A sheet full of treif

Acts 10:1 - 11:18 covers the story of Peter's thrice-repeated vision of the sheet full of unclean animals and its interpretation. This exegesis concludes that the meaning of the vision is only about Gentiles - that they are not to be regarded as unclean by Jewish believers - and that it has nothing to do with them eating unclean foods or with the Law of Moses supposedly being terminated. It should, therefore, not be used to substantiate the claim that the Law is obsolete since it does not address that topic. One of the demands of good hermeneutics is to see how one's exegesis fits in with the overall sweep of scripture but I am going to restrict the discussion to the selected passage because I'm trying to show that Acts 10:1 - 11:18 on its own does not support the claim that the Law is done away with.

You can read through this article briefly and get the gist of what I am saying, but I suggest you set aside a couple of hours to do it thoroughly and resolve all the issues. This study requires absolute honesty of interpretation. I encourage you to put aside your own theology and join me in looking simply at what the text says. If you come with the idea that you already know what the story is about before studying it, you may fall into the trap of eisegesis - reading into the text what you think (and perhaps want) it to say, instead of exegesis - reading the meaning out of the text.

To start, read the entire passage. The story describes:

• Peter’s visions of the sheet during his stay with “Simon the tanner” in Joppa, 
• his mission and preaching to Gentiles in Caesarea (Cornelius and his household), 
• their reception of the gospel and baptism in Spirit and water, and 
• Peter’s defence of his actions to believers in Jerusalem leading to the revelation of God’s inclusion of the Gentiles in his Kingdom.

I say "visions" (plural) because Peter saw the same vision three times over. Repetition in the Bible is a technique to emphasise a message strongly, and a triple declaration is the strongest possible statement. In Isaiah and Revelation, for example, God is praised with the cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty!" (Revelation 4:8, almost verbatim in Isaiah 6:3) By saying "holy" three times in succession, the creatures are emphatically stating that God could not be more holy. So Peter's triple vision was something of great importance.

The narrative is a crucial part in the historical spread of the gospel (hence, the Kingdom) to every nation. First it went from Jews alone to semi-Jews (outcast Samaritan “half-breeds”) in Acts 8 and then, in the same chapter, to the Ethiopian eunuch. (He was either a proselyte to Judaism or a God-fearer, but in either case unable to enter the Temple due to his emasculation, Deuteronomy 23:1). In Acts 10, the gospel is preached to God-fearers (Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel together with the Jews) and by Acts 11 it was being presented to all Gentiles - even pagans! Peter's vision of the sheet was pivotal to this development. In Acts 15:14, Jacob ("James") affirms to the Jerusalem Council Peter's claim that Israel itself was selected by God "from among the Gentiles". The vision Peter saw was God's directive to the chief apostle to open wide the door to the Gentiles, and it changed the course of history forever.

Exegesis: The transfiguration of Jesus in Mark 9

This paper seeks to expound the passage of Mark 9:2-13 concerning the transfiguration of Jesus and the fulfilment of Malachi 4:5 in John the Baptist as Elijah. The principal point of this text is the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God (v7). The story is paralleled in Matthew 17:1-13 and Luke 9:28-36.