Acts 10:13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”
In ‘Acts of the Apostles’ chapter 10, Peter saw a vision, where different kinds of animals came down from Heaven in a sheet. Then he heard a voice telling him, ‘Rise, kill and eat’, not once but 3 times. However, Peter refused…
What does the text say?
Acts 10:14, 16 14But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 16This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
Straight to His face, Peter said “NO” to God Almighty! He clearly was ‘NOT’ going to eat anything “unclean”!
This next point is critical; the documented fact is, Peter was “inwardly perplexed” as to the meaning of this vision. After the vision, Peter is confused, he’s baffled as to its meaning…
What does the text say?
Acts 10:17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean
The Word of God states he did NOT know the ‘meaning of the vision’! Yet, mainstream theology has cast aside the ‘apostle Peter’, and interprets the meaning without reading the rest of the discourse? Peter obviously is having issues with an “apparent” change in the Food-Laws. So, shouldn’t we see how all this plays out in the rest of the chapter, before just stopping at verse 13 and ‘(declare all foods are now clean)’? At this point in the discourse, Peter didn’t know what the vision meant… How arrogant is it of us to assume that we could know better than Peter?
From Mark 7:19, mainstream theology teaches that Jesus ‘(declared all foods clean)‘; please read, ‘(Thus he declared all foods clean)‘. Wasn’t Peter with Jesus during that ‘Mark’ 7 event? ‘If’ he learned from the Master Himself that ‘(all foods had been declared clean)’, WHY would he adamantly claim that he was not going to eat, nor had he ever eaten anything “unclean” years later, here in Acts 10:14? WHY would he be confused about the meaning of the vision if he already knew that Jesus had ‘(declared all foods clean)’??? Didn’t Peter get the memo?
Think logically, not emotionally.
This vision takes place years after the ascension of Jesus, and Peter still believes there are “unclean” animals that he cannot eat, that he WILL NOT eat! He still believes the Mosaic food Laws are current and valid!
‘If’ Jesus did (declare all foods clean) in ‘Mark’ 7, then Peter is contradicting the Son of God.
‘If’ Acts 10:14 contradicts Mark 7:19 then we have to throw out both ‘Books’ from the Bible, because Scripture cannot contradict itself.
Today’s mainstream theology teaches that the whole context of the Acts 10 vision is about food, and food alone. If you will allow, the Scriptures alone will prove that the purpose of the vision has NOTHING to do with food.
What no one is being taught in mainstream churches today is that the ‘interpretation’ of Peter’s “vision“ is given to us, twice. Right there in the dialogue of chapters 10 and 11, the visions interpretation is given to us, twice; and it has NOTHING to do with food.
What does the text say?
Acts 10:28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has “shown” me that I should not call any person common or unclean.
Acts 11:4-18 4But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12And the Spirit told me to Go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Shouldn’t we just accept the fact that the Holy Spirit of God knew what He was talking about when He told these disciples this ‘Interpretation’?
Peter made it very clear that he had NEVER eaten an “unclean” animal, and that he had no intentions of eating those “unclean” animals in the vision. He saw that vision three times and “Behold”, a funny thing happened, three men came looking for him; coincidence???
What does the text say?
Acts 10:13-20 13And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. 17Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate 18and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. 19And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. 20Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.”
After the metaphorical word “eat” in the vision, food is never discussed again. Yet, mainstream theology teaches that the whole context of Acts 10 is about food, and that somehow without any Scriptural documentation God’s Instructions regarding clean and unclean animals are now null and void.?.?.
After the vision that mentions “unclean“, we see that Peter stated that ‘God showed’ him something that actually refers to “unclean“…
What does the text say?
Acts 10:28 …but God has shown me (via the metaphorical vision) that I should not call any person common or unclean.
When Peter finally explains this interpretation of the vision to his brothers in Jerusalem in chapter 11, nothing is mentioned regarding a change in the food Laws, nothing.
Stop and think for second; it would have been FRONT-PAGE news to hear that unclean animals were now considered “food”! If this was the meaning of the vision, why is it never mentioned??? It’s because that wasn’t the meaning of, or purpose of the vision. The purpose of the vision was to get these 1st-Century-believers-in-Jesus to quit following “doctrines/laws of men”.
What does the text say?
Acts 10:28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.
Nowhere in the Law of God given through Moses do we find this underlined statement above to be true. This was NOT God’s Law, it was man’s law. This was in the oral law of the day.
It was a “man-made law” that claimed the gentiles/nations were to be called unclean and to be avoided, not God’s Law.
The vision “showed” Peter that this man-made law was wrong, in order to remove any reluctance that he might have had in entering the house of Cornelius.
So, one more time here are both references of the interpretation of the vision given to us straight from the Scriptures ~
Acts 10:28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful (Talmudic) it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.
Acts 11:18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Hallelu Yah!
There has been a HUGE disconnect in the understanding of God’s Law/Instructions regarding His Food Laws ~
Here is the disconnect: we have been taught for centuries that anything you can shove into your mouth is ‘food’, and that in times past, some of it was considered ‘clean-food’ and some of it was considered ‘unclean-food’. That premise is 100% Scripturally wrong! God NEVER said, ‘pig, crab, dog, snake, vulture, etc. were ‘unclean-food’; He said, they were “unclean animals” and “NOT to be eaten” | Leviticus 11. In the eyes of Almighty God the unclean creatures of Leviticus 11 are not what some today call, “food”.
Mainstream theology has plucked out the single sentence of ‘Acts 10:13’ from the context of the surrounding verses, in order to change the meaning of the vision so it will fit into their false man-made denominational dogma that the Law of God given through Moses, more specifically, that God’s Food Laws have been abolished.
We are being lied to! Whether it is deliberate or in ignorance, it’s still deception.
Final Thought: What many have not considered, is that this vision that the LORD gave Peter, is actually a stern ‘Heavenly–reminder’ to finally initiate the instruction He had already given him ~
What does the text say?
Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations
Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation