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what specific jewish laws or customs would make peter consider gentiles 'unlawful' to associate with?

The passage, plainly, with room to sit with it.

Acts 10:28

He said to them, "You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation; but God has shown me that I shouldn't call any man unholy or unclean."

This passage is from the New Testament book of Acts, written by Luke, probably in the late first century. Here, Peter, a Jewish apostle of Jesus, is speaking to Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and his household in Caesarea. Peter has just had a vision that challenged his understanding of clean and unclean things, and this verse is his explanation of why he has come to a Gentile household, something previously unthinkable for him.

What old assumptions or deeply held social norms might God be inviting you to reconsider in your own life?

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

  • Leviticus 11

    Details the dietary laws and classifications of clean and unclean animals for ancient Israel.

  • Acts 15:19-20

    Describes the Jerusalem Council's decision on what to require of Gentile converts, balancing Jewish law with new inclusion.

  • Ephesians 2:14-16

    Paul speaks of Christ breaking down the 'dividing wall' between Jew and Gentile, creating one new humanity.

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