What is our first response when we are invited or challenged to shift? Are we excited? Nervous? Do we want to be in control? Do we feel liberated?

The Preparation of the Servant (Acts 10:9-16)

10:11–13. Even Palestinian Jews most lenient in other regards kept kosher. Thus this vision would present a horrifying situation for any first-century Palestinian Jew (and the vast majority of foreign Jews as well): God commands Peter to eat all these unclean, forbidden creatures. Hungry he may be (10:10), but he is not that hungry! (Keener)

10:14–16. In another vision half a millennium before, God had similarly called Ezekiel, a priest, to eat something unclean, and he had offered the same protest; God’s response was but a small improvement (Ezek 4:13–15). Jewish people had preferred death to eating unclean (nonkosher) food in the time of the Maccabees; thus Jewish readers would be appalled that God would require anything so disgusting (from the perspective of cultural cuisine) and impious (from an Old Testament perspective). The point of the vision, that God can declare anything clean, applies especially to the Gentiles Peter is about to meet (10:28; 15:9). Repetition of a revelation is not unusual (1 Sam 3:4–10) (Keener).

Why was Peter’s vision an important moment for the church? How did this vision prepare Peter for his encounter with Cornelius?

Read Leviticus 11:1–23 to see a portion of the Jewish dietary restrictions from the Old Testament. What was the original purpose for these restrictions?

What do you think your potential blind spots are when it comes to your faith and how you see the mission of the church?

The Providence of the Spirit (Acts 10:17-23)

10:17-19. Peter had strong convictions. But when he sensed that God was teaching him seomthing new, he seriously considered the implications of the vision. Thus, both God’s guidance and Peter’s willingness to grasp what God was showing him combined to produce a change in his thinking, even though it was something he was uncomfortable with (Wilkins et al. Loc. 4977). Are you a person who is open to living with the uncomfortable? Do you expect God to surprise you?

10:22. Although many stories tell of Jewish teachers talking with Gentiles, strict Jews would not enter a Gentile’s house or allow a Gentile in theirs. Thus Peter faces a problem in being invited to Cornelius’s house. Although more lax Jews would probably not object (v. 23a), Peter has to be concerned about stricter elements within the Jewish church, which eventually included even Pharisees (15:5) (Keener).

10:23a. Pharisees and other pietists were concerned about impure table fellowship; lodging Gentiles overnight, no matter how exhausted the guests may have been, contradicted strict Jewish piety. Eating with them was forbidden on the principle that they were evil company (Jubilees 22:16) (Keener).

10:17–33. What risks did Peter take by welcoming with these men? By traveling with them? Why was this encounter an important moment for the church?

The Preaching of the Savior (Acts 10:43)

10:43. Many prophets had messianic prophecies, but only a few of them (e.g., Is 53) directly connected the Messiah and the forgiveness of sins. Peter probably means this in a general sense: all the prophets testify of forgiveness through God’s grace, which will be provided in the time of the Messiah (c.f., e.g., Jer 23:5–6) (Keener).

How have you experienced Christ’s grace in your own life?

The Power of the Spirit (Acts 10:44-48)

10:45–47. Most Jewish teachers felt that the Spirit inspired only the most pious with divine utterances, or that the Spirit would mark God’s people in the future age. Gentiles obviously could not receive the gift if God had not accepted them, so he clearly had accepted them—even without circumcision (Keener).

Where have you already seen God at work around the globe? What does it look like?

Share of a time when you grew from an experience where God stretched or asked you to move beyond your comfort zone? Do you pray for, seek, and prepare for that to happen again? Why or why not?

What does a lifestyle focused on global mission mean to you? How would it look different than a one-time project? What are the benefits of a lifestyle of global mission? What could be the difficult realities of this kind of commitment?

How seriously do you take your responsibility to share the gospel with all types of people? Who has the Spirit been nudging you to connect with on a deeper level?

As a group, spend some time researching demographic information for your community. Specifically, look up the ratios of different ethnicities and people groups where you live. (One way to find this information is to look up results from the most recent census.) Present this information to your group, then ask: how is our church doing at reaching each of these groups?

Works Cited

Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. InterVarsity Press, 1993.

Wilkins, Michael J. et al. NIVAC Bundle 6: Gospels, Acts. Zondervan Academic, 2015.