Lessons from Acts 10-11

IF you eat pork, are you going to go to hell?” a Christian friend quipped at me from across the table at an In-N-Out Burger on a cold winter night. Inwardly, I chuckled. “Going to hell?” I thought, “No, but that’s a conversation for another day.” Staying true to my friend’s main point, I recounted that my choice to observe God’s dietary guidelines was part of my walk of faith. The conversation expanded, and other Christians at the table brought up Peter’s vision in Acts 10. My friends asked, “But doesn’t this mean that we no longer have to observe the food laws?” So, what was Peter’s vision? What did Peter himself understand it to mean? Did it change how the first century Church approached their ministry? What do biblical scholars have to say on the topic and how does this affect us today?

IMPORTANT BACKGROUND DETAILS

Before discussing Peter’s vision, let’s look at some context. After Stephen, a follower of Christ, was stoned after boldly preaching the truth about Jesus, the Church entered a period of “great persecution” (seemingly led by Saul) causing followers to relocate to other areas, spreading the Word to these regions (Acts 7:59; 8:1,3-4). During this time the Word was being preached “to no one but the Jews only” (Acts 11:19; also see commentaries by Benson, Matthew Henry and MacLaren1 ). Later, after Jesus miraculously intervened in Saul’s life, we are told that the churches once more had peace (Acts 9:31). It is during this new period of peace within the Jewish community that we meet Cornelius, a Roman centurion (commander in the Roman army) whose whole household feared God (Acts 10:1-2). And it is here that we find Peter in the seaside village of Joppa, intensely hungry, waiting for food to be prepared (Acts 10:9-10).

PETER’S VISION

Then, Peter saw, “an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him . . . In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or “If unclean.’ And a voice spoke to him again the second time, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ This was done three times.” (Acts 10:11-16) Three times. Although Peter did not immediately understand what this vision meant, he did carefully consider it (Acts 10:17, 19), and the weight of its importance could not have been lost on him. For Peter, many things had come in threes. Three times Peter had denied knowing Christ on the night before Christ’s crucifixion. Three days and three nights Christ had been in the tomb before being resurrected. Three times Christ asked Peter, “Do you love me?” Three times Peter told Christ, “You know that I love You.” And three times Christ told Peter to feed and tend His flock. 2 So, when three men (two of Cornelius’ household servants and a Roman soldier) shortly appeared at the gate and the Spirit said to him, “Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them,” Peter went without objection (Acts 10:20, 29).

PETER’S OWN INTERPRETATION

It did not, however, take three tries for Peter to reach the heart of the matter. After his journey to Caesarea with Cornelius’ messengers, Peter, in his typical bold and direct manner, declared to Cornelius’ entire household: “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean . . . In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him . . .To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:28, 34-35, 43). This was a truly revolutionary theology, and it caused a lot of contention. Jews in Jerusalem accused Peter, saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!” (Acts 11:3). But Peter remained firm and recounted everything from his God-given vision to how the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and his whole household right after he preached to them (Acts 10:44). He explained that the source of this revelation was God; it was not from the heart of a man: “If therefore God gave them the same gift that He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17). Peter’s vision served as a catalyst for spreading this beautiful and wondrous message of God’s love for all mankind. Peter himself acknowledged and accepted this radical change in the then commonly held core philosophy of his Jewish community. And as a whole, the early Church began to change in response. Some in Jerusalem readily accepted it, and later passages in the Bible show that the early Church began to change, working to expand the preaching of this good news to all, both inside and outside the Jewish community (for example, Acts 11:20-26).

PRESENT-DAY PERSPECTIVES

Almost 2,000 years later, many modern-day followers of Christ have developed a two-pronged perspective of Peter’s vision. From my conversation with these friends, we can see that Peter’s vision has been interpreted as granting permission to set aside the food laws found in Leviticus 11 (quite literally, that the wild beasts that Peter saw in his vision were declared to be cleansed). But these friends, along with various Bible commentaries and other literature, also acknowledge that this passage in Acts 10-11 opened the door to the Gospel being preached to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. As a result, the “traditional Christian interpretation is that the vision refers to both Gentiles and unclean food; by implication, the Law as a whole is taken to be annulled . . . In fact, the two are often regarded as inextricably connected.”3 But as David Woods, a lecturer for the South African Theological Seminary, writes, “There is nothing in this passage (Acts 10:1–11:18) to support the argument that the Law is done away with, nor that Peter’s vision was an injunction by God to forsake the food commandments. On the contrary, the text repeatedly affirms that the vision was about God’s cleansing of the Gentiles.”3 And, as commentator Alexander MacLaren passionately conveys, the sheet, “containing all manner of creatures, is the symbol of universal humanity . . . the contents [refer] to the swarming millions of men.”1 While it is common for the average Christian to interpret this passage as having two meanings, doing away with the food laws and also welcoming Gentiles, a disadvantage of this dual interpretation is that the literal interpretation can easily and even unintentionally become the only one presented. This exact situation occurred at an event I attended last winter, called “Ask a Jew, Ask a Gentile.” Guests Dennis Prager and Eric Metaxas discussed the commonalities and differences between the Jewish and Christian faiths. The event was fascinating, and many topics were addressed that night. At one point, Prager and Metaxas were each asked about their perspectives on who Jesus Christ was, and later on the matter of observing various biblical laws. In the middle of this, the topic of Peter’s vision arose. I listened in astonishment as Metaxas, a Christian researcher and author of powerful books, answered by saying that Peter’s vision is what gives us permission to eat animals expressly prohibited in Leviticus 11, but did not mention Peter’s own explanation of his vision. I was even more surprised by the round of applause from portions of the room. Here was an opportunity, among a mixed audience, for a man of faith to express the love that God and Jesus Christ have for all mankind, but the moment was forfeited.

TAKEAWAYS FOR US TODAY

So it seems that the questions around Peter’s vision still persist. They make their way into faith-based events, theological papers and even discussions over burgers at In-N-Out. The point for now is that when topics related to your faith arise, I encourage you not to forfeit the conversation. Don’t remain silent. With grace and kindness, point the way to God and His love for all mankind. It is a far greater calling for us to champion filling the thirsty souls of our fellow man with the rich and full message of Peter’s vision—the message that says God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34), that He does not call any man or woman common or unclean (Acts 10:28), that He accepts those from every nation who fear Him (Acts 10:35), and that to “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). CC

by Laurel Fisher