When
the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on him continually. Having explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. Now on the next day as they were on their journey, and got close to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about noon. He became hungry and desired to eat, but while they were preparing, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth, in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky. A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
Acts 10:7-14
He said to him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and get Simon, who is also called Peter. He lodges with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the seaside.
Acts 10 [7.] When the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on him continually. Having explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. Now on the next day as they were on their journey, and got close to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about noon. He became hungry and desired to eat, but while they were preparing, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth, in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky. A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!”
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.”
Meaning:
Luke tells two stories side by side. Cornelius sends three men to Joppa, and the next day God prepares Peter to receive them. The timing is exact: as the messengers approach the city, Peter is on the roof, praying.
- “Having explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa”
Cornelius chose two servants and “a devout soldier” who shared his faith, and “explained everything to them.” His obedience was immediate, and it drew his household into what God was doing.
- “Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about noon”
Flat roofs gave a quiet place to pray, and noon was one of the set times of prayer. While Peter prayed and waited for a meal, he “fell into a trance.” Luke uses the language of the great moments of revelation: “He saw heaven opened,” as when Jesus was praying at his baptism and “the sky was opened” (Luke 3:21). His hunger became the setting for a lesson about food, and through food, about people.
- “All kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky”
The sheet held every kind of creature, clean and unclean mixed together. The Law of Moses divided animals into those Israel could eat and those it could not (Leviticus 11). These laws were tied to Israel’s calling to be set apart: “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44). Another passage makes the link with other nations explicit: “You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean,” because God had “set you apart from the peoples” (Leviticus 20:25-26). For a faithful Jew, the food on the table was a daily reminder of the line between Israel and the Gentiles.
- “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean”
Peter’s reply is a contradiction in a few words: he calls the speaker “Lord” and then says “Not so.” It is very like the Peter of the Gospels, who once rebuked Jesus with, “Far be it from you, Lord!” (Matthew 16:22). His refusal was not stubbornness for its own sake. He had kept the food laws all his life, as faithful Jews had done for centuries, sometimes at great cost. “Common” meant ordinary, not set apart for God; “unclean” meant forbidden by the Law.
Jesus had already taught that food does not defile a person, “because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach,” and Mark adds that he was “thus purifying all foods” (Mark 7:19). Yet Peter had not drawn the conclusion. The voice will answer him in the next verse: “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean” (Acts 10:15).
Christians read the vision in more than one way. Peter himself applies it to people: “God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean” (Acts 10:28). Many also see it as confirming that the food laws no longer bind followers of Jesus, in line with Mark 7:19. Others, including many Messianic Jewish readers, hold that the vision speaks only about accepting Gentiles and does not set aside the food laws for Jewish believers. All agree that its main point is that no person God has cleansed is to be treated as unclean.
The Significance of Acts 10:7-14
- God prepares both sides
God spoke to Cornelius first and then to Peter, so that the seeker and the messenger were ready for each other. When God opens a door between people, he often works on both sides of it.
- Old habits can resist new light
Peter loved God and wanted to obey him, yet his first answer was “Not so, Lord.” Deep convictions can make it hard to hear what God is saying now. Peter’s later obedience gives hope to every believer who is slow to learn.
Cross-References:
Leviticus 20:25-26: “You shall be holy to me; for I, Yahweh, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that you should be mine.” Food laws and separation.
Mark 7:19: “because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, thus purifying all foods?” Jesus’ teaching on food.
Matthew 16:22: “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.” Peter resisting the Lord before.
Conclusion: While Cornelius’s messengers travelled to Joppa, Peter prayed on a rooftop and saw a sheet full of clean and unclean animals, with a command to kill and eat. His reply, “Not so, Lord,” showed how deeply the line between clean and unclean, and between Israel and the nations, was written in his life. God was preparing him to see that what God cleanses must not be called unclean, and to welcome the Gentiles at his door.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible