Peter Converts A Gentile (Acts 10)

A vision from heaven changed Peter’s mind
About sharing the gospel with Gentiles;
A sheet filled with beasts of every kind,
All of those that to the Hebrew defiles!
“Kill and eat, Peter,” the voice of Christ said;
“Surely not, Lord; I don’t eat beasts unclean!”
Replied Peter, horrified, and in dread;
“What I have cleznsed, call you not unclean!”
Spoke Jesus sharply, by way of teaching
Him saved Gentiles equal Jews in God’s sight;
Servants of Cornelius were beseeching
Peter to come and share the gospel light!
So Peter went inside a Gentile’s place,
And shared with him the good news of grace!

Israelites were told by God in the book of Leviticus not to eat of any animal that does not have cloven hoofs and chewed the cud, because they were “unclean”; these included the camel, rabbit and pig. So for the 1500 years before the coming of Jesus, they had avoided eating such beasts. These animals, however, were on the sheet in Peter’s vision. No wonder Peter was horrified! By “unclean” though, God did not mean it to be a sin to eat, but that it was not good hygene. It was not God’s intention that the Jews would become prejudiced against all other human beings when He chose the Israelites as the special people who would produce the Messiah; they had become “puffed up” on their own, to believe that other races were inferior to theirs. Since all the first believers in Jesus were Jewish, including the apostles, it was necessary for them to eliminate their prejudice toward Gentiles so that they would apply themselves equally diligently toward witnessing to other races. It is likely that Peter would have rejected the request of the Roman centurion from Caesarea to come and share the gospel with his household and friends. That is not at all what Jesus Christ expected out of any disciple. The description of this vision and Peter’s mission trip to the home of Cornelius is found in the Book of Acts Chapter 10.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28-29)

Again, it’s Saul (Paul) to the rescue---to make the doctrine clear. All human beings, of whatever race, are equal in the Kingdom of God. No race is inferior to another. The first church in Jerusalem had a long difficult struggle in clarifying Christian doctrine, especially in eliminatiog the tendency of Jews to “look dow” on Gentiles, particularly those who were uncircumcixed. The treatment of women before Jesus came and equalized their status with men was woefully one-sided. They had no rights. A husband could divorce practically at will; they would not walk with their wives but several paces in front; they did not talk to them in public; their testimony was not acceptable in court. To this day there is some sort of stigma associated with the menstrual period. Slaves who became believers had equal status to their owner-believers. No wonder women and slaves flocked into the early churches!