Peter's Vision - Kill & Eat

Is it possible that Peter's Vision also served as a purpose to get Peter to realize that he and the Jewish believers no longer need to follow the Jewish customs regarding what is and is not considered clean. He even stated that he had continued, to that day, following the customs of Moses since Christ had Ascended into Heaven. And how long has that been? Two months? Three? Four at the most? So, it seems reasonable that this Vision serves a dual purpose: To help Peter understand that the New Covenant no longer includes the works of the Old Covenant and that he can now eat whatever is presented to him, regardless of the home he enters and delivers the Holy Gospel. And second, of course, to help him understand that associating with Gentiles is, and always has been, perfectly acceptable.

What do you people think? Does "Kill and eat" somehow apply to the Gentiles, or could this set of passages also be helping to shape the actual Gospel within his mind?

Acts 11:5-10 NLT - "I was in the town of Joppa," he said, "and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me. When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds. And I heard a voice say, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.' "'No, Lord,' I replied. 'I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.' "But the voice from heaven spoke again: 'Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.' This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven."

I agree with you, it served a dual purpose.

Yeah. I agree with you.
Peter was biased against non-Jews. The dictionary calls that “racist”.

Mark 7:13-15

The Bible said that Peter learned from it though:

Acts 11:1 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
9 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
11 “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’
15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”
18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”


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Of course. But even after that Paul had to confront him. Old habits and all...

From Peter's epistles we know that he was no longer racist. Repentance and the work of the Holy Spirit always produces results.

Except that it was not racism. All races of Gentiles were included.

The Jews were to be separate from idolatrous and wicked Gentiles all along because Israel was "a chosen nation" by God. Indeed Ezra and Nehemiah demanded that Jewish men who had married Gentile wives must divest themselves of these wives. And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do. (Ezra 10:10-12)... And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?

At the same time the OT proclaimed that Christ would be a Light to lighten the Gentiles (Isa 42:6; 49:6). But then many prophecies in Isaiah said that Israel would dominate the Gentiles. So it was not all cut and dried regarding Jews and Gentiles.

When Christ came to earth, He said that He had been sent primarily to Israel: But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but [except] unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Mt 15:23.24). He also told his twelve apostles to avoid Gentiles: These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Mt 10:5,6) Samaritans were also regarded as Gentiles.

But then Christ began to become a Light to the Gentiles, as we see in John 4, where He deliberately went to Samaria and converted many Samaritans. This did not necessarily sink into the consciousness of His apostles and the distance remained. Also on the day pf Pentecost, only Jews were addressed and only Jews were saved.

So when we come to Peter's vision, he cannot really be faulted for (1) rejecting unclean meats and (2) being reluctant to go to Gentiles with the Gospel. It was only God's direct intervention that caused him to relent. But then he saw that the Gentiles had also received the gift of the Holy Ghost (as manifested by them speaking in tongues) so finally Peter saw that God would save Gentiles as much as Jews. At the same time, Peter was not completely on board with associating with Gentile Christians, and Paul had to rebuke him as note elsewhere.

Eventually, I am sure, Peter and all the apostles saw that at the cross Christ abolished the wall separating Jews and Gentiles. Then it was up to Paul to develop this thought further in his epistles. However, we should never forget that while Paul was commissioned to be the apostle to the Gentiles, his first order of business in all his travels was to firstly go to the Jewish synagogues and preach the Gospel to the Jews. Ultimately he gave up on the Jews and focused entirely on the Gentiles. And today, the Church primarily consists of Gentiles, but in God's eyes there are no ethnic divisions in the Body of Christ.

you know what's kinda funny about all this? Peter, this righteous Jew, had been staying at the house of one Simon the tanner.

seems he was already beginning to come around.

What it shows me brother is how stuckfast people get in their thinking. Pickled in their doctrines. For at Antioch Peter forgot all this and withdrew from the Gentiles.

I see many people pickled ... I am myself

So your argument is that the KKK aren't racist because they hate all other races equally? Lol.

I've seen estimates that Acts 10 is around 7-15 years after the resurrection of Jesus.

There were all kinds of animals in Peter's vision, so he could have obeyed God's commands in the Torah and His command in his vision by simply killing and eating one of the clean animals, so the key to correctly understanding his vision is understanding why he refused to do what the Torah permitted him to do. It should be noted that Peter did not just object by saying that he had never eaten anything that was unclean, but also added that he had never eaten anything that was common. Moreover, God did not rebuke Peter for his use of the word "unclean", but only rebuked him for his use of the word "common", yet his vision is widely interpreted as if it were the other way around. So Peter correctly identified the unclean animals as unclean and correctly declined to eat them in obedience to the Torah, but he incorrectly identified the clean animals as common and incorrectly declined to eat them in disobedience to God's command to kill and eat. Peter interpreted his vision on three different occasions as being in regard to incorrectly identifying Gentiles without saying a word about now being able to eat unclean animals, so his vision had nothing to do with a change in their status. In Jeremiah 31:33, the New Covenant involves God putting the Torah in our minds and writing it on our hearts, so it is incorrect to think that the New Covenant involves departing from the Torah.

A couple of things:

1) I posted, in another thread, that perhaps you might consider writing shorter messages, as I suggested that you might be overwhelming people. You didn't acknowledge my words, which was certainly underwhelming. So, you have already built a wall between us and I am hesitant to waste time writing if it will be ignored.

2) What is your current system of Faith? What are you? This is the Bible discussion forum, yet you are bent on discussing the Torah. Christians are so much more than the five books of Moses.

god is telling Peter gentiles are the same as Jews they aren’t unclean as the Jews thought by the law

look what God does immediately following peters dream and look at when Peter understands it

“While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.

Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.

And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭10:19-22, 25-26, 28‬ ‭

Peter understands now what it meant when God said

“But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭10:14-16‬ ‭KJV‬‬

By the law the Jews saw themselves as above others clean but gentiles were dirty chosen but gentiles were excluded . They weren’t to associate with non Jewish converts God was showing Peter that he had accepted all people regardless of thier flesh and blood showing Peter the truth . Peter of course oreached the gospel to the gentiles and they received the holy ghost then again Peter testifies at the gathering of apostles

“And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭15:7-9‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Thats huge revolutionary news to Jews coming out from under Moses national law God was just showing Peter not to keep looking at others from other nations as less than he as dirty and not clean or unacceptable

Thanks for sharing. I hadn't even considered the status of Simon the tanner of hides. I've recently written about this Simon, but don't recall ever seeing any Biblical information that indicated his genuine status. I just read in a Bible dictionary that because he was living outside of the city wall, this indicate that he was not clean according to Jewish customs. The Bible does, however, indicate that Jews were scattered and living throughout he area.

If you have conclusive info about this, I would love hear it. These are the kinds of details that get me up in the morning.

Thanks!!

No doubt about it. In fact, the New Testament faithfully records that the Apostles still didn't fully understand the Gospel. These same leaders of ours, in the beginning, were placing upon the shoulders of Christians, elements of the Law of Moses. By the time Galatians is written, however, Peter should have known better. I look at this fall of Peter's in Galatians to be something similar to his denial of Christ. For these events to be recording, there is a meaning for us today, and perhaps these issues with Peter serve as notice for us today . . . DON'T BE LIKE PETER (in these ways).

“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2:11‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Paul is talking about something that happened long before he wrote this letter.

Don't know why it's difficult for you to accept the simple truth of Peter's bias. Seems like a Roman church thing that's infiltrated your own thinking? Don't know. Not important. But when God has to send a person in the flesh to confront your error you're in the deep end of your fault.

Believing one's own race is superior to all others is factual racism. This attitude is the dominate attitude among the Jews today. Peter had a change of heart, no doubt prompted by the Lord's revelation, so good on him. So, let's not treat him like a saint of saints. His faults, as are our own, need illuminated by the divine revelation of the Spirit and tested against the person of Truth, the mind of Christ.

i don't understand what you're talking about. What is this "something" that you are referring to?

He did repent though. Why do we need to keep holding that over his head??? Would you like it if someone did that to you for a sin you've stopped committing?

It doesn't make you look better to continually point out a brother's sins that have been repented. It's actually something Satan does!


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Paul confronting Peter happened long before Galatians was written . Peter understood way before Galatians was written. We should all hope to be as faithful as Peter was