till after NT times, but there is little doubt that the circumstances giving rise to this distinction did really exist, and that ' the fearers of God ' of Acts are practically identical with those who at a later date came to be known as 'proselytes of the gate' (see art. Proselyte). The significance of the incident seems then to lie in the recognition that full mem- bership in the Christian Church was open not only to Jews but also to the Gentiles who * feared God.' St. Peter uses the incident as a true precedent in Ac 11^**, and reasserts its determining importance at the Council of Jerusalem (Ac 15). The ad- mission of Cornelius was the first step towards the recognition of the universality of the gospel of Christ. A further step was taken when member- ship in the Christian Church was offered to the heathen who had no relation to the synagogue.
LiTERATORE.— R. J. Knowling-, EGT, 'Acts,' 1900, p. 250; C. V Weizsacker, Apostolic Age, Eng. tr., i. [1894] 103f. ; A. C. McGiffert, Apostolic Age, 1897, p. 101 note.
W, F. Boyd.
CORNER, CORNER-STONE.— Among Semitic peoples a special sacredness was supposed to belong to the corners of structures, and this probably lies at the root of the metaphor. The Heb. n^s,pinndh, ' corner-stone,' is the stone at the angle, which, uniting the walls, holds the two sides together. It was chosen for its solidity and beauty to occupy an important place either in tiie foundation or the battlement. In the OT pinnGth denotes the principal men in the community and the supports of the State (e.g. Jg 202, 1 S W^) ; cf. ' Meum praesidium et dulce decus meum ' (Hor. i. 1), where strength and beauty are united in one. NT believers saw Christ everywhere in the OT, and hence the word which originally referred to the choice among the chosen people came to signify Christ. The figure of the corner-stone is thus taken over from the OT, and specially from Ps 118^ and Is 28^^ the passages which rule the apostolic use.