Context No. 3311 of 4322 · Acts

Acts 11:1-16: in context

1Now the apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision contended with him, 3saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!” 4But Peter began, and explained to them in order, saying, 5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: a certain container descending, like it was a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. It came as far as me. 6When I had looked intently at it, I considered, and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky. 7I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter, kill and eat!’ 8But I said, ‘Not so, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.’ 9But a voice answered me the second time out of heaven, ‘What God has cleansed, don’t you call unclean.’ 10This was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. 11Behold, immediately three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent from Caesarea to me. 12The Spirit told me to go with them without discriminating. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house. 13He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying to him, ‘Send to Joppa and get Simon, who is called Peter, 14who will speak to you words by which you will be saved, you and all your house.’ 15As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning. 16I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.’

Peter is criticized by fellow believers for entering a Gentile home and eating with them. His defense is simply to tell the story of what God did: the vision of the sheet let down from heaven, the command to rise, kill, and eat, his own protest that he had never eaten anything unclean, and God's word, what God has cleansed, do not call unclean. Three times over. And then the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles just as on the first believers.

Peter does not argue from his own preference or reasoning; he yields to what God has plainly done. When God so clearly cleanses and welcomes those we had kept at arm's length, the faithful response is not to defend our old boundaries but to recognize God's work and follow it. God was tearing down a wall that had long divided Jew from Gentile, and Peter, once resistant to the very idea, had learned to stop calling unclean what God had made clean. The evidence was undeniable: the same Spirit, the same gift, given to those he had been taught to exclude.

Am I willing to let God tear down the boundaries I have drawn, welcoming those he has cleansed and welcomed, rather than defending my own dividing lines?

Sources

Acts 11:9: "What God has cleansed, don't you call unclean."
Acts 11:12: "The Spirit told me to go with them, without discriminating."
Acts 11:15: "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning."