Clean and Unclean

Set Apart to Be Mine

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Peter told the voice, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean” (Acts 10:14). Why did Peter care so much about what he ate?

God gave the rules. Long ago “the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron” about food (Leviticus 11:1). He told Israel, “These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth” (Leviticus 11:2).

Clean animals. Animals with split hooves that chew the cud, like sheep and cattle, were clean. The law said, “whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud—that you may eat” (Leviticus 11:3).

Unclean animals. Many other animals, birds and creeping things were unclean. God’s people were not to eat them.

Knowing the difference. These rules were given “to distinguish between the unclean and the clean” (Leviticus 11:47). Distinguish means to tell the difference.

Why? God explained, “I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples” (Leviticus 20:24).

Set apart. “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26). Set apart means chosen to belong to God in a special way.

A sign at every meal. Every time an Israelite family sat down to eat, the food rules reminded them that they belonged to God.

Good rules. The food laws were good. They were a gift from God to His people.

Holy like God. God said, “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). Holy means set apart and pure, the way God is.

Peter kept them. Peter obeyed these rules his whole life. In Jerusalem he said, “nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth” (Acts 11:8).

A shadow. Paul wrote that rules about food were “a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:17). Jesus is the One the shadow pointed to.

The deeper problem. Clean food could keep a plate clean, but it could not make a heart clean. Every person has sinned.

Jesus makes us clean. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again. When we trust Him, God makes us clean and makes us His own.

What we learn. God has always wanted a people who belong to Him. Through Jesus, He invites people from every nation to be His.

What to do. Thank God that you can belong to Him. Live this week as someone set apart for Jesus.

Peter’s first answer in the vision came from loyalty to the law: “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean” (Acts 10:14). To understand it, go back to Leviticus.

The law of the animals. “These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud—that you may eat” (Leviticus 11:2-3).

Tahor. The Hebrew word for clean is tahor (say: tah-HOR), pure, fit for God’s people and for His worship. Leviticus sets it beside its opposite, unclean, again and again.

The purpose (11:46-47). “This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth, to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.”

Separated (20:24-25). “I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean.” Because God had separated Israel from the nations, Israel separated clean animals from unclean.

That you should be Mine (20:26). “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” The food laws were a daily sign of belonging that anyone could see.

Holiness. “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). God’s people were to show His purity in ordinary things, even a meal.

A faithful Jew. Peter could say, “nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth” (Acts 11:8). He had honored God’s law with care, and that was good.

Why the vision troubled him. Most likely the sheet held clean and unclean animals together, and God told Peter to eat. The command reached the very line that had marked his people for centuries.

A shadow (Colossians 2:17). Paul called such rules “a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” The shadow was real and from God, but it pointed ahead to Jesus.

One people. In Christ, God was forming one people from every nation. At Cornelius’ house, the line between Israel and the nations at the table was about to be crossed.

The gospel. No food law could cleanse sin. Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again, and everyone who trusts Him is made clean and set apart for God.

Application. You belong to God because of Jesus, not because of what you eat or avoid. Let your whole life show that you are His.

Jesus Made All Foods Clean

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Peter heard God say, “What God has cleansed you must not call common” (Acts 10:15). Years before, Jesus had taught His disciples about clean and unclean.

A crowd. Jesus called the people and said, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand” (Mark 7:14).

From outside. “There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man” (Mark 7:15). To defile means to make dirty or unclean.

A question. Later the disciples asked Jesus what He meant (Mark 7:17). Matthew tells us that Peter was the one who asked (Matthew 15:15).

Stomach, not heart. Jesus said food “does not enter his heart but his stomach” (Mark 7:19). Food cannot reach the heart.

All foods. Jesus went on: food “is eliminated, thus purifying all foods” (Mark 7:19). No food could make a person unclean any more.

The same lesson. On the housetop, God taught Peter the same truth Jesus had taught: food does not make a person unclean.

What really makes us unclean. Jesus said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man” (Mark 7:20). Lies, pride and other sins come from the heart.

Until God’s new way. Hebrews says the old rules were “concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation” (Hebrews 9:10). Reformation means God’s new way that came with Jesus.

Not about food. Christians can thank God for any food. Food is not what makes a person right with God.

The real cleaning. Only Jesus can clean a heart. His blood, shed on the cross, washes away every sin.

The cross. Jesus never sinned. He died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day.

His own people. Jesus “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people” (Titus 2:14).

What we learn. Food cannot make you clean or unclean before God. Sin is the real problem, and Jesus is the real answer.

What to do. Ask Jesus to clean your heart. Then thank God for your food, and be kind to everyone at the table.

Jesus had taught about clean and unclean long before the sheet came down in Joppa. Mark 7 tells what He said.

Hear Me (7:14-15). “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.”

Koinoo. Defile translates koinoo (say: koy-NOH-oh), to make common or unclean. It belongs to the same family of words as common in Acts 10:14-15.

Peter asked. The disciples asked Him about the saying (7:17). Matthew tells us it was Peter who asked Jesus to explain it (Matthew 15:15).

Without understanding (7:18). “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him.”

Purifying all foods (7:19). “Because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” With these words Jesus made all foods clean.

What defiles (7:20). “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.” Sin starts in the heart.

Imposed until (Hebrews 9:10). The old rules were “concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.” Reformation means setting things right, the new way God brought in Christ.

Slow to learn. Peter had heard Jesus’ words, but on the housetop he still said, “Not so, Lord!” God patiently taught him again.

A bigger door. If food no longer divided clean from unclean, then the meal table could no longer divide Jew from Gentile. God opened that door in Caesarea.

The cleansing that matters. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Christ “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people” (Titus 2:14).

The gospel. Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again the third day. A heart made clean by Him is truly clean.

Application. Do not judge yourself or anyone else by the outside. Bring your heart to Jesus, and treat every believer at the table as family.

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