Tag: Acts 10

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Renewing our taste: Messiah transforms our desires to crave God above all else (Leviticus 11; Genesis 2–3; Acts 10)

Renewing our taste: Messiah transforms our desires to crave God above all else (Leviticus 11; Genesis 2-3; Acts 10). AI artwork by Adobe Firefly showing a woman's hand grasping fruit on a tree.

The distinction between “clean” and “unclean” animals in Leviticus 11 and Acts 10 echoes the choice between the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad/Evil in Genesis 2–3. By eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve sought to determine good and bad for themselves, instead of trusting in God’s provision and boundaries.

In this study of Torah reading שְׁמִינִי Shemini (“eighth,” Leviticus 9–11), we’ll see that learning the underlying lesson of distinguishing clean from unclean teaches the commonwealth of Israel to accept God’s designations rather than relying on their own understanding. Those who “eat” what God deems “unclean” place themselves outside of His blessing and life, just as Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden. But by obeying God’s instructions on diet and ritual purity, Israel can enjoy communion with the holy God and partake continually of His life-giving presence, prefigured by the Tree of Life.

Peter’s vision in Acts 10 teaches this fundamental lesson of how “cleaned” believers in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) are elevated/separated from the “unclean” way of the world.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

6 lessons from when fire comes from God

The closer we desire to be to God, the more He expects of us — more repentance, more humility, more love and compassion for those He created. We know who God and what He expects of us because of His words, the instructions He has given us to follow.

This is a key lesson from the deaths of two key priests in the Tabernacle from the Torah reading שמיני Shemini (“eighth,” Leviticus 9–11). God has given us counsel and instructions on how we are to conduct ourselves in the world, in our families, in our communities. He also tells us how we are to interact with Him.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Does Peter’s vision in Acts 10 show that God is done with the dietary laws of Leviticus?

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Vision of Cornelius the Centurion, 1664.

God gave apostle Peter a startling vision in of unclean animals lowered to him on a sheet for him to “kill and eat.” The common interpretation of this elaborate and repetitive vision is it’s now permissible for believers in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Mashiakh (Christ) to eat meats like pork that were not on the Leviticus menu.

Another interpretation is there was a much greater lesson for Peter: God has always wanted a the family of Heaven to include both Jews and Gentiles. We’ll explore both views in this study.

Categories
Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Become clean and holy from the inside out (Leviticus 9-11; Mark 7; Acts 10)

"Peter's vision" by Julius Schnorr, circa 1909.

The people of Yisrael had a long history of forgetting what made them Holy. It was God who made them holy. They didn’t make themselves holy. They also lost sight of the fact that being declared tame or unclean doesn’t make one sinful or wicked either.

Yeshua’s frequently argued with the Pharisees over their emphasis on their man-made traditions over the plain word of scripture and how their man-made traditions were doing more to keep people away from God than brining them into God’s embrace.
Even after Yeshua’s death and resurrection, these false ideas about the inherent holiness of the Jewish people and the inherent wickedness of the Gentiles was hindering God’s goal to lift up, bring near, make clean, declare holy believers from the nations in the same way Heaven does for the “native-born.”