Cornelius calls two household servants (an oiketes had a particularly intimate relationship with the master, since he served him in very personal matters; Philo De Plantatione 55) and a soldier who is an orderly (the NIV translation of both terms misses the intimate relation these men have to Cornelius). He tells them everything that had happened (Williams [1985:172] notes the emphatic position of everything in the Greek text). As members of his household, all three would be God-fearers (compare Acts 10:2), though Luke emphasizes the devoutness of the military orderly.

Cornelius sends them to Joppa to find and bring back Peter. Some have supposed that the thirty-mile distance requires that they ride (Marshall 1980:184). Others suggest that a determined march through the night with rest stops would permit them to arrive about noon the next day (Haenchen 1971:347; compare 10:9, 17). In any case, Cornelius's immediate obedience to limited information models for us the kind of faith that will truly receive salvation. It depends on God's word of promise alone.