Acts 10:13

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“And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.”

Does this account reveal that all animal flesh has been cleansed and may be eaten? Many have used this verse to prove that the dietary laws of Leviticus 11:1-47 and Deuteronomy 14:1-29 are no longer in effect.

Here is the question: Did God command Peter to eat any kind of meat that he wished? The answer will become an obvious, No! God was merely illustrating Peter’s attitude toward people, as we shall see. On a great sheet lowered from heaven were all types of unclean and common (ceremonially defiled) meats that Peter had never eaten and knew he should not eat. Also, Peter never ate any of them in the account (even symbolically, since what occurred was a vision). Critics presume to know what the vision meant before Peter did.

In Ac 10:17, Peter was still in doubt—and he was the only one who saw the vision! In Ac 10:19, his mind was still open as three men came with the message about Cornelius, an Italian gentile. The biggest point that God wanted to make is explained by Peter in Ac 10:28: “God has shown me that I should not call any MAN [not meat] common or unclean.” Ac 10:34-35 continues, “God is no respecter of PERSONS [not meats]: but in every nation he [a person] that fears Him, and works righteousness, is accepted with Him.”

This vision was a means of showing Peter his inconsistency—his hypocrisy—toward non-Jews, and revealing to him that God viewed everyone equally and offered His Spirit to all men.