When God instructed Peter in a vision to kill and eat animals that were previously considered unclean by Old Testament dietary laws, Peter was perplexed. In this sermon, R.C. Sproul shows how this encounter marks a critical turning point in redemptive history.

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”

And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?”

So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.” And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa.

The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”

And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.

The Mystery of the Gentiles

We have come now to the tenth chapter of the book of Acts, and I must say that I believe this chapter is one of the most important chapters of the entire book of Acts, if not the most important chapter. I would also add that this chapter, in my judgment, is one of the most important we find anywhere in the New Testament because it brings to our attention an extremely significant moment in redemptive history, a time of transition from the old way of doing things to a new epoch of God’s redemptive activity.

In order to understand that, before I look at the text itself, let me digress and read a portion of Paul’s letter to the church at Colosse to the Colossian community, where he writes the following words in the first chapter of that epistle, beginning at verse 24:

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col. 1:24–27)

Paul was rehearsing his credentials to the Colossian congregation, which was made up of gentiles. He essentially said: “I am afflicted at every side, yet I’m rejoicing in my sufferings because you are benefiting from them. I’m filling up that which is left unfinished in the sufferings of Christ Himself in the Apostolic ministry He has called me to perform among the gentiles. What I have been called to do now is reveal to you a mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations. I’m going explain to you and open something to you that has been obscured for centuries. I’m going to explain the mystery.”

The Greek word Paul uses in this text is mystērion. In the New Testament sense, mystery is something that God held back in times past regarding His disclosure of His purposes, which He then declared openly at a certain point in history. It once was hidden but now is made manifest.

What was the mystery? Paul said: “It is the mystery of the gentiles in the church. You who had been strangers to the covenant of the things of God, who were foreigners and pilgrims kept outside of the inner sanctuary of Israel, you who formerly were unclean, defiled, and had no access into the presence of God, now I am declaring to you that through the ministry of Christ, you are a part of His body, the church. It is Christ in You, the hope of gentiles.” That was the mystery of which Paul spoke in Ephesians 3.

In previous generations, it was assumed that the gentiles—who were unclean, defiled, impure, not consecrated, and outside the scope of the covenants God had made with Abraham, Moses, and so on—were without hope. But now, with the presence of Christ breaking down the barriers that had separated Jew and gentile, that hope was extended to the Gentiles.

I know of some of our church members who are Jewish by origin and ethnic background who are now Christians, but I suspect that most of our church members are of a gentile background. The reason we can meet together is because of what took place in Cornelius’ household at Caesarea, which we read about in Acts 10. So, let us go to that text and see if we can discern what was going on and its significance for us today.

The God-fearers

In our last sermon, we finished chapter 9 with almost a dangling postscript, where Luke made an offhand comment, saying that Peter remained for a while in Joppa and was staying at the home of Simon, the tanner. That should have been a clue about what was coming next. A tanner, in order to tan the hides of animals, had to be busy with the carcasses of dead animals, which was taboo for a pious Jew.

In all probability, the Simon with whom Peter stayed in Joppa was a gentile, who was considered unclean. But the Jews also made a distinction. It was one thing for a Jew to welcome a gentile into his house. It was quite another for a Jew to go into the home of a gentile, because that rendered the Jew unclean.

So, we pick up with Acts 10:1, which reads as follows: “There was a certain man in Caesarea.” If you look at a map, Caesarea is a bit north on the Mediterranean coast, just above Joppa. The man Luke mentions was called Cornelius. He was a centurion.

Usually, centurions were captains over one hundred men in the Roman army, but sometimes that term “centurion” was used not only to refer to someone with command over one hundred, but also could be used for a graduate-level centurion, one who was a higher officer in the military. The latter seems to be the case with Cornelius because he was of the elite guard of the emperor, the Italian Regiment. He may have been comparable to a Delta Force Army Ranger or a Navy Seal with high command. He was an important man in Caesar’s army.

We read that Cornelius was “a devout man and one who feared God.” Let me stop there for a moment. When we started the book of Acts, I mentioned that Acts follows the Great Commission, where Jesus gave His disciples the responsibility of preaching the gospel first in Jerusalem, then in Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Acts follows the progress of the church’s opening in Jerusalem, expanding into Judea, then out to Samaria, and then further, to the uttermost parts of the known world with Paul’s missionary journeys. The book also deals with four distinct groups of people: the Jews, the Samaritans, the gentiles, and the God-fearers.

Who were the God-fearers? The God-fearers were gentiles, usually Greek speakers, who converted to Judaism in every respect except one: they did not subject themselves to circumcision, for obvious reasons. It is one thing to be circumcised as an infant. It is another thing as a grown man. The men said, “We’ll be happy to stay out in the court of the gentiles, and we’ll take our vows and practice Judaism, but no thanks on circumcision.”

Those gentiles were called “God-fearers” because even though they were gentiles, they did not believe in the gods and goddesses of Rome, the pantheon of deities of Greece, or any of the Oriental religions of the day. Rather, they believed in the Most High God and were faithful followers of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Cornelius’ Angelic Visit

Luke defines Cornelius’ status in terms of his faith as a God-fearer, one who feared God, as did all his household, and Luke tells us that he “gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.” At about three o’clock in the afternoon, suddenly Cornelius had a vision of an angel who appeared and spoke to him, saying, “Cornelius!”

When Cornelius saw the angel and heard the voice addressing him, he was terrified, as anybody would be. You would be terrified if an angel appeared to you and spoke to you as a representative messenger from God Himself. This angel appeared in the middle of the afternoon and said, “Cornelius!” He answered and said, “What is it, lord?”

Remember Paul’s response on the road to Damascus when Christ appeared and spoke to him in Hebrew saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul was struck blind. He was on the ground and cried out, “Who is it, Lord?” He did not know who it was, but he knew it was his Lord. In like manner, Cornelius knew it was the Lord speaking to him, but he did not understand why.

The angel said to Cornelius, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.” I do not want to pass over that statement. For the Jewish people who did have access to the inner court of the temple and brought their sacrifices, the smoke from the burnt offering as well as the incense from the altar of prayer wafted into the air. The smoke was lifted heavenward, symbolizing a sweet aroma to God. The angel basically said to Cornelius: “Even though you’re not a Jew, Cornelius, your prayers and your sacrifices have been sweet as they have come heavenward to God. God recognizes you. God notices you. Listen to what I want you to do. Send men to Joppa. Do it now. Send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.”

Luke continues: “When the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually.” This was his military aide, as it were. Then, “When he explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa.” Those were the instructions, and God gave specific directions. He told him not only what city to go to but also to what house they should go and where it was: by the sea. He essentially said, “You go to Simon the tanner’s house, and find Peter, Simon Peter, and tell him to come.”

“No, Lord”

We read that the next day, the servants were on their way to Joppa and drew near the city. In the meantime, Peter went up on the housetop of Simon the tanner to pray at about the sixth hour. This was about noon. Peter became very hungry, and he wanted to eat. So, the servants began to prepare a meal for him.

While the servants were making a meal, Simon Peter fell into a trance, and in this trance, he “saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet.” That descriptive term for the great sheet is the same term that can be used for a huge sail on a sailing ship. In the trance, Peter saw a huge piece of cloth descending from heaven, and its four corners were bound together because it brought a huge bundle of things down to the earth.

Peter saw in the great sheet “all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.” Then he heard a voice say, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” In other words, “Get up, kill these animals, and eat them.”

Remember what Saul said on the road to Damascus: “Who is it, Lord?” Then Cornelius said when the angel came to him, “What is it, lord?” What did Peter say when God told him to rise, kill, and eat? Listen to these two words, put them together, and see if you can make any sense out of why Peter would say them: “No, Lord.”

What could be more foolish than to acknowledge God Almighty’s lordship and sovereignty over your life, and then when He tells you to do something, you say, “No, I’m not going to do that”? This is part of the reason that Peter has a reputation for impetuosity from time to time. Here God spoke to him, and his answer was, “No, not me, I’m not going to do it.”

Peter explained why he responded this way: “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” Peter was saying: “I’ve been a Jew since my birth and have remained orthodox all my life. I have kept kosher, never had a piece of bacon, and never enjoyed ham. I have never broken the dietary laws in my entire life, and I’m not going to start now.”

God’s Law Abrogated?

In response to Peter, God listened to his protest and said to him, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” In that moment, centuries of dietary law and legal requirements God had sent to His people through Moses were instantly repealed, abrogated, and set aside.

Those laws had been so important for the Old Testament Jew to keep. Remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Why were they in the furnace? Why was Daniel in the lions’ den? When they were in captivity in Babylon, trying to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land, they were still keeping kosher and refusing to bow down and worship the king. They refused to eat the king’s food because they wanted to be faithful to the law of God. They put their lives on the line for it.

But now in the New Testament, God changed the rules in the middle of the game, so to speak. That may sound whimsical or capricious to you about the character of God, perhaps even like God is arbitrary. But we must understand that when God legislated to His people in the Old Testament, He legislated in two different ways.

Law from God’s Character

On the one hand, God gave law that came out of His own character. For Him ever to repeal that law, which we call the moral law, would be to do violence to His own sanctity and holiness. If you look at the moral law of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, there is nothing that could happen and transpire in human history that would suddenly make it okay for God to say: “All right, now you can have other gods before Me. It is now okay for you to believe in anybody you want.” For God to do that would be to deny His own character.

God would not come to the second commandment and say: “From the beginning, it has been blasphemous for Me to see you bowing down and worshiping idols, but now, go ahead. Craft some idols for yourself and have a good time.”

God has said: “You shall not ever take My name in vain. I don’t ever want to hear My name blasphemed from your mouth, ever, under any circumstances. Jesus, My Son, when He taught His disciples how to pray and what to pray for, first told them, ‘Hallowed by Thy name.’” Oh, that people would treat the name of God with such reverence and respect that they would never think of using it in a flippant manner. God would not say: “Times have changed. Saying My name in vain is okay on American television, so it’s okay with Me now because I’m not holy anymore.” No, those laws based on God’s character are without repeal. They remain forever. There will never be a time when God will give us permission to blaspheme His name.

Law for Historical Purposes

There are other laws God set down not simply because of His unique character, but rather for His historical purposes. He created a tiny nation of Jews out of the world not because they were any better than anybody else, but because He said, “I’m going to make a holy people.” He called Abraham out of paganism. Abraham had not done anything to deserve that. God said to Abraham, “I’m going to bless you.” Why? “So that you will be a blessing to all the nations of the world.”

Some might say that it is odd of God to choose the Jews. But He did not choose them, establish a wall around them, give them special rituals, sacrifices, and diets so that they could enjoy that unique position before Him among all peoples in the world forever. They were called to this for a purpose: to be a holy priesthood to the world.

After a while, the Jews began to think that their ethnic separation was the end of the matter, and all one had to do to be saved was be circumcised. In other words, all a person had to do to be saved was to be born Jewish, and there was no hope for the godforsaken, unclean, filthy gentile. So, to maintain their purity, identity, and ethnic separation, the dietary laws were added to the covenant, until the coming of Christ, who tore down the wall of separation, changed everything, and built His church not only with Jews, but with Samaritans, gentiles, and God-fearers.

God said to Peter: “The dietary laws have changed. You can eat pork.” Peter said: “I can’t handle this. It’s too much. It is unclean.” But you see, this was not about food or animals. It was about people. The rest of the chapter shows us the reason God repealed the dietary laws: those who were unclean were now being gathered together and made clean by Christ.

God Declares Us Clean

There is nobody among us who started this life any way but unclean. In some respects, we are still unclean. But if you have confessed Christ, if you have come to Christ, if you have embraced Christ and put your hope and trust in Him alone for your salvation, then He is in you, and you are in Him. If that relationship exists in your life right now, do not let anyone call you unclean, because God has declared you clean.

That is what justification is all about. That is what the pronouncement of your forgiveness is all about: God has removed the impurities from His sight, and He gives you access to His presence. He looks at you and knows the sin is there, but if you put yourself at the feet of Christ, He embraces you and He adopts you into His family.

Other people may call you unclean, but God said to Peter, “Don’t call common or profane what I have declared clean.” That was the mystery of which Paul was speaking: we who by nature are unclean have been declared clean by God. When God declares you clean, you are clean in His sight. Let us pray.

Father, we were far from Your covenant. We were far from Your house. We were strangers and pilgrims in the world until Your Son broke down that barrier and invited us into Your house and His church. For this grace, o God, we are eternally grateful. We thank You in the name of Christ. Amen.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.