Acts 10:9-16
9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: Rise, Peter; kill and eat. 14 But Peter said, By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, What God has made clean, do not call common. 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
Peter was a devout Jew, for which it was improper to eat certain "impure" foods. But some of the restrictions he had learned were rules of men rather than of God, so God had to teach him the truth about what was impure: The NIV translates verse 15 as: "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean" (verse 15). Note that this does not mean that nothing is impure, but it does mean that if God has made it clean, we should accept it as clean. As people who care about purity, we need to beware of going overboard and declaring impure things which God has made clean. For example, sex outside of marriage is "impure" according to the Bible, but sex inside of marriage is "clean", and we must not let our scruples about sexual immorality in the world cause us to reject the blessing of sex inside of marriage. Another example would be how God forgives and redeems our past; even if we have been involved in "impure" things in the past, once God has forgiven us and made us clean, we are clean indeed and should not be condemned.
Heavenly Father, thank you for making us clean.
9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: Rise, Peter; kill and eat. 14 But Peter said, By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, What God has made clean, do not call common. 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
Peter was a devout Jew, for which it was improper to eat certain "impure" foods. But some of the restrictions he had learned were rules of men rather than of God, so God had to teach him the truth about what was impure: The NIV translates verse 15 as: "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean" (verse 15). Note that this does not mean that nothing is impure, but it does mean that if God has made it clean, we should accept it as clean. As people who care about purity, we need to beware of going overboard and declaring impure things which God has made clean. For example, sex outside of marriage is "impure" according to the Bible, but sex inside of marriage is "clean", and we must not let our scruples about sexual immorality in the world cause us to reject the blessing of sex inside of marriage. Another example would be how God forgives and redeems our past; even if we have been involved in "impure" things in the past, once God has forgiven us and made us clean, we are clean indeed and should not be condemned.
Heavenly Father, thank you for making us clean.