“…Peter’s vision of a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth that contained all manner of unclean animals, was primarily a symbolic communication on the matter of including the Gentile man Cornelius with the people of God…”-Duane L. Christensen, Editor of World Biblical Commentary
With a doubt, the section of the New Testament that is most responsible for causing believers to think that God’s Kosher food laws have been done away with is Peter’s vision of the great sheet of animals in the Book of Acts.
Let’s get our thinking about this straight right now and forever.
Alright?
The vision that God presented to Peter was simply A METAPHOR.
Got it?
It was just a metaphor.
Nothing more and nothing less.
This metaphor utilized what was probably the most recognized aspect of Judaism at the time, Kosher eating, to demonstrate that God, the Creator of ALL peoples, had indeed included gentiles in His plan of salvation.
Look, here’s what you got to understand homie.
Judaism had developed two doctrines or traditions that not only went beyond what was actually written in Scripture but had also created an insurmountable barrier between Jews and gentiles.
Let me explain specifically what I mean.
Jews held to the unscriptural belief that gentiles were inherently UNCLEAN.
That’s NOT true.
Until they are born again, gentiles are COMMON.
They are not UNCLEAN.
If you wanna do a quick review of this, read this article.
So, because of this belief, religious Jews wouldn’t even come near a gentile for fear of being defiled.
Second, connected to this belief, a Jew would not even eat food prepared by a gentile or even sit down to share a meal with a gentile.
Why?
Because if they did, they believed they would instantly be rendered ritually impure.
Again, this was all according to their Tradition…
…which was the prevailing viewpoint at the time.
A viewpoint that I believe is both unbalanced and unscriptural and I can understand how it would be a bit offensive to gentile God seekers.
Well, it was at this point in history that the Lord decided to step in an intervene by means of imparting a divine vision to Peter
Through this vision, Peter, who was a Jew, came to the realization that his traditional beliefs that gentiles were inherently unclean were manmade and simply did not jive with Scripture.
Later on, Paul took Peter’s vision to mean that when visiting the home of a gentile, if a gentile offered him food that was not strictly Kosher, (meaning food prepared according to the strict Rabbinical rulings), he shouldn’t necessarily refuse it.
Why?
Well, according to Paul’s reasoning, in such a situation, the need for understanding and fellowship between both Jewish and gentile followers of Messiah was more important than the food laws.
Don’t ever think that Paul took this to mean the food laws had been done away with.
This was more a matter of demonstrating the principle of KAL V’HOMER.
Do you recall what that is?
The idea behind the principle of KAL V’HOMER (in English, the Principle of Light & Heavy) was that when a situation presented itself whereby two God principles clashed, the heavier one (meaning the one that held greater importance) was to be prioritized.
A perfect example of this would be working on the Sabbath in order to save a life…
…like for example an ambulance carrying someone on the Sabbath who just had a cardiac arrest.
Yeshua also demonstrated KAL V’HOMER when he healed folks on the Sabbath.
He surely wasn’t saying through his actions that the Sabbath had been done away with.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Then a voice told him,
‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
‘Surely not, Lord!’
Peter replied.
“I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
The voice spoke to him a second time,
‘Do not call anything impure
that God has made clean.’
This happened three times,
and immediately the sheet
was taken back to heaven.”
-Acts 10:13-16
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