God has made clean [Acts 10]

God has made clean

Acts 9:32-10:48

¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

1.       Peter traveled about to visit the Lord’s people [32-43]

Last time, we left off with intense persecution from Saul. Today’s passages pick up at that point.

Peter traveled about to visit believers scattered away from Jerusalem. The first stop was Lydda, a little west of Jerusalem, near west coast. Here Peter healed a lady, Aeneas, who had been bed ridden for 8 years and many turned to the Lord in this city. Then, a group of believers in Joppa made an urgent call to Peter because one of the godly ladies, Tabitha, died.  Joppa was located further west by the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.  Here Peter raised a dead woman to life. This news spread throughout the city of Joppa and many came to believe in Jesus. These two stories ended in this way.

 ⁴³ Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

What did Luke mean in conveying this information? It is not clear. But as it said, we can deduce two things.

a.       Peter stayed at the city of Joppa for some time. We do not know how long. However, one thing is clear, it was not a short time. This means that Peter stayed here not really doing anything. He was dormant as far as the work of God was concerned.

b.       He stayed with a man named Simon, a tanner. This tells us the location of his stay and the name of the person. Tanners deal with leathers of animal hides. So those who handle such animal products were considered ceremonially unclean. What does it mean for Peter to stay with a tanner? Does this mean to say that Peter was willing to accept a tanner as a godly and clean man despite of his dealing with ceremonially unclean products, breaking a conventional wisdom of the Jews? If we take this information in a positive aspect, we can also deduce such an idea.  Yet the story before and after do not carry much relevant application of this idea. So it seems to say that simply Peter’s residence was identified by this man, who was well known around this area as a tanner.

2.       God accepted Cornelius’ godliness [10:1-8]

Cornelius was a Roman centurion stationed at Caesarea, the capital city for the control of the entirety of Palestine. He was an army officer who controls at least 100 soldier. So we can fairly say that he was a man of good-standing and even with quite the authority and power, especially in this colonial land, over colonial people. But his life was noted prominently in the area of his godly life. He gave generously to those who were in need and prayed to God regularly. It was not just himself. All of his family was with him in such godliness.  Simply speaking, considering all this, it was obvious that his respect and fear of God was genuine and sincere, exuding such spirit in the entire scope of his life. God noted this and sent his angel to him.
⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 

What did he know about God or Jesus? The bible does not say much about this. But in Peter’s message, we can see a glimpse of what he and his people knew.

V36-38 ³⁶ You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. ³⁷ You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— ³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

I doubt that this is just Peter’s pure conjecture or assumption on what they knew. As a centurion of the land of Israel, he must have well-acquainted himself on what went on in the land. They knew the God of Israel and they knew the message sent to the People of Israel by God. They knew the things that Jesus did – the many miraculous healings and teachings in his Galilee ministry. This means that the centurion knew the major biblical message sent throughout Israel and Jesus. He expressed his faith in such a way. Out of such understanding and knowledge came the faith that he expressed in his life.

This is the faith that God considered worthy of giving out his blessing. It is note-worthy to clarify his faith.

a.       The object of his faith is not based on other human knowledge or ideas but on what God has done in Israel. So his object of faith is clearly the God that revealed himself in the history of Israel.

b.       He knew of Jesus’ works, his miracles, his teaching, and his claim as the Son of God, or Messiah as well as his suffering and death.

c.       Out of this knowledge came his genuine fear of the God of Israel. He expressed his commitment to this God and his son Jesus through the way of prayer and serving the needy.

What does this say about the fundamental ways of developing faith?

It is firmly founded on the knowledge on the history of Israel and Jesus’ work, along with the understanding of God’s claim. Cornelius was the first Gentile to whom God chose to reveal himself. The faith of Cornelius is a milestone for the Gentiles in a few ways.

a.       How can a Gentile come to have faith in God and His son Jesus? It is utterly based on knowing the history of Israel and the work of Jesus.

b.       To do so, there must be a substantial amount of time for the person to understand the basic claims of the Bible and God’s truth or his offer in the history.  

c.       To make this happen, there must be an interaction between God’s people and the Gentiles.

d.       Cornelius was in a position to know the details of Israel’s history and God’s work as one of holding the role of supervising the nation.

e.       The one thing that he lacked was the understanding of Jesus, the Son of God and his resurrection. This final message was delivered by Peter and then they received the Holy Spirit.

3.       God’s command to Peter to get up, kill and eat the animals [9-16]

While Peter was idling away his time at the house of Simon the Tanner (because the Holy Spirit did not lead him in any direction and he would not venture out to preach the Good News), God sent his angel and showed him a vision. This vision is significant in two aspects. It shows what he should do against his own understanding or his sense of direction. At the same time, it reveals that what he did not do is what he should do.

Then comes an important question, why was his life so quiescent? What made him linger in between God’s call and his mind? Fear? Was he unsure of God’s will?

Through the vision, God deals with the core problem of Peter.

Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted to eat something. The context of this event is set by these three conditions: in Prayer; being hungry; and wanting to eat something during the time of which the meal was being prepared. He was seeking God’s will in prayer. He was hungry and wanted to eat. It was during the time of a meal being prepared.

The voice form heaven told him

Hungry: He was hungry to do the work of God as he was praying.

Eat: He wanted to eat to quench his hunger; he needed food to eat.

Food:  All kinds of unclean animals

These animals were prepared and let down from heaven and when it was not eaten, they were taken up to heaven again. The only thing that Peter had to do was to ‘get up, kill and eat’

Here, the command to get up assumes that he was lying down and did not do anything though he was hungry. This was the exact situation or mindset of Peter at this time as he was ‘staying’ at Simon’s house.

He has to kill it. It demanded a very positive and even an aggressive action.  

Peter’s response was that he would not do it because he had never done this before. It was not his nature and not his way of life, and he had no intention of doing such a thing because it would defile himself according to the Law of Moses.

This exchange of command and refusal to follow the command was repeated three times. This tells us that God knew Peter’s strong opposition and God was determined to change his way of thinking.

The primary reason for God’s demanding of Peter to do such a thing is that God already made them clean. We can simplify the vision; God offered food to Peter when he was hungry. Peter refused to eat the food because the food was unacceptable to the norm of his life as godly man. What does it mean? Why did God show this form of a vision? Peter felt that his feelings or his sense of goodness were violated by such a demand. Why? He had very little understanding of God’s purpose in this vision.

4.       Unfolding of the meaning of the vision through Cornelius’ invitation [17-35]

Immediately after receiving this vision, a few men from Cornelius arrived at the gate of Simon’s house and were looking for Peter. In this way, the vision that he saw was unfolding in real life. The Spirit told him to go and meet them because God sent them. To comply with God’s vision, Peter invited them to the house for the night and the next day, he went to Caesarea to meet Cornelius.

Cornelius welcomed Peter as God’s servant; Peter came because God showed him that Peter should not call anyone impure or unclean. What’s the reason for sending for Peter?

Cornelius explained at length about the vision from God in which he was told to send for Peter. Upon hearing this, Peter came to sense something new:

I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism³⁵ but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. [34-35]

This is a new dimension in Peter’s life. Godliness is a must for anyone to be accepted by God. That godliness is anchored in the Law of Moses. In this law, there was a clear distinction between what is holy and what is not holy. The most basic idea of this holiness is in the way one’s life is maintained – food. Even if one’s life might be in danger of starving to death, he shall not eat unclean animals. This is how one can prove himself to be holy and righteous before God.

The Gentiles do not have such a law and do not know how to make such discernment. In this aspect, the Gentiles defiled themselves in the rudiments of their lives. So, to Peter, they were not considered as possible candidates for God’s blessing. They must show their compliance to the law first before being accepted or offered God’s blessing.

Contrary to this belief, God said that he had already made them clean. So Peter should not call them or consider them unclean.

Is it to indicate that God abrogated the dietary laws? God’s primary focus is not what they eat or do not eat but what they are. They are clean because God has made them clean. How and when did God do such things for them?

God made witnesses by completing the historical work of salvation which was composed of:

·        They knew God’s will for Israel.

·        They knew Jesus’ works and teaching.

·        They knew Jesus’ suffering and death.

The historical display of these things has made a great impact on those who watched closely. Centurion Cornelius was observant of all these and was keenly aware of what God was doing.

The sending of the Holy Spirit as Jesus finished the work of redemption and the work of Holy Spirit in three ways is described in John 16.
⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.  (Joh 16:8-11)
As God promised, God sent the Holy Spirit to this world and he was doing one thing, convicting the world in three aspects: sin, righteousness and judgment.
God convicted Cornelius and his entire family to these three areas; sin, righteousness and judgment; they were sinners and they will face judgment and they were demanded of the righteousness that was found in Jesus. In knowing of and wanting this righteousness, Cornelius sought God. We discover this as we review the message of Peter.

5.       Peter’s sermon and the Holy Spirit coming upon the Gentiles. [36-48]

³⁶ You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 

³⁷ You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— ³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

These two things are well known among the people of Palestine. These two are the essential elements of faith. This is not Peter’s personal assumption on what Cornelius and his people knew. Actually, these were what they actually knew, and based on these, they sought God and His righteous approval.

What was not clear to them was Jesus’ death and its meaning, and the ultimate purpose of Jesus work.

He concludes his message: 

³⁹ “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, ⁴⁰ but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹ He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

Jesus was crucified and resurrected. Jesus was not seen by all but only to those whom he trusted. Peter is the witness of this. This is the message that God appointed Jesus as the judge of the living and the dead. Jesus has the ultimate authority over all human races.

They had processed almost all of the information of God’s message through Israel and Jesus’ work, and responded positively in repentance. This is what it meant that God had already made them clean. Nevertheless, their knowledge was short of knowing Jesus’ resurrection and the meaning of Jesus’ suffering. They did not have a firm grip on the meaning and purpose of Jesus’ work, particularly Jesus’ death and resurrection though which God made an offer of salvation. This was the final focal point of Peter’s message. This also led to the offer from God.

⁴³ All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

When this truth clicked their mind, the Holy Spirit came upon them. 

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 

Through this, what it means when God said that He had made them clean is understood.

At the heart of this cleansing is the testimony of the history—Israel and Jesus, and the work of Holy Spirit that convicts the world in regard to sin, judgment and righteousness.

The final touch must be made by Peter. That touch is the message of Jesus’ suffering and death, resurrection and God’s offer for salvation of all that seek God in truth.

It reminds us of Matthew 13:52 He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." The old and the new are joined together to make full understanding of the kingdom of God.

The diagram below makes a sketch on this.

As they heard the offer of salvation to those who believe, the Holy Spirit came upon them all. They spoke in tongues praising God. This shocked all of the circumcised believers. Circumcision was a necessity to be children of the blessing through Abraham. But without circumcision, they received the Holy Spirit, just like any other circumcised believers. In this way, the ones that the circumcised never thought to be part of God’s family became one with them. In this ‘being one with them’ was a shocking to the circumcised. God counted them as such so they must accept this, though there were many things about these people that were totally different. There are many ideas, understandings, the way to live, and how to think were so different but God thought them to be one and the same. The centrality of this oneness is in the fact that their sins were forgiven and they were made ‘acceptable to God’ as holy as much as God accepted the circumcised to be God’s people. As far as being children of God is concerned, Jews and the Gentiles are equal. This was amazing in the eyes of the circumcised.

Conclusion

Gentiles are ready to be saved. God has prepared them by completing the work of salvation history in Christ. God sent the Holy Spirit to the world to convict them of the truth of God in the life of Jesus.

So the Jews must know that God’s work in the history of Israel and His Son Jesus’ work, God has sent his Holy Spirit and the whole world is ready to receive God’s offer of forgiveness, no matter who they are.

They are ready by knowing God’s will in Israel’s history and God’s work in his son Jesus, particularly his truth, the miraculous work of love.

Also, one must know that because of the work of Christ, God has sent his Holy Spirit to work on many people on the earth.

The last touch must be the understanding of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and its meaning through which God offers forgiveness to all men. Also, this must be coupled with a clear understanding that Jesus will come as the judge of the living and dead.
by David Yun