Q3. Clean

[Pastor Ralph]

Q3. (Acts 10:9-16) Why does God have to bring this noon-time vision to Peter? What prejudices did Peter have against Gentiles? How did his religion prevent him from reaching out to Gentiles? What specifically did God tell him about “common and unclean”? How does this revelation affect his attitude towards Jewish dietary laws?

[Krissi]

I heard an expression recently which explained, in part, God's delay in answering some of my prayers -- "He is working both ends of your prayer."  By this, it is supposed that God is working in my heart and character as well as in the hearts and characters of others involved.

Such working happened in the passages you listed, Pastor Ralph. Peter had a vision as well as Cornelius.  God worked both ends to achieve His will. He did so by sending an angel as His emissary. He didn't speak with an audible voice, or even with the nudging of the Holy Spirit, but sent angels to give His clear dictates and instructions. 

I have many Jewish friends and acquaintances. To this day, they regard non-Jews as "other" or even "unclean." They take pride in rituals that set them apart from us, a way of asserting dominance or superiority, at times. So it makes perfect sense to me that Peter looked down his nose at "gentiles" using dietary laws as a pretext to avoid gentiles as well as a ritual that conferred special significance to Jews. God had to remove such pride and prejudice. He had to, repeatedly, retrain Peter's mind so that Peter could understand His universal mission of salvation.

At the same time, the Holy Spirit had to work the other end in the gentile Cornelius. An angel spoke to Cornelius, too, with specific instructions -- same angel? The meeting of gentiles and Jews would not have happened without God's intervention on both ends. His desire to expand salvation to all humanity had to be taught.

Jews still reject Christians. particularly with a Jewish heritage. Continuing conflicts over dietary laws, circumcision, etc. are described in the Bible. Changing ingrained attitudes, worldviews and prejudicial beliefs took time and the constant prodding of the Holy Spirit.

Today, the overwhelming majority of Christians do not have a Jewish heritage, a fact made possible by Peter's struggle and eventual acceptance of non-Jews as equal believers in Him.

 

 

[Maleshoane]

God brought this vision to Peter because He had already chosen him to be of help to Cornelius, the Centurian. Gentiles were believed to be unclean, as a Jew he was not supposed to associate or visit them. God told Peter that he should not call anything impure that God has made clean. This relevation helped Peter realise that dietary do not bring salvation.

[Yvonne Peterson]

Yes indeed. God sees the bigger picture. Predjusties still around all over. God is working out his purposes in all of us. Thank you Jesus 

[haar]

Q3. (Acts 10:9-16) Why does God have to bring this noon-time vision to Peter?

 

To show Peter that He was about to do new thing to integrate the Jews and the Gentiles with no more separate identities in terms of meals.

What prejudices did Peter have against Gentiles? How did his religion prevent him from reaching out to Gentiles?

Gentiles were unclean and eat everything unclean, untouchables, those who eat everything around them. This teaching received by the Jews right from childhood kept the Jews away from  the Gentiles who were considered unclean.

What specifically did God tell him about "common and unclean"?

 

God told Peter never to call what God had made clean unclean again given His new way forward- unite the Jews and the Gentiles.

How does this revelation affect his attitude towards Jewish dietary laws?
This new development meant that going forward, he, Peter will dine and wine with the Gentiles without any prjudise again. http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2068-q3-clean/

[Katy]

Q3.God was sending three men to Peter to ask him to visit Cornelius. As Cornelius was a gentile God had to tell Peter that it was time to unlearn all he had learnt since early childhood about clean and unclean foods. 
Peter would have regarded gentiles as people who were unclean because there were no limits  on what types of food they ate. Jews had a very long list of things God permitted them to eat and not to eat. 
Peter’s religion would have taught him that to mix with gentiles was to mix with unclean people. That was not acceptable to any Jewish family. The voice told Peter” Do not call anything impure that God has made clean”. V15. This revelation changes Peters attitude to the dietary laws. He shows this straight away by greeting the three strangers, making them welcome for the night and having dinner with them. He would really show he has changed when he is invited to eat at the home of Cornelius.

 

 

 

[hanks]

Q3. (Acts 10:9-16) Why does God have to bring this noon-time vision to Peter? What prejudices did Peter have against Gentiles? How did his religion prevent him from reaching out to Gentiles? What specifically did God tell him about "common and unclean"? How does this revelation affect his attitude towards Jewish dietary laws? 
Initially God had told the Jews to separate themselves from the Gentiles by eating ritually prepared kosher food. Jewish people would not think of entering the home of a Gentile and eating or drinking with them (11:3). So, when God tells Peter in a vision of the clean and unclean animals, to eat he is shocked. As a Jew, Peter had always looked upon the Gentiles as common, as unclean, as aliens, as strangers, as far off, as godless. But it is clear that the vision had deeper significance than the mere matter of eating foods, clean and unclean. Peter was being taught that God has removed the barriers He once erected to separate His people from the surrounding nations. The real significance of the vision was that God was about to open the door of faith to the Gentiles, and that the dietary regulations were no longer in effect. Earlier we read that the barrier between the Jewish Christian and the Samaritan Christian had been removed, now it was time to accept Gentile believers in the Christian church. One of the great truths of the gospel is that all believers are one in Christ Jesus, and that race or national differences do not affect fellowship. There was an incident, a few years later, when Peter stopped having fellowship with the Gentiles, fearing that the news of his behavior would get back to the legalist faction in Jerusalem. Paul had to rebuke him. (Gal 2:11-14). 
 

[Old Jerry]

God had to inform Peter that some men, that were not Jewish, were going to visit him. And the vision of the unclean meats was a way of doing it. It was the Jewish custom not to associate with people that were not Jewish. God told Peter that anything that He had made was not unclean and was acceptable. This revelation completely turn the Jewish dietary laws on its head.

[Irmela]

Q3. (Acts 10:9-16)

Why does God have to bring this noon-time vision to Peter?

What prejudices did Peter have against Gentiles?

How did his religion prevent him from reaching out to Gentiles?

What specifically did God tell him about "common and unclean"?

How does this revelation affect his attitude towards Jewish dietary laws?

Peter needed to be prepared.  He needed to know that it was from the Lord that these Gentiles came to him.  Jews didn't generally mix with the Gentiles.  In a way Peter was still thinking as one under the Mosaic system.   The Gentiles that did believe in God and accepted the Jewish way of life also needed to be circumcised. They were then known as the proselytes. Peter  needed to realize that God was opening the way to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles also, without them having to become proselytes.

"What God has cleansed do not call common."   God had prepared Cornelius and his household.

Jewish dietary laws were for a past era.  They have now been superceded, and all that you eat will not change your relationship with the Lord.