Keeping It Kosher
Peter didn’t write much.
No surprise here. As you will hear in this week’s PODCAST, the hyperactive-apostle could not sit still long enough to put pen to parchment.
There is one of the four Gospels credited to Peter—but even that he could not write himself. Peter employed Mark to record his recollections. And no surprise that in reading what could-well be entitled, The Gospel According to Peter as Told to Mark, the one word that jumps out at us in Peter’s fast-paced, out-of-breath memoir is the adverb “immediately.” (Mark uses it 42 times).
All of which is to say that on the rare occasions when Peter did park himself at a desk to inscribe his insights (only twice—1 and 2 Peter!), we should sit up and take notice.
Case in point: 1 Peter 3:15. “If someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way.”
Words, BTW, that define for us a biblical approach to personal evangelism—AKA witnessing, soul-winning, sharing your faith.
When they ask, we explain.
A principle that Peter learned, and learned well, here in Acts 10.
The asker—Cornelius. Explainer—Peter.
Problem was—and it’s a HUGE problem indeed—Cornelius was an unclean Gentile centurion living in the unclean pagan city-capital city of Roman occupation of Peter’s land. This was for Peter One. Huge. Problem on multiple spiritually-threatening, faith-testing levels.
In order to understand, I need to put you into Peter’s sandals. And in order to put you into Peter’s sandals, I need to alert you to what has historically been the Greatest. Single. Threat to Judaism, and BTW, to us.
Now, allow me to lay out dots, and then connect these dots.
This entire discussion centers around one divine injunction, repeated several times in the Torah.
First, here’s the story from Acts 11:
Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, 10 and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. 12 In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. 13 Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.”
14 “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.”
15 But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” 16 The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.
17 Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house. Standing outside the gate, 18 they asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there.
19 Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you. 20 Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.”
21 So Peter went down and said, “I’m the man you are looking for. Why have you come?”
22 They said, “We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout and God-fearing man, well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he can hear your message.” 23 So Peter invited the men to stay for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.
24 They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter pulled him up and said, “Stand up! I’m a human being just like you!” 27 So they talked together and went inside, where many others were assembled.
28 Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. 29 So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me.”
30 Cornelius replied, “Four days ago I was praying in my house about this same time, three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. 31 He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God! 32 Now send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you.”
34 Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36 This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began preaching his message of baptism. 38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
39 “And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear, 41 not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”
44 Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too.46 For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God.
Then Peter asked, 47 “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” (Acts 11:9-47)
Now, the impact of God’s words in verse 15 changed world history from that day forward: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”
This presents something of an obstacle for Peter, as he had clung to God’s commands regarding what was fit for eating.
For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground. 45 For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy. (Leviticus 11:44-45)
“You must not eat anything that has died a natural death. You may give it to a foreigner living in your town, or you may sell it to a stranger. But do not eat it yourselves, for you are set apart as holy to the Lord your God.
“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. (Deuteronomy 14:21)
These Levitical laws really leave no room for negotiation. And it’s just one of many food restrictions God’s people live(d) by.
Now, over the past several thousand years, the Jewish sages have applied this last statement to mean that in order to remain kosher, one should not eat meat and dairy in the same meal. This is known as “building a wall around Torah”; which simply means to take God’s law and create another precautionary rule that would keep you far away from coming close to breaking God’s law.
So, to really understand God’s dietary laws without “building a wall” around them, we need to look at what God actually said. In Leviticus 11, in particular, there are three words that jump out: consecrate, holy, and unclean.
God wants His people consecrated, or set apart, from profane or ordinary, for a special purpose. By doing this, God’s people are thusly made holy – or daily living and making choices according to His will and calling on our lives. God also commands that His people not allow themselves to be made unclean. One way to remain clean is/was to make consecrated/holy/God-willed food choices.
Believe it or not, food choices go right to the heart of the greatest threat, historically, to Jewish identity, culture, and influence in the world as God’s light unto the nations.
Since the days of Abraham through the 21st century, the greatest threat is not persecution, not anti-Semitism, not even the Holocaust… but assimilation.
And the temptation to give up our distinction as being separated, consecrated, made holy by obeying God’s will for our choices threatens all of us Christ-followers today just as much. When we become assimilated to the rest of the world, so that no one can tell the difference between our lifestyle and the lifestyles of the rest of the world, then we disobey God’s direct command.
So, in Peter’s vision, when Peter saw the non-kosher animals and told to eat them, he viewed it as a temptation to sacrifice the Jewish people’s survival.
Now, get this… dietary laws have nothing to do with salvation. Not then. Not now. Even Abraham was counted as righteous because of his faith, not because of what he did or didn’t eat. It has to do with identity.
All this to say that in Acts 11, when Peter told Cornelius,“You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you.” Peter wasn’t quoting Lavitical law, but Rabbinical “wall around the Torah” law. Yet, is was so ingrained into Peter’s mind, that it took three visions from God for him to get God’s message.
So, Peter didn’t realize that he was being prejudiced against his Gentile neighbors, but he was sincerely convinced that he was defending the faith that God had entrusted, once for all time to His holy people. He thought he was taking a stand for truth… simply because he had been taught this by perhaps well-intended, but non-biblical rabbis.
But, eventually, thankfully, Peter’s course was corrected.
Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king. (1 Peter 2:17)
[The Lord] is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. (2 Peter 3:9)
All of this begs these final questions of us:
- Motivated by misplaced religious conviction, against whom are we prejudiced?
- With whom will we never associate?
- And, who is it that we choose to shun?