Acts 11:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What does he mean by this? He says that the single vision of the sheet was enough to persuade him of this. But the voice was also joined to it.

“And I heard a voice saying to me.” The appearance of the sheet would have been enough to persuade him. Yet a voice was also joined to it: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

See Acts 10:11. Peter heard, “Rise, kill and eat!” That is, rise in your mind from what is apprehended by sense.

“And kill and eat,” that is, receive it spiritually through division by the logos, and make it your own.

The news of the event in Cornelius's house quickly spread among the Christians and reached, among others, the Church of Jerusalem. There it stirred up serious misunderstandings. Christians from among the circumcised were perplexed and even indignant, above all because the Apostle Peter had allowed himself to go into the house of uncircumcised men and eat with them. Therefore, when Peter came to Jerusalem, they reproached him for what they regarded as defiling himself through fellowship with Gentiles. But the Apostle Peter's detailed account of all the extraordinary circumstances, in which God's will concerning the Gentiles was expressed, completely calmed their minds. All the Christians glorified God, saying that it was evident God had also granted the Gentiles repentance unto life.

Peter began to recount everything to them in order. He considered the best means of clarifying the matter, justifying his conduct, and calming the circumcised who had reproached him, to be a complete account of what had happened. The narrative is entirely the same as the one given above and explained by us. Only a few particulars in it require brief explanation. The reason why the writer of Acts recounts this narrative a second time is, of course, the special importance and great significance of the event itself for the Church. Verse 12: "These six brethren also went with me." From this it is clear that the Christians of Joppa who accompanied Peter to Caesarea, to the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:23), also accompanied him from Caesarea to Jerusalem and were now there with him.

From the Apostle Peter's account, the circumcised could see that he was no less concerned than they were for the observance of lawful purity and freedom from contact with anything unclean or forbidden for food. He expressed this even before God, and more than once. Yet the Lord answered that one must not regard as unclean what God had cleansed. The raising up to heaven of what was considered unclean also had to speak of the same thing. That is, what comes from the Lord and is to ascend to Him must not be despised, since it proceeds from God and goes to Him. "God is everywhere, to Whom he, Peter, refers everything. For he says: He showed the vessel, and I objected to Him. Again He spoke, and I did not obey even this. The Spirit commanded me to go.