Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 11:9
But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common.
This is twice spoken to St. Peter, that it might be the more unquestionable with him and others, it seeming otherwise very strange; and, it may be, therefore twice by St. Luke recorded.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
But the voice answered me again from heaven,…. From whence the former voice came, and was the voice of the Lord, or of an angel of the Lord, and which answered him again, or
a second time; not that it said to him a second time kill and eat, but what follows;
what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common; that is, had declared to be clean and fit for use, and did not defile, and could not defile the man into whose mouth it entered, and therefore ought not to be pronounced unclean, and of a defiling nature; this Jesus Christ did, who is God over all blessed for ever, and by whose death an end was put to the ceremonial law, and the distinctions of meats by it; Mt 15:11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “But the voice answered me again from heaven,” (apekrithe de ek deuterou phone ek tou ouranou) “Then replied the second time a voice out of the upper heaven,” Act 10:14.
2) “What God hath cleansed,” (ha ho ‘ theos ekatharisen) “Whatever God has cleansed,” declared to be clean, acceptable, in order for use, Mat 15:11; Rom 14:14; Rom 14:17; Rom 14:20; 1Co 10:25; Gal 3:19-25.
3) “That call not thou common,” (su me koinou) “You (are to) regard not (as) common or profane,” or to consider or associate it with the unclean, polluted, or profane, or divinely disapproved, Rom 3:3-4. “Do not contradict what I have declared from heaven,” the Lord chided and reprimanded Peter, Col 2:14-17.
This is not an advocacy of a social revolution to abolish all social orders and merge all into one ethnological race, but one that calls for a recognition of each as having equal access of right to receive salvation, to baptism, and to worship and glorify God in the church, in spiritual matters, without barricades in the flesh of race against race, Gal 3:28; Eph 3:21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
the = a.
answered. Greek. apokrinomai. App-122.
me. Omit.
again. Literally from (Greek. ek. App-104.) a second (time).
call = make.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
What: Act 10:28, Act 10:34, Act 10:35, Act 15:9, 1Ti 4:5, Heb 9:13, Heb 9:14
Reciprocal: Jos 22:19 – unclean Zec 14:20 – shall there Mat 15:11 – that which goeth Act 7:5 – yet Act 10:15 – What Rom 14:14 – unclean
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE CATHOLICITY OF THE GOSPEL
What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
Act 11:9
What a beautiful instance we have here of the Saviour speaking from heaven. Therefore it has peculiar force. It testifies as to what Jesus had done: what God hath cleansed; and it speaks to those whom He has cleansed and says that from the time of their cleansing nothing can henceforth make them common or unclean.
I. The universality of the Gospel.There is a dispensational truth in this utterance. It is the beautiful truth that God no longer distinguishes between Israel and the Gentiles, and now for the first time St. Peter, the one who had always been of the most strict and exclusive of the Hebrews, was instructed in the universal character of the Gospel. Therefore Peter no longer hesitated when he knew that it was Gods will that all men should be saved. It is a triumph of grace to accept new truth and to live by it. God taught St. Peter that now all the barriers were broken down, and men were to know that salvation was for all.
II. A picture of mankind.In the vessel let down from heaven were all kinds of beasts of the earth, and creeping things, and four-footed beasts, and fowls of the air. It seems to be a general summary intended to represent the whole creation, and is symbolical of man in his totality as divided into nations, into families, into households, and also as symbolising each individual considered in the many departments and characteristics of his being. Men differ from each other remarkably, and yet all are bound together without distinction, in one sheet for the purpose of God.
III. What is the purpose of thus bringing together all these nations, these congregations, these households, these individual men into one sheet? It is that they may learn to know God and to realise their own impotence and degradation; that they may know that all are equal in the sight of God.
IV. Some practical conclusions.
(a) This truth does away with self-righteousness. You may think you are an eagle and that others are the poor crawling worms. All are equalthere is no difference. If you begin to glory in yourself, you are done for. Your only salvation is in Gods cleansing.
(b) We learn that our duty is to all nations and peoples and languages. Therefore, go and tell them the story of the Cross.
(c) Never despair of any man. Seek him out to save him, even though he be as the vilest reptile.
(d) There is also a lesson for the careless, the cold, and the unconverted. What God hath cleansed. Have you ever thought, when you were giving way to some vile passion or unholy desire, that God had cleansed you? What right have you to defileto treat as a common thing, to pollutethe body of humiliation which God hath cleansed? Never call it common; never use it for anything low; never use your tongue to speak vile, unholy things; never use your eyes to look on impure sights; never use your hands to perform unrighteous acts.
(e) God hath cleansed you, should you then be groaning under the bondage of some sin? Recognise the fact that God hath cleansed you; therefore, never again be in bondage to sin as the children of Israel were in Egypt; never be wandering in the wilderness, but take your place in the high places; live in the Kings court in the very presence of God. Never make common what God hath cleansed.
Rev. Prebendary Webb-Peploe.
Illustrations
(1) What voice it was that gave utterance to these words, we are not told either in the tenth chapter, when the vision is first recorded, or in the eleventh chapter, where St. Peter describes it to those of the circumcision in Judea. But St. Peter in both places describes himself as saying, Not so, Lord, thus seeming to recognise the voice of Jesus, with Whom he had been so long and intimately associated a few years before, and Whose will he was now seeking to carry out.
(2) The difficulty raised by the Jews in admitting the Gentiles to the Church without circumcision led to the matter being thoroughly discussed and settled (cf. 15). The importance of this is shown by the existence for years of a party who would not accept this state of things, and gave much trouble to St. Paul (cf. Gal 2:11-12). Had the mind of the Church, then, not been definitely expressed, this party might possibly have triumphed for some time. Here, and in Act 10:45, the phrase, They that were of the circumcision is used to describe Jewish Christians generally. Afterwards (Gal 2:12) it is used of the party referred to above, who insisted on circumcision as a necessary preliminary to baptism. In using it here probably Luke had the later development of this party in his mind. Nothing doubting (Act 5:12) implies making no distinction. This is the great mark of the Catholic Church in contrast to a limited religion like Judaism. In the Church all distinctions of race and position disappear (cf. Act 10:36). The phrase in Act 10:20 is different.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Act 11:9. The voice answered me again from heaven. The word answered is more definite and lively than that which we find in the correlative passage; and the phrase from heaven is an addition, which would have its force for St. Peters present hearers. Nor must we forget the bearing of all this on future times. Stier remarks: The teaching of the voice from heaven through Peters lips was affecting the whole Church.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes one verse 4