Acts 11:9 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’

NIV: "The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

NASB: But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’

CSB: But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’

NLT: But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’

KJV: But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

NKJV: But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’

In this echo of Acts 10:15, God is telling Peter that the food laws are lifted (Mark 7:19). God had presented Peter with a selection of animals to eat, including many which the Mosaic law forbade. Peter refused, saying he had never eaten anything unclean and he wasn't about to start. To him, he was still a Jew. Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and worshiping Him was the fulfillment of Judaism. As far as Peter was concerned, the Mosaic law still stood (Acts 10:9–16).

God wasn't only talking about food, however. He was talking about whom Peter should eat food with. As soon as the vision finished, Peter was invited to another city to share Jesus' story with a room filled with Gentiles. According to tradition, Peter shouldn't have even entered the house. But he understood from the vision that God had declared these Gentiles clean, and he was not to question God's decision (Acts 10:19–33). Later, he will say that God "made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:9). It is by grace we are saved, through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9). It is not by our actions, our diets, or our ethnicities. If we have accepted Jesus' offer of forgiveness, we are made clean.

This is important for us to remember. Earlier, Jesus had defended His disciples when the Pharisees attacked them for not ceremonially washing their hands before eating. Jesus pointed out that food, which goes in one end and out the other, cannot make a person unclean with God. Darkened, sinful hearts that result in sinful attitudes and actions make a person unfit to worship God (Mark 7:1–23). If the language may be excused, no amount of "excrement" we do, say, feel, or experience can make us unclean if God has declared us clean through the sacrifice of His Son. If we have accepted salvation through Jesus, we will never be unclean again.

Acts 11:1–18 describes Peter defending his actions in Acts 10. The Holy Spirit led him to share Jesus' story with a house filled with Gentiles. As he had barely started, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles and Peter had them baptized into the church. Now, he has returned to the church in Jerusalem and has some explaining to do. Despite Peter being the most prominent of Jesus' twelve disciples, the legalistic Jews have already gained significant influence in the church. It's a good reminder we must always follow God and be ready to defend our response to His leading.

Acts 11 accelerates the journey of the message of Jesus into the Gentile world. Peter returns to Jerusalem and explains to the church leaders how the Holy Spirit has fallen on a group of Gentiles in Caesarea Maritima (Acts 11:1–18). Then the church hears how Gentiles are coming to faith far north in Syrian Antioch; they send Barnabas to investigate and Barnabas brings in Saul (Acts 11:19–26). Finally, prophets travel from Jerusalem to Antioch to request aid for the Jerusalem church (Acts 11:27–30). The scene is almost set for Paul's extensive evangelism career to begin.

Until the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7:54–60), the story of Jesus' followers remained mostly in Jerusalem. Saul started persecuting the church and the members fled, taking Jesus' story with them. This included Philip who shared Jesus' story with Samaritans and an Ethiopian official (Acts 8). Saul's persecution even led to his own conversion (Acts 9). And Peter brought the gospel to a group of Gentiles (Acts 10). After one more story about Peter and rising persecution by the Roman government, the book of Acts will turn to Saul, who will use the Greek variation of his name, Paul, and his missionary journeys to southeast Europe.

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.