But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
Parallel Translations
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But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
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But Peter sayde: God forbyd Lorde for I have never eaten eny thinge that is comen or vnclene.
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But Peter sayd, Not so, Lord: for I haue neuer eaten any thing that is polluted, or vncleane.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Acts 10:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 20:25 “ ‘You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean. You shall not make yourselves abominable by animal, or by bird, or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have separated from you as unclean for you.
- Ezekiel 4:14 Then I said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals. No abominable meat has come into my mouth!”
- Leviticus 11:1-25 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and chews the cud among the animals, that you may eat. “ ‘Nevertheless these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those who part the hoof: the camel, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. The hyrax, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. The hare, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. The pig, because it has a split hoof, and is cloven-footed, but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you. “ ‘These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that you may eat. All that don’t have fins and scales in the seas and rivers, all that move in the waters, and all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination to you, and you shall detest them. You shall not eat of their meat, and you shall detest their carcasses. Whatever has no fins nor scales in the waters is an abomination to you. “ ‘You shall detest these among the birds; they shall not be eaten because they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat. “ ‘All flying insects that walk on all fours are an abomination to you. Yet you may eat these: of all winged creeping things that go on all fours, which have long, jointed legs for hopping on the earth. Even of these you may eat: any kind of locust, any kind of katydid, any kind of cricket, and any kind of grasshopper. But all winged creeping things which have four feet are an abomination to you. “ ‘By these you will become unclean: whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening. Whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
- Deuteronomy 14:1-29 You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. You shall not eat any abominable thing. These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the chamois. Every animal that parts the hoof, and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of those who have the hoof split: the camel, the hare, and the rabbit. Because they chew the cud but don’t part the hoof, they are unclean to you. The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses. These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat whatever has fins and scales. You shall not eat whatever doesn’t have fins and scales. It is unclean to you. Of all clean birds you may eat. But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, the red kite, the falcon, the kite after its kind, every raven after its kind, the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the hawk after its kind, the little owl, the great owl, the horned owl, the pelican, the vulture, the cormorant, the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. All winged creeping things are unclean to you. They shall not be eaten. Of all clean birds you may eat. You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the foreigner living among you who is within your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes out of the field year by year. You shall eat before Yahweh your God, in the place which he chooses to cause his name to dwell, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear Yahweh your God always. If the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it because the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to set his name there is too far from you, when Yahweh your God blesses you, then you shall turn it into money, bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose. You shall trade the money for whatever your soul desires: for cattle, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul asks of you. You shall eat there before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you. At the end of every three years you shall bring all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and shall store it within your gates. The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, as well as the foreigner living among you, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
- Daniel 1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
- Exodus 10:11 Not so! Go now you who are men, and serve Yahweh; for that is what you desire!” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
- Ezekiel 44:31 The priests shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it is bird or animal.
- Matthew 16:22 Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
- Matthew 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
- Luke 1:60 His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”
- Acts 9:5 He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
- Acts 10:28 He said to them, “You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 14. Not so, Lord. This is the voice of…
14. Not so, Lord. This is the voice of him which doth as well refuse, as also object to God his own commandment; for he is afraid, for good causes, to touch that which he knew was forbidden him in the law of God, (Leviticus 11:21, etc.) Therefore he objecteth to God the law which he himself made, lest he should break the same unadvisedly. There was a certain show of repugnancy between the law and the vision; therefore Peter is not hasty, but desireth first to have his doubt dissolved before he depart from observing the law. Yet it is a strange matter why Peter resisted more in meats than did Abraham in killing his son; for Abraham [might have] had more things to object, (Genesis 22:9, 10.) I dare not here say that that befell Peter which is too common among men, to stand more about outward and small matters than about the chief points of the law; I rather make that answer which is out of doubt, that Abraham’s mind was so persuaded, and that he was furnished with such power of the Spirit, that he overcame with 1ofty and heroical fortitude all those things which might have hindered him. But the Spirit of God wrought slenderly, in Peter; whereby we are taught that every small or light thing doth cause us to doubt, unless the Lord do furnish us with counsel and constancy to overcome all fear. Yet Peter dealeth very godly and very religiously, in that being in doubt amidst divers cogitations, he dare do nothing until it better appear what he ought to follow. Common signifieth in this place profane. For because the Lord (as we have said) had chosen the Jews to be a peculiar people, he had prescribed unto them this rite and manner of living, that it might distinguish them from the profane Gentiles. Therefore, whatsoever the Gentiles did use contrary to the rule of the law, that did they call common, because there was nothing pure or holy but that which God had appointed for the use of his people.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Peter profiteth daily in the knowledge of the benefit…
Peter profiteth daily in the knowledge of the benefit of Christ, yea, after that he had received the holy Ghost.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I…
14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
Ver. 14. Common or unclean] By commonness there is contracted an uncleanness. It is hard to deal in the world, and not be defiled with the corruption that is in the world through lust.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain These words may signify one and the same thing,…
These words may signify one and the same thing, and the latter explain the former; showing that those things are said to be common, which the law, by forbidding them, had made unclean. Others make some difference; and by things common, understand all sorts of creatures, which were forbidden to the Jews, but were commonly fed upon by all nations round about them; and by things unclean, they understand such as by accident became so, as when any of the creatures permitted for use was strangled.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But Peter said, not so, Lord,.... God forbid I…
But Peter said, not so, Lord,.... God forbid I should do this, so contrary to the law of God, and to my own practice, throughout the whole course of my life:
for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean; in a ceremonial sense, which was in common use with Gentiles, but unclean by the law of Moses: this shows that Peter as yet closely adhered to the ceremonial law, nor did he know that it was abolished by Christ; and notwithstanding the commission given to him and the rest of the apostles to preach the Gospel to every creature, and the extraordinary gifts of speaking with divers tongues for that purpose, bestowed on them at the day of Pentecost; yet he and they remained greatly strangers to the calling of the Gentiles, and the admitting of them to a civil and religious conversation with them; the knowledge of every truth was not at once communicated to them, but gradually, as it pressed the Lord to enlighten their minds.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain But Peter said, In nowise, Lord - When God…
But Peter said, In nowise, Lord - When God commands a strange or seemingly improper thing, the first objection frequently finds pardon. But it ought not to be repeated. This doubt and delay of St. Peter had several good effects. Hereby the will of God in this important point was made more evident and incontestable. And Peter also, having been so slow of belief himself, could the more easily bear the doubting of his brethren, chap. xi, 2, &c.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. Common or unclean.] By common, κοινον, whatever…
Verse 14. Common or unclean.] By common, κοινον, whatever was in general use among the Gentiles is to be understood; by ακαθαρτον, unclean, every thing that was forbidden by the Mosaic law. However, the one word may be considered as explanatory of the other. The rabbins themselves, and many of the primitive fathers, believed that by the unclean animals forbidden by the law the Gentiles were meant.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I have never eaten ... - In the Old…
I have never eaten ... - In the Old Testament God had made a distinction between clean and unclean animals. See Lev. 11:2-27; Deut. 14:3-20. This law remained in the Scriptures, and Peter pled that he had never violated it, implying that he could not now violate it, as it was a law of God, and that, as it was unrepealed, he did not dare to act in a different manner from what it required. Between that law and the command which he now received in the vision there was an apparent variation, and Peter naturally referred to the well known and admitted written Law. One design of the vision was to show him that that Law was now to pass away.
That is common - This word properly denotes “what pertains to all,” but among the Jews, who were bound by special laws, and who were prohibited from many things that were freely indulged in by other nations, the word “common” came to be opposed to the word “sacred,” and to denote what was in common use among the pagans, hence, that which was “profane,” or “polluted.” Here it means the same as “profane,” or “forbidden.”
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Unclean - Ceremonially unclean; that is, what is forbidden by the ceremonial law of Moses.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Not so, Lord--See Marginal reference.
Not so, Lord--See Marginal reference.
I have never eaten anything that is common--that is, not sanctified by divine permission to eat of it, and so "unclean." "The distinction of meats was a sacrament of national distinction, separation, and consecration" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 14. Unclean—Even under the patriarchal dispensation the distinction of…
14. Unclean—Even under the patriarchal dispensation the distinction of animals into clean and unclean was religiously established. (Gen_7:2.) Man, indeed, by nature makes a distinction. Some animals are so repugnant to human tastes and health that we are disgusted at the very thought of eating them. Early in the divine education of man God so used this natural distinction which he had made, as the basis of a moral discrimination, as to impress the minds of fallen men with the difference between the pure and the impure in spirit and life, and between the righteous and the wicked among men. And when God set apart the posterity of Abraham from the idolatries and licentiousness into which the nations were sinking, he made such a distinction of meats as separated Jew and heathen from the same table, and thus struck out one of the most powerful points of union between men. Thus was Israel alone amid the nations; the lonely maintainer of the true God until the time of the God incarnate should come, and then the distinction should be abolished, and all the world be called to the knowledge of Jehovah.
Common or unclean— ”One term,” says Grotius, “defines the other. For the swine (Lev_11:7) is called unclean, and the same (1Ma_10:50; 1Ma_10:65) is called common, that is, commonly used by Gentiles, a people not sanctified to God. Seneca narrates that ‘In the time of the Emperor Tiberius foreign religious systems were forbidden at Rome, and the test was abstinence from certain animals.’”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 14. Not so, Lord] Cp. Eze_4:14, where the prophet…
14. Not so, Lord] Cp. Eze_4:14, where the prophet being shewn that the children of Israel shall eat defiled bread among the Gentiles, exclaims in words very like St Peter’s: “There never came abominable flesh into my mouth.” For the care with which the devout Jew observed the ceremonial distinction between clean and unclean, see Dan_1:8-12; 2Ma_6:18.
common or unclean] The oldest authorities read “common and unclean.” The use of “common” in the sense of impure according to the Mosaic ritual is, as were the ordinances about which this language was employed, peculiar to the Jews. But it is easy to trace the steps by which the word came to be used thus. All persons who were not Jews were viewed as the “common” rabble, shut out from God’s covenant, then whatever practices of these outcasts differed from those of the chosen people were called “common” things, and as these “common” things were those forbidden by the Law, all such prohibited things or actions became known as “common.” Cp. Mar_7:2, where the margin explains that “defiled hands” is in the original “common hands.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (14) Not so, Lord . . .—The emphatic resistance…
(14) Not so, Lord . . .—The emphatic resistance even to a voice from heaven is strikingly in harmony with the features of St. Peter’s character, as portrayed in the Gospels, with the “Be it far from thee, Lord,” when he heard of the coming Passion (Mat_16:22), with “Thou shalt never wash my feet,” in Joh_13:8. He had been taught that that which “goeth into the mouth cannot defile the man” (Mar_7:15), but he had not taken in that truth in its fulness, either in its literal or symbolic meaning.
Any thing that is common or unclean.—“Common” is used, as in Mar_7:2, in the sense of “defiled” or “impure,” that which excludes the idea of consecration to a special service.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And unclean for or unclean, A.V. and T.R. It…
And unclean for or unclean, A.V. and T.R. It is rather a striking testimony to Peter"s religious character as a Jew before his call to the apostolate, that, poor Galilaean fisherman as he was, unlearned and ignorant, he had yet always conscientiously obeyed the Law of Moses in regard to things clean and unclean. (comp. Dan_1:8-15) The address, Lord (Kurie), seems certainly to recognize the voice as that of Christ, which also agrees with the descent of the vessel from heaven. The answer is very similar to the refusals in Mat_16:22; Joh_13:8.
Vers. 14, 15. Nothing common in God"s sight.
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Introduce by an account of St. Peter"s vision, observing how it affected the mind of one who was so thoroughly imbued with Jewish notions. In our Lord"s time the laws of the clean and unclean were scrupulously observed, and the apostles had not yet realized how the new spirit of Christ"s kingdom was to set them free from the bondages and the limitations of the Jewish ceremonial. God would, by this vision, correct two of the prevailing mistakes.
1. That his favor was granted only to certain defined classes and individuals of mankind. He "so loved the world.
2. That his service was found in the obedience of merely external regulations, that once had their usefulness and their meaning, but were not necessarily expressions of heart-love and devotion. The first mistake was corrected, in the vision, by the outstretched sheet, which was a figure of the wide world, and the four corners as the directions into which the gospel was now to be borne forth into all the world. The second mistake was corrected by the obliteration of all formal distinctions in the announcement that what God has cleansed man may not call common, for God will receive the love and trust and worship of "whosoever will." Dean Plumptre says, In the interpretation of the vision, all that belongs to humanity had been taken up into heaven,
(1) when man"s nature was assumed by the eternal Word in the Incarnation, (Joh_1:14) and
(2) when that nature had been raised in the Ascension to the heaven of heavens." We may consider
I THE UNIVERSAL TRUTH AS HERE STATED AND ILLUSTRATED. "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." God affirms that the whole earth is free to receive the message of the gospel, all disabilities and barriers are for ever removed, and he recognizes no longer the distinctions of elect and non-elect; "To the Gentiles also is granted repentance unto life." It may be shown
(1) that God, as Creator and Preserver, cares for his whole world;
(2) that, as the fatherly Ruler, he is concerned for the moral well-being of the whole world;
(3) that, as dealing with willful and rebellious children, we must conceive that he seeks to accomplish the salvation of all. This truth is the very life of our missionary labor. We are bidden to preach the gospel "to every creature," with a perfect assurance that God would have "all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." This truth is often embraced with difficulty, after strong conflict with limiting prejudices; it is often held as mere sentiment; and perhaps on few men is it the inspiration to noble labors and sacrifices that it was designed to be. How it would urge us to missionary work, if we really believed that Christ wants every man to come to him, and would have us bring them!
II THE LIMITATIONS OF THIS TRUTH FOUND IN JUDAISM. Special favor to one particular race or, as we may better express it, the special call of one race to a particular work or witness does not assume or involve the Divine indifference to the rest; we might more wisely say that all special calls of the few were made for the sake of the whole, and God"s love to the world made him commit a special revelation to the trust of the Jew. The distinction between "clean and unclean" in the food represented a distinction of clean and unclean between Jew and Gentile. But "unclean" things were still God"s, and used by him for other purposes, though not just for food. They were not despised or rejected things, but each had its mission. And so Gentiles were not out of God"s care and favor because Jews were in. They too occupied the places he assigned and did the work he willed. It may further be shown that the Jewish limitations were designedly
(1) temporary,
(2) educational
preparatory to the advent of Christ, in whom and by whom the Divine thought for the whole race could be fully revealed.
III THE REMOVAL OF THE LIMITATIONS UNDER THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Which deals with man as man, apart from any local and temporary distinctions of
(1) nationality,
(2) class,
(3) genius,
(4) location, or
(5) ceremonial cleanness.
The gospel is for the "sons of men." Jew and Gentile, Greek and Roman, bend and free, meet as sinners at the feet of Christ, to receive the forgiveness of sins and the life everlasting. Now there is nothing common in God"s sight. Every soul is a priceless soul, for it has been bought with precious blood, the infinite sacrifice of the Son of God. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes on verse 9
See notes on verse 9
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 10:14 See Lev 11 for a description of animals…
10:14 See Lev 11 for a description of animals that Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.