And the voice answered again from heaven: What God hath made clean, do not thou call common.
απεκριθη δε μοι φωνη εκ δευτερου εκ του ουρανου α ο θεος εκαθαρισεν συ μη κοινου
5 Church Fathers comment on this verse
He says what was necessary and keeps silence about the rest. Or rather, by the first things he confirms the later things also.
See how he defends himself. He does not wish to make use of the dignity of a teacher. He knows that the more humbly he speaks, the more quickly he will calm them.
Again He spoke, and I did not obey even this. The Spirit commanded me to go. As I went, I did not hurry, nor did I immediately perform the baptism. Again, the Spirit accomplished everything.
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.
Peter undoubtedly could suppose that the event in Caesarea might stir up misunderstandings among the Jerusalem Christians from among the Jews, since it was new and extraordinary. It was natural, therefore, that Peter took these men with him to Jerusalem as witnesses of God's special guidance in this matter.
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.
In going, I did not act hastily, and I did not immediately perform the baptism. Again, the Spirit did everything. You see, I did everything that was mine to do. This is an apology against what they said: you went in and ate with them." Even afterward, the Apostle Peter was zealous for the observance of Jewish rites insofar as they were compatible with Christianity and necessary for influencing believers. Some were troubled when these rites were not observed, and, conversely, were comforted by their observance. This doubleness gave occasion for the Apostle Paul to reproach Peter. Yet Paul himself, when necessary, did not refuse to observe certain rites. Only this did not help him, because he did not perform them of himself, but followed the counsel of others. They thought that those angered at Paul for his conversion to Christianity would be pacified if he performed the rites the Jews performed at that time (see Acts 21:21-23). From this one may understand that reproaches about contact between Christians of the circumcision and uncircumcised Gentiles could often come also from Jews. For a rather long time they did not fully distinguish Christians from their own fellow believers. For this reason they even thought that Saint James, who observed certain Jewish rites, might utter blasphemy against Jesus Christ.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 15 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS