Scripture Daily

Context No. 3972 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 10:14-20: in context

14But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” 16This was done three times, and immediately the thing was received up into heaven. 17Now while Peter was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood before the gate, 18and called and asked whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was lodging there. 19While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men seek you. 20But arise, get down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”

Peter, a devout Jew, receives a startling vision: a sheet let down from heaven full of animals he had always regarded as unclean, and a voice commanding him to kill and eat. Peter protests, I have never eaten anything common or unclean. But the voice replies, what God has made clean, do not call common.

Three times this happens, leaving Peter perplexed, until the Spirit tells him that men are at the door and he is to go with them without hesitation. God was preparing Peter to do something that cut against his deep instincts: to go to the home of a Gentile, Cornelius, and share the gospel with those he had been taught to keep at a distance. The vision's lesson reached far beyond food. God was breaking down the barrier Peter had assumed was permanent, teaching him that the gospel was for all peoples, and that those he had been inclined to exclude were welcomed by God. We too can build walls of exclusion, deciding that certain kinds of people are beyond the reach of God's grace or beneath our fellowship. God's word to Peter is his word to us: do not call common what God has cleansed.

Am I building walls of exclusion, treating certain people as beyond God's grace or beneath my fellowship, when God says I must not call common what he has made clean and welcomed?

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