Bible Study: All Foods Made Clean
“Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” â Acts 10:13
The Vision That Changed Everything
In Acts 10, we find one of the most pivotal moments in the early church. The apostle Peter, a devout Jewish believer, goes up on the rooftop to pray. He becomes hungry and falls into a trance. And then he sees something astonishing:
He saw heaven opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ â Acts 10:11-13
Peter’s Objection
Peter is horrified. As an observant Jew, he has kept the dietary laws his entire life. The food in the sheet â unclean animals, reptiles, birds â was strictly forbidden by the Law of Moses. His response is immediate:
“By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. â Acts 10:14
Notice something important: Peter calls the food both “common” and “unclean.” These are two different ideas. “Unclean” (Greek: akathartos) refers to what the Law forbids. “Common” (Greek: koinos) refers to what ordinary, everyday people use. In Jewish thinking, unclean things were not to be made common â they were to be avoided entirely.
The Divine Correction
God’s response is one of the most important verses in the entire Bible for understanding how the old covenant gives way to the new:
“What God has made clean, do not call common.”
This happens three times â a divine emphasis. And then the sheet is taken back up to heaven. Peter is left stunned, wondering what this vision means.
More Than Food: The Real Lesson
While the vision is literally about food, its meaning runs much deeper. Even as Peter is puzzling over the vision, messengers arrive from a Roman centurion named Cornelius â a Gentile. The Holy Spirit tells Peter to go with them without hesitation.
Peter walks into a Gentile’s home â something no observant Jew would do â and says:
“You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.” â Acts 10:28
There it is. The vision wasn’t just about food. It was about people. If God has made clean what was once considered unclean â whether pork or people â then no one is outside the reach of His grace.
What This Means for Us Today
- All foods are clean. The dietary restrictions of the Old Testament were fulfilled in Christ. As Mark 7:19 (NIV) puts it: “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.” We are no longer bound by kosher laws â not because the Law was bad, but because Christ fulfilled it completely.
- The gospel is for everyone. The wall between Jew and Gentile has been torn down. In Christ, there is no “us” and “them” â only those who have been made clean by His blood.
- God’s cleansing is powerful. What God declares clean, no amount of human tradition or religious rule can call unclean again. This is the freedom we have in Christ â freedom from the law, freedom from division, freedom to embrace all whom God has embraced.
- Watch for where God is moving. Peter had to unlearn deeply ingrained beliefs. Are there places where our traditions keep us from what God is doing? The challenge of Acts 10 is to be open to the Spirit’s leading, even when it challenges what we think we know.
“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” â Ephesians 2:14