Acts 10:9-33 | When God Has a New WaySample

“Do not call anyone impure or unclean.” That’s what Peter says.

Terms originally designed to label practices can easily drift over into labels for people. And terms used to describe what people do can easily be confused with thinking this is the essence of who people are.

Everyone is loved by God and special to him.

In the Old Testament, contact with an unclean thing would make you unclean. Unclean trumped clean. Not with Jesus. With Jesus, clean trumps unclean. When he touches the unclean, they become clean. When he pronounces someone clean, they are clean. The Gospels are filled with examples of this. Jesus is more powerful than anything unclean.

This is why the New Testament will include Gentiles among the people of Israel. Brought near. One people. Holy nation. Grafted in. These are just some of the ways the Bible describes those on the outside brought in. 1 Corinthians 12 is especially poignant. Paul says: “You know that when you were pagans…” The operative word is “were.” Because in Jesus, what you once were, no matter how unclean, is no more.

Peter and Cornelius experienced it that day. May you continue to experience the very same today. God is on the move!