This item continues to be a point of contention in how it is applied within scripture:
Acts 10:10-16
10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he
fell into a trance,
11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12 Wherein were
all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. [Animals forbidden to ancient Israel ONLY!]
13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter;
kill, and eat. [What was once unclean only to ancient Israel!]
14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for
I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
15 And the voice [spake] unto him again the second time,
What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common.
16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
The "trance" spoken of in verse 10 is this, according to Thayer's Greek Lexicon:
"2. a throwing of the mind out of its normal state, alienation of mind, whether such as makes a lunatic (διανοίας,
Deuteronomy 28:28; τῶν λογισμῶν, Plutarch, Sol. 8), or that of the man who by some sudden emotion
is transported as it were out of himself, so that in this rapt condition, although he is awake, his mind is so drawn off from all surrounding objects and wholly fixed on things divine that he sees nothing but the forms and images lying within, and thinks that he perceives with his bodily eyes and ears realities shown him by God, (Philo, quis rerum divin. heres § 53 [cf. 51; B. D. under the word Trance;
Delitzsch, Psychol. 5:5]): ἐπέπεσεν [Rec., others ἐγένετο] ἐπ’ αὐτὸν ἔκστασις,
Acts 10:10"
We see here that the Lord clearly, in a vision (trance), speaks to the fact that the Mosaic Law's disallowances for the animals on that sheet are to no longer be considered common or unclean. The narrative in chapter ten then moves on to Gentiles being welcomed by Peter, and for him to accompany them rather than to shun them as was the custom of the Jews, although never commanded by the Law. It's one thing to be defiled by the sins of the pagan Gentiles in ancient times under the Law, but after the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law by Christ, both foods and people are not to be shunned on the basis of the uncleanness formerly laid down in that Law.
The point is this: There are those out there in certain movements who cast this section of scripture aside as being a clear declaration by God that all animals for food the Lord has provided are no longer unclean to Israel, especially to those who see Christ as Messiah. They either allegorize this section into saying something that it is not, or they try to constrain its meaning as applying only to Jews interacting with Gentiles who are in Christ.
Had the Lord desired that food be excluded from being understood as the initial object of change, then the vision could easily have encapsulated images of people who were not of Israel, and Peter being commanded to eat with them.
In theological studies, this is understood to be something akin to killing two birds with one stone, so to speak. Both animals for food AND Gentiles as unclean and therefore avoided, both are relevant. Look at what the Lord commanded Peter concerning what were once unclean animals ONLY for Israeli's to consume:
"
What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common."
The Lord did not compartmentalize that statement only to sentiments toward Gentiles, even though Gentiles are part of the context. The actual imagery is animals the Mosaic Law had declared as unclean ONLY to Israel, historically and biblically for the purpose of them being set apart from all other nations. Believers in Christ, both Jews and Gentiles, are no longer under the Mosaic Law requirement for being set apart by way of such practices and restrictions! THAT is what those groupings are missing. The Lord Himself is the ONLY distinction He wanted for us to show the world as our being set apart, and called out from! Nothing else will ever have the impact for that separation, and going back to such mundane and impractical exhibitions, which only add what will only cloud the Christ-distinction we should live in this world, and you end up with an attempted mixture of Christ with things in the world. That is NOT what the Lord wants!
Thoughts?
MM
