In Acts 10:9-48, we read the story of how Peter came to realize that no group was to be excluded from God’s Kingdom. Through a series of visions from God, Peter comes to understand this new reality.
Here are a couple of key verses from that story:
Acts 10:27-28 NIV
While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.”
Acts 10:34-35 NIV
Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”
“I now realize” is a pivotal phrase from Peter in the book of Acts. He had been a believer for years. He had witnessed miracles and performed them through the power of the Holy Spirit, yet he still carried a cultural hang-up about Gentiles.
God suddenly challenged a mindset that had been shaped by Peter’s upbringing as a Jewish boy. He had been taught what to eat and with whom to associate. Peter could not fathom a Christ follower who ate pork and wasn’t Jewish. It wasn’t that Peter was a bad man. His upbringing had simply taught him otherwise.
Peter had a lifetime of cultural conditioning. Because of his religious tradition and its interpretation of Scripture, he viewed some people groups as beyond the reach of God’s love.
We read this story and wonder, How could Peter think any group of people were beyond God’s love after all he had experienced as an apostle of Jesus?
