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voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” This was done three times, and immediately the vessel was received up into heaven. Now 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, and called and asked whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was lodging there. While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men seek you. But arise, get down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”
Acts 10:15-20
Acts 10 [14.] But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
Acts 10 [15.] A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” This was done three times, and immediately the vessel was received up into heaven. Now 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, and called and asked whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was lodging there. While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men seek you. But arise, get down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”
Acts 10 [21.] Peter went down to the men, and said, “Behold, I am he whom you seek. Why have you come?”
Meaning:
On a rooftop in Joppa, Peter has seen a sheet full of clean and unclean animals and heard the command, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!” He has refused: “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:14). Now the voice answers him, the vision ends, and at that very moment the messengers from the Gentile Cornelius knock at the gate. God’s word, God’s timing and God’s Spirit come together to move Peter toward the Gentiles.
- “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean”
This is the heart of the vision. Peter had been using the categories he had always known, “common” and “unclean.” The voice reminds him that only God decides what is clean. If God has declared something clean, no human being may treat it as defiled.
Jesus had already spoken in this direction when he taught that what goes into a person “can’t defile him,” and Mark notes that he was “thus purifying all foods” (Mark 7:19). Paul later wrote, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4). But in Acts the lesson quickly moves from the table to people. When Peter later explained what had happened, he said that God made no distinction between Jewish and Gentile believers, “cleansing their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).
- “This was done three times”
The repetition makes the message certain. It also recalls Peter’s own story. He had denied Jesus three times, and the risen Lord had asked him three times, “Do you have affection for me?” until “Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time” (John 21:17). Peter knew what it meant when the Lord said something to him three times. He could not dismiss this as a passing dream.
- “Peter was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean”
Peter did not understand at once. Luke twice says that he was “perplexed” and “pondering.” God does not always explain everything in a single moment. Here the meaning of the vision became clear through what happened next: men from a Gentile household standing at the gate, asking for him by name. Sometimes God’s word and God’s providence interpret each other.
- “The Spirit said to him, ‘Behold, three men seek you’”
The Holy Spirit now speaks directly, as he had told Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot” (Acts 8:29). Jesus had promised that the Spirit of truth “will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). The Spirit’s words are plain: “arise, get down, and go with them.”
The phrase “doubting nothing” can also be understood as “without making distinctions.” When Peter retold the story, he said, “The Spirit told me to go with them, without discriminating” (Acts 11:12). Peter was not to hesitate because the men were Gentiles. The Spirit adds the reason: “for I have sent them.” The angel spoke to Cornelius, but the Spirit says he sent the men. The mission to the Gentiles is God’s own initiative, not Peter’s idea.
- Simon son of Jonah in Joppa
There is a striking echo of the Old Testament here. Centuries earlier, the prophet Jonah was told to go to the great Gentile city of Nineveh. Instead, “he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3). Now Simon Peter, whom Jesus called “Simon Bar Jonah,” meaning son of Jonah (Matthew 16:17), is in the same port when God sends him to Gentiles. Jonah fled from Joppa; Peter will go from Joppa with the Gentile messengers.
The Significance of Acts 10:15-20
- God defines what is clean
Christians can easily draw lines that God has not drawn, treating some people as beyond his reach. The voice from heaven warns against calling anyone unclean whom God has cleansed. The question is not whom we prefer, but whom God has received.
- Guidance through word, Spirit and circumstances
Peter received a vision, then an open door, then a clear word from the Spirit. Each confirmed the others. God still guides his people through his word, the inner leading of his Spirit and the circumstances he arranges, and calls them to obey without hesitating.
Cross-References:
Jonah 1:3: “He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish.” The prophet who fled from the Gentile mission.
1 Timothy 4:4: “For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving.” God’s creation is good.
John 16:13: “However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth.” The Spirit as guide.
Acts 15:9: Peter recalls that God made no distinction, “cleansing their hearts by faith.”
Conclusion: The voice told Peter three times, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean,” and while he was still puzzling over it, Cornelius’s messengers arrived and the Spirit told him to go with them without hesitating. God’s word, God’s timing and the Spirit’s guidance together opened the way for the gospel to reach the Gentiles. Unlike Jonah, who fled from Joppa, Peter was about to obey.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible