And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
God spoke to Peter in trance on the housetop at Joppa when he was hungry, showing him heaven opened with a sheet let down holding all kinds of beasts and birds and bidding him to kill and eat. The animals were symbols for people, not permission to eat unclean flesh or a change in the food laws. The command meant he must call no man common or unclean, for God is no respecter of persons and in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted with Him. By it God broke down the middle wall between Jew and Gentile, reproved Peter's prejudice, and chose him to first carry the gospel to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. Heaven thus worked closely with earth, joining angels, visions, and human messengers together to bring honest seekers to the light and to urge earnest work for all souls without barrier.
Vision Setting and Details
The command came to Peter while he was praying on the housetop at Joppa about the sixth hour, immediately after the angel had spoken to Cornelius. He was very weary and hungry from journeying, and as he hungered he also hungered for the salvation of his countrymen and longed to show them from the Scriptures the sufferings and death of Christ. It was in that hour of prayer and hunger that the vision was given to him.
In trance he saw heaven opened and a vessel like a great sheet knit at the four corners let down to earth. The sheet held all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air, including all unclean beasts and birds.
A voice told him to rise, kill, and eat from what was shown to him. He refused, answering that he had never eaten anything common or unclean.
The voice answered a second time that what God had cleansed he must not call common. The command and answer were given three times, and Peter remained doubting what the vision should mean. Then the vessel was received up again into heaven.
While he doubted, the three men sent from Cornelius arrived at the gate. The Spirit told him that three men sought him and that he should go with them, doubting nothing. He obeyed by going with them to Caesarea to preach to Cornelius and his household.
True Meaning of Command
The voice bidding to kill and eat used the animals in the sheet as symbols to teach about people, not about food, and it did not remove the food laws, declare formerly unclean animals fit for food, authorize eating swine's flesh, or establish a new rule of faith. What God had cleansed was not to be called common, and that cleansing pictured Gentiles made fellow heirs with Israel through Christ's death. The command was reproof and instruction to lay aside prejudice, not permission concerning diet.
By the death of Christ the middle wall of partition is broken down, the heathen are cleansed and made partakers equally with the Jews of the blessings and privileges of the gospel as fellow heirs with Israel and with the Israel of God. Through Christ they share equally what was formerly associated with the Jews and are no longer excluded from the promises of God. God's plan of salvation extends to all nations and to the whole world.
The meaning is that Peter must call no man common or unclean, for God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that fears Him and works righteousness is accepted with Him. Jew and Gentile alike are precious to God, by faith joined to Christ, and Christ's blood cleanses people from uncleanness. Those whom God has cleansed, souls of every nation, are not to be regarded as inferior or unclean.
The command both reproved and instructed Peter, divesting him of prejudice against Gentiles fixed by all his Jewish training that they were an inferior, unclean race excluded from the promises of God. It overcame his settled view that their conversion was barred and taught him not to belittle those who had had no opportunity of hearing the truth. The vision corrected his error from Bible truth in order to fit him to preach to the Gentiles.
Peter must no longer confine his labor to the Jews nor look on the Gentiles as unclean and excluded, but must comprehend the world-wide extent of God's plan, first opened in importance in the conversion of Cornelius. His labors confined entirely to the Jews were thus broadened beginning with Cornelius as the first of importance among the Gentiles. The barrier Christ's death had broken down still remained in the apostles' minds, and the vision helped set God's plan in motion toward that conversion.
The command admonished Peter no longer to observe the ceremonial distinction of circumcision and uncircumcision, so Gentile converts were received as equals without forcing on them the rites of the ceremonial law or requiring circumcision. Peter could therefore defend going to a Gentile house, preaching there, and eating with the uncircumcised as commanded by God and in direct fulfilment of the plan of God. The command broke down prejudice and exclusiveness and opened the way for the gospel work to be carried on among the Gentiles with Jewish and Gentile believers on equal terms.
Gospel Opening to Gentiles
By this vision Peter, though the apostle of the circumcision, was chosen to lead out in the first work of proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles and to remove prejudice among Jewish Christians, preaching Christ to Cornelius and his house, seeing the Holy Spirit fall equally on Gentile and Jewish believers, and baptizing the Gentile converts without forcing on them the rites of the ceremonial law or requiring circumcision. The command about the animals opened the way for him to understand that Gentiles were not excluded or inferior, because what God had cleansed must not be called common, and Christ's blood cleanses people from uncleanness. Its meaning was made clear when Peter was sent to teach the Gentile centurion, and the equal gift of the Spirit confirmed that God accepts in every nation him who fears Him and works righteousness.
The episode marks the point after the close of the seventy weeks allotted to the Jews in A.D. 34, sealed by the martyrdom of Stephen and persecution of the followers of Christ, when salvation was no longer restricted to the chosen people but was given to the world. That worldwide opening came through Peter divinely guided to open the gospel to Cornelius the God-fearing centurion of Caesarea, together with Philip preaching Christ in Samaria, the scattered disciples going everywhere preaching the Word, and Paul commissioned to carry the glad tidings far hence unto the Gentiles. Peter's vision at Joppa helped convince the apostles and leading believers in Jerusalem that God had granted the Gentiles repentance unto life and prepared the way for Paul's mission.
The conversion of Cornelius and his household is only the firstfruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world, and from that household a widespread work of grace is carried on in a heathen city. The voice is part of Peter's own conversion, putting him in the way to receive for himself the truth of God's purpose to take away the barrier between Jew and Gentile. By it he was appointed the human instrument working together with heavenly agencies, with heaven and earth united in gospel missionary work, since prayers and alms are acceptable as far as knowledge goes but are only complete in Christ, with Jews and Gentiles by faith to be joined to Him.
Peter undertook the duty laid on him to go to Cornelius with reluctance at every step, defending it not on general principles but as an exception done because of divine revelation, and its result was a great surprise to him. God set in operation a train of circumstances through angel ministration to bring Peter into connection and cooperation with an inquiring soul fully ready to hear the truth and receive advanced light, so that Cornelius might learn the truth. In every age He works in this way through His servants, bringing honest hearts into connection with those best adapted to reach their individual needs.
Heaven Guiding Human Messengers
Heaven is closely joined to earth in this command, with angels acting as guides and powerful helpers of chosen messengers to prepare Cornelius to receive the gospel and to direct Peter to carry it to him. The ministration of heavenly angels that produced the conversion of Cornelius and his company proves heaven is much nearer the Christian engaged in soul-saving work than many suppose. Heavenly intelligences are constantly communicating with inhabitants of earth to direct them, and God gave Peter the representation of the sheet let down by its four corners holding all manner of four-footed beasts and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air, then told him three men were seeking him, in order to educate and train him.
Visions are not given as a new rule of faith but for the comfort of God's people and to correct those who err from Bible truth. God gave Peter this vision and corrected him just before sending him to preach to the Gentiles. The command illustrates that God can show a person in vision what to do or say, giving direct instruction about what to speak and repeating the instruction again and again.
God knows each person by name and every action of life and just where each lives and the spirit each possesses. He told Cornelius that his prayers and his alms had come up in remembrance before God and told him to send men in authority to Peter, telling him where Peter lodged by the seaside with Simon the tanner, and He told Peter that three men sought him. Ministering angels pass through the churches noting faithfulness in individual duty. Peter learned the lesson, went with the men to Cornelius, asked what God had said to them, and brought about an understanding of the matter.
God's plan was to connect people needing the gospel with chosen men who could teach it, so that the Gentiles would receive the gospel through human messengers. Though an angel and immortal messengers instructed Cornelius and God knew exactly where Peter was, the angel did not preach the whole message or give Cornelius the message directly. God purposed a meeting and connection between Peter and Cornelius so that the light and truth and law He had given Peter would be given by Peter to Cornelius and his family. His church must connect together, with light imparted to one believer passed on to another, bringing His people into closest connection with Him and with one another to love one another, unify, deal honestly and justly and gently and righteously, and come into close connection instead of standing aloof or covering fault by pointing at another's wrong, so that salvation is revealed.
In every age God sets in operation a train of circumstances and the ministration of angels to bring honest hearts into connection with those of His people best adapted to reach their individual needs. He sent heavenly messengers to bring Peter into connection with Cornelius so Cornelius might learn the truth, resulting in conversions like that of Cornelius and his company. Each should treat his fellow man as one of the Lord's instrumentalities for accomplishing His work in the earth, in recognition of God's regard for every human being.
Peter's experience in the house of Cornelius corroborates the promised blessing of speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance, showing the same experience recorded in Acts 2 and confirming agreement with the experience of the early apostles. Peter being sent to a Roman centurion shows God may direct people to serve those who need divine help and guidance even when that assignment is not their own choice.
Call to Present Soul Winning
Prayer over the chapter opens understanding to earnest work for souls in the home field and to duty for missions at home. No barriers are to be erected between Jew and Gentile, but the gospel is to be given as freely to the Jews as to the Gentiles, and failure to arouse to this leaves wanting in the day of God. It shows the way God works on human minds to break the power of oppression and tyranny and to dispel ignorance and superstition, as He wrought for one who feared His name.
The chapter calls for work for the conversion of men like Cornelius who fear God and follow principles of righteousness, many Gentiles living in closer accordance with Old Testament principles than the Jewish leaders, by which the Lord would do a larger work for the Gentiles and bring them to belief in His Son. By bringing Peter into connection with Cornelius the gospel was brought to those who had been strangers and foreigners, making them fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, to act a prominent part in His cause. As God worked for Cornelius to bring him advanced light through visitation of angels from heaven and connection with men of superior knowledge regarding His Word, so He works for true standard-bearers not fully informed of present truth and prepares the way for them to take the place of those given Bible truth who disappointed the Lord.
Special, determined, earnest effort is required for the higher classes, men in stewardship and responsibility with ability, talents, and means, who may sympathize yet remain held by threads binding them to the world and lacking moral courage to take position with the lowly ones, and work must not drift only to the poorest and most objectionable. When such stewards in trust are converted they give strength and solidity to the cause and become channels of light, for God sees them and wants them connected with the church. The command teaches not to call common and unclean those for whom God cares, not to measure another by human standard or judge him for not taking part in religious services. God by His keeping power watches over some not now actively engaged who live unselfish, honest, upright lives, who will take up His call to become faithful, reliable workers whose good example will be recognized with crowns of glory in the day of rewards.
The same lesson means earnest, devoted work should be done for honest seekers outside the faith such as temperance workers, that souls as honest as Cornelius may be gathered out and receive light, the conversion of Cornelius and his household being only firstfruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world from which a widespread work of grace is carried on in a heathen city. It was given to place servants in readiness to make personal efforts for such as Cornelius who walk in all the light received, revealing simplicity of the Lord's plans and cooperation of heavenly agencies with human agencies, giving courage because in the world and in the churches many souls like Cornelius are much nearer the kingdom than is supposed, many precious jewels in this dark world of sin to whom God will guide His servants. Honest people seeking light are to be reached through patient work and gathered to the truth.
The verse teaches God's regard for every human being and that each should treat his fellow man as one of the Lord's instrumentalities for accomplishing His work in the earth, showing heaven much nearer the Christian engaged in soul-saving than many suppose. God brings His people into closest connection with Him and with one another so they love one another and pass on the light received, instead of standing aloof, requiring unity, dealing honestly and justly and gently and righteously. By working on Christ's principles and the principles of heaven rather than pointing at another's wrong to cover one's own, the salvation of God is revealed.
God spoke to Peter in trance on the housetop at Joppa when he was hungry, showing him heaven opened with a sheet let down holding all kinds of beasts and birds and bidding him to kill and eat. The animals were symbols for people, not permission to eat unclean flesh or a change in the food laws. The command meant he must call no man common or unclean, for God is no respecter of persons and in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted with Him. By it God broke down the middle wall between Jew and Gentile, reproved Peter's prejudice, and chose him to first carry the gospel to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. Heaven thus worked closely with earth, joining angels, visions, and human messengers together to bring honest seekers to the light and to urge earnest work for all souls without barrier.
Vision Setting and Details
The command came to Peter while he was praying on the housetop at Joppa about the sixth hour, immediately after the angel had spoken to Cornelius. He was very weary and hungry from journeying, and as he hungered he also hungered for the salvation of his countrymen and longed to show them from the Scriptures the sufferings and death of Christ. It was in that hour of prayer and hunger that the vision was given to him.
In trance he saw heaven opened and a vessel like a great sheet knit at the four corners let down to earth. The sheet held all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air, including all unclean beasts and birds.
A voice told him to rise, kill, and eat from what was shown to him. He refused, answering that he had never eaten anything common or unclean.
The voice answered a second time that what God had cleansed he must not call common. The command and answer were given three times, and Peter remained doubting what the vision should mean. Then the vessel was received up again into heaven.
While he doubted, the three men sent from Cornelius arrived at the gate. The Spirit told him that three men sought him and that he should go with them, doubting nothing. He obeyed by going with them to Caesarea to preach to Cornelius and his household.
True Meaning of Command
The voice bidding to kill and eat used the animals in the sheet as symbols to teach about people, not about food, and it did not remove the food laws, declare formerly unclean animals fit for food, authorize eating swine's flesh, or establish a new rule of faith. What God had cleansed was not to be called common, and that cleansing pictured Gentiles made fellow heirs with Israel through Christ's death. The command was reproof and instruction to lay aside prejudice, not permission concerning diet.
By the death of Christ the middle wall of partition is broken down, the heathen are cleansed and made partakers equally with the Jews of the blessings and privileges of the gospel as fellow heirs with Israel and with the Israel of God. Through Christ they share equally what was formerly associated with the Jews and are no longer excluded from the promises of God. God's plan of salvation extends to all nations and to the whole world.
The meaning is that Peter must call no man common or unclean, for God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that fears Him and works righteousness is accepted with Him. Jew and Gentile alike are precious to God, by faith joined to Christ, and Christ's blood cleanses people from uncleanness. Those whom God has cleansed, souls of every nation, are not to be regarded as inferior or unclean.
The command both reproved and instructed Peter, divesting him of prejudice against Gentiles fixed by all his Jewish training that they were an inferior, unclean race excluded from the promises of God. It overcame his settled view that their conversion was barred and taught him not to belittle those who had had no opportunity of hearing the truth. The vision corrected his error from Bible truth in order to fit him to preach to the Gentiles.
Peter must no longer confine his labor to the Jews nor look on the Gentiles as unclean and excluded, but must comprehend the world-wide extent of God's plan, first opened in importance in the conversion of Cornelius. His labors confined entirely to the Jews were thus broadened beginning with Cornelius as the first of importance among the Gentiles. The barrier Christ's death had broken down still remained in the apostles' minds, and the vision helped set God's plan in motion toward that conversion.
The command admonished Peter no longer to observe the ceremonial distinction of circumcision and uncircumcision, so Gentile converts were received as equals without forcing on them the rites of the ceremonial law or requiring circumcision. Peter could therefore defend going to a Gentile house, preaching there, and eating with the uncircumcised as commanded by God and in direct fulfilment of the plan of God. The command broke down prejudice and exclusiveness and opened the way for the gospel work to be carried on among the Gentiles with Jewish and Gentile believers on equal terms.
Gospel Opening to Gentiles
By this vision Peter, though the apostle of the circumcision, was chosen to lead out in the first work of proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles and to remove prejudice among Jewish Christians, preaching Christ to Cornelius and his house, seeing the Holy Spirit fall equally on Gentile and Jewish believers, and baptizing the Gentile converts without forcing on them the rites of the ceremonial law or requiring circumcision. The command about the animals opened the way for him to understand that Gentiles were not excluded or inferior, because what God had cleansed must not be called common, and Christ's blood cleanses people from uncleanness. Its meaning was made clear when Peter was sent to teach the Gentile centurion, and the equal gift of the Spirit confirmed that God accepts in every nation him who fears Him and works righteousness.
The episode marks the point after the close of the seventy weeks allotted to the Jews in A.D. 34, sealed by the martyrdom of Stephen and persecution of the followers of Christ, when salvation was no longer restricted to the chosen people but was given to the world. That worldwide opening came through Peter divinely guided to open the gospel to Cornelius the God-fearing centurion of Caesarea, together with Philip preaching Christ in Samaria, the scattered disciples going everywhere preaching the Word, and Paul commissioned to carry the glad tidings far hence unto the Gentiles. Peter's vision at Joppa helped convince the apostles and leading believers in Jerusalem that God had granted the Gentiles repentance unto life and prepared the way for Paul's mission.
The conversion of Cornelius and his household is only the firstfruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world, and from that household a widespread work of grace is carried on in a heathen city. The voice is part of Peter's own conversion, putting him in the way to receive for himself the truth of God's purpose to take away the barrier between Jew and Gentile. By it he was appointed the human instrument working together with heavenly agencies, with heaven and earth united in gospel missionary work, since prayers and alms are acceptable as far as knowledge goes but are only complete in Christ, with Jews and Gentiles by faith to be joined to Him.
Peter undertook the duty laid on him to go to Cornelius with reluctance at every step, defending it not on general principles but as an exception done because of divine revelation, and its result was a great surprise to him. God set in operation a train of circumstances through angel ministration to bring Peter into connection and cooperation with an inquiring soul fully ready to hear the truth and receive advanced light, so that Cornelius might learn the truth. In every age He works in this way through His servants, bringing honest hearts into connection with those best adapted to reach their individual needs.
Heaven Guiding Human Messengers
Heaven is closely joined to earth in this command, with angels acting as guides and powerful helpers of chosen messengers to prepare Cornelius to receive the gospel and to direct Peter to carry it to him. The ministration of heavenly angels that produced the conversion of Cornelius and his company proves heaven is much nearer the Christian engaged in soul-saving work than many suppose. Heavenly intelligences are constantly communicating with inhabitants of earth to direct them, and God gave Peter the representation of the sheet let down by its four corners holding all manner of four-footed beasts and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air, then told him three men were seeking him, in order to educate and train him.
Visions are not given as a new rule of faith but for the comfort of God's people and to correct those who err from Bible truth. God gave Peter this vision and corrected him just before sending him to preach to the Gentiles. The command illustrates that God can show a person in vision what to do or say, giving direct instruction about what to speak and repeating the instruction again and again.
God knows each person by name and every action of life and just where each lives and the spirit each possesses. He told Cornelius that his prayers and his alms had come up in remembrance before God and told him to send men in authority to Peter, telling him where Peter lodged by the seaside with Simon the tanner, and He told Peter that three men sought him. Ministering angels pass through the churches noting faithfulness in individual duty. Peter learned the lesson, went with the men to Cornelius, asked what God had said to them, and brought about an understanding of the matter.
God's plan was to connect people needing the gospel with chosen men who could teach it, so that the Gentiles would receive the gospel through human messengers. Though an angel and immortal messengers instructed Cornelius and God knew exactly where Peter was, the angel did not preach the whole message or give Cornelius the message directly. God purposed a meeting and connection between Peter and Cornelius so that the light and truth and law He had given Peter would be given by Peter to Cornelius and his family. His church must connect together, with light imparted to one believer passed on to another, bringing His people into closest connection with Him and with one another to love one another, unify, deal honestly and justly and gently and righteously, and come into close connection instead of standing aloof or covering fault by pointing at another's wrong, so that salvation is revealed.
In every age God sets in operation a train of circumstances and the ministration of angels to bring honest hearts into connection with those of His people best adapted to reach their individual needs. He sent heavenly messengers to bring Peter into connection with Cornelius so Cornelius might learn the truth, resulting in conversions like that of Cornelius and his company. Each should treat his fellow man as one of the Lord's instrumentalities for accomplishing His work in the earth, in recognition of God's regard for every human being.
Peter's experience in the house of Cornelius corroborates the promised blessing of speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance, showing the same experience recorded in Acts 2 and confirming agreement with the experience of the early apostles. Peter being sent to a Roman centurion shows God may direct people to serve those who need divine help and guidance even when that assignment is not their own choice.
Call to Present Soul Winning
Prayer over the chapter opens understanding to earnest work for souls in the home field and to duty for missions at home. No barriers are to be erected between Jew and Gentile, but the gospel is to be given as freely to the Jews as to the Gentiles, and failure to arouse to this leaves wanting in the day of God. It shows the way God works on human minds to break the power of oppression and tyranny and to dispel ignorance and superstition, as He wrought for one who feared His name.
The chapter calls for work for the conversion of men like Cornelius who fear God and follow principles of righteousness, many Gentiles living in closer accordance with Old Testament principles than the Jewish leaders, by which the Lord would do a larger work for the Gentiles and bring them to belief in His Son. By bringing Peter into connection with Cornelius the gospel was brought to those who had been strangers and foreigners, making them fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, to act a prominent part in His cause. As God worked for Cornelius to bring him advanced light through visitation of angels from heaven and connection with men of superior knowledge regarding His Word, so He works for true standard-bearers not fully informed of present truth and prepares the way for them to take the place of those given Bible truth who disappointed the Lord.
Special, determined, earnest effort is required for the higher classes, men in stewardship and responsibility with ability, talents, and means, who may sympathize yet remain held by threads binding them to the world and lacking moral courage to take position with the lowly ones, and work must not drift only to the poorest and most objectionable. When such stewards in trust are converted they give strength and solidity to the cause and become channels of light, for God sees them and wants them connected with the church. The command teaches not to call common and unclean those for whom God cares, not to measure another by human standard or judge him for not taking part in religious services. God by His keeping power watches over some not now actively engaged who live unselfish, honest, upright lives, who will take up His call to become faithful, reliable workers whose good example will be recognized with crowns of glory in the day of rewards.
The same lesson means earnest, devoted work should be done for honest seekers outside the faith such as temperance workers, that souls as honest as Cornelius may be gathered out and receive light, the conversion of Cornelius and his household being only firstfruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world from which a widespread work of grace is carried on in a heathen city. It was given to place servants in readiness to make personal efforts for such as Cornelius who walk in all the light received, revealing simplicity of the Lord's plans and cooperation of heavenly agencies with human agencies, giving courage because in the world and in the churches many souls like Cornelius are much nearer the kingdom than is supposed, many precious jewels in this dark world of sin to whom God will guide His servants. Honest people seeking light are to be reached through patient work and gathered to the truth.
The verse teaches God's regard for every human being and that each should treat his fellow man as one of the Lord's instrumentalities for accomplishing His work in the earth, showing heaven much nearer the Christian engaged in soul-saving than many suppose. God brings His people into closest connection with Him and with one another so they love one another and pass on the light received, instead of standing aloof, requiring unity, dealing honestly and justly and gently and righteously. By working on Christ's principles and the principles of heaven rather than pointing at another's wrong to cover one's own, the salvation of God is revealed.