Deeper Reflection
WHAT WOULD CONVINCE PETER, AN ORTHODOX JEW, to accept an invitation to visit the home of a Gentile? Nothing short of divine revelation.⁸ It was when he was praying (v.9) then, that God confronted Peter’s cultural scruples by way of a puzzling vision (vv.10-16), preparing him (as he later realised) for even more mind-blowing action to come.⁹In the fascinating development of events that followed, Peter soon realised that God’s desire to abolish cultural barriers reached far wider than Peter’s Jewish dietary restrictions. Not only had God cleansed all foods and made them edible, He had also cleansed the hearts of all peoples who sought Him by faith (cf. Acts 15:9) and made them acceptable to Himself. Just two days earlier, Peter would probably never have imagined that Gentiles, too, could receive the Holy Spirit (vv.44-46) and be baptised in Jesus’ name (vv.47-48)! Indeed, “God shows no partiality”, Peter conceded, “but in every nation, anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him” (vv.34–35).Such a watershed paradigm shift and openness of heart by the leader of the Christ-following community — embracing Gentile believers as equals in the faith — was essential for the advancement of the Gospel from Jerusalem to the nations, from the Jews to the Gentiles. God initiated this phenomenal transformation when Peter was seeking God in his regular time of prayer. This giant leap in the early church’s move towards discipling the nations took place when Peter was in prayer — a “condition to receive a divine message”¹⁰ and a state ready for God to radically transform one’s heart and mind.

---

⁸ F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988), 205. ⁹ It can be safely assumed that, the day before, Cornelius, too, was praying when he received his vision from the Lord (cf. Acts 10:3-4), corresponding to Peter’s. ¹⁰ I. Howard Marshall, Acts: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 5, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980), 196.