If God has cleansed someone and taken away his sins, then he is holy – whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. We are all one in Christ.
In Galatians 2, the apostle Paul tells of his rebuke of the apostle Peter for compromising the Gospel by succumbing to pressure from the Jews to separate himself from the gentile Christians who were not obeying the law.
For context on Paul’s rebuke of Peter, there was a tradition in the early church known as “agape” (love) feasts where they would have dinner and then share in the Lord’s Supper together. It was sort of like a “pot luck” where everyone would bring food and they would fellowship together.1 Peter would share in these feasts and eat along with the Gentiles. He would eat what had previously been considered unclean and was forbidden by the law for the Jews to eat.
Peter was freed to eat with the Gentiles when God Himself had appeared to Peter to release him from the dietary restrictions of the law. You may recall that Peter at one time went into a trance and had a vision from God where he saw a sheet with all of the “unclean” animals on it being lowered from heaven, and the voice from heaven telling Peter to eat them. These were non-kosher animals that Jewish people didn’t eat, such as rabbits and pigs.
“And a voice came to him, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘Not so, Lord!…’” (Acts 10:13-14)2
Imagine that the Lord appeared to you, and you said, “Not so, Lord!” Some people are so bound by the rules that even if God put them in a trance and appeared in a vision, they wouldn’t believe Him!
“‘For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.’ And a voice spoke to him again the second time, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’” (Acts 10:14-15)
God moved from talking about animals to people. God was calling Peter to share the Gospel with the Gentiles, but up until that time, the church was made up of only Jews. He was about to send Peter to the Gentiles in Cornelius’s home, and He wanted Peter to know that he was not to call the Gentiles unclean. Unclean means unholy. Unholy means “common.” Did you know that the opposite of holiness is not sin” The opposite of holiness is commonness. Holiness means to be set apart. God said to Peter, “What I have cleansed, don’t call common/unclean/unholy.”
“This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.” (Acts 10:16)
Three times God said, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” Why three times? Perhaps it’s because the number three was a significant number to Peter. On the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter denied knowing Him three times. I believe the Lord was saying to Peter, “If I have cleansed someone and taken away their sins, and yet you continue to call them unholy, it’s the same as denying Me.”
By the direction of the Holy Spirit, Peter went from there to preach the Gospel to Cornelius and his family. Peter said to them,
“In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality…” (Acts 10:35)
(from pages 242-243 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1Butler, Trent C. Editor. Entry for ‘Love Feast’. Holman Bible Dictionary. http://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/view.cgi?n=3930. 1991.
2All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.”
