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God shows no partiality

After Jesus went back to heaven, Peter the apostle became the most prominent leader of the church. Paul in fact calls him one of the pillars of the church. It was Peter that stood up on the day of Pentecost to preach the gospel to everyone who was there and he’s the one the Catholic Church regards as their first pope.

Peter is portrayed as a quite impulsive, rough guy in the gospels. He’s the disciple who rushes into things headfirst, often with varied results. But for Peter it is enormously important to be loyal to the Law and to his lord and master Jesus.

One of the big identity markers for a righteous, good jew was the laws about ritual clean food. When Peter was met by the voice from heaven who told him to eat all this food that was unclean by the standard of the Law, he was in a great struggle. Acts 10:17 tells us that he was inwardly perplexed by this (ESV).

At the same time Cornelius, the roman centurion, sends two of his servants to Peter who tells him that Cornelius had been met by an angel of God. Peter connects the dots: the voice from heaven which tells Peter to eat and not call anything God has called clean unclean, and this angel of God who met with Cornelius.

There’s something new going on: It’s no longer circumcision or purity laws which is to be the identity markers of the people of God. It is the Holy Spirit.