Acts 10:13

And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.—In the symbolism of the vision the natural promptings of appetite were confirmed by the divine voice. That which resisted both was the scruple of a hesitating conscience, not yet emancipated from its bondage to a ceremonial and therefore transitory law. It is natural to infer that the spiritual yearnings of Peter’s soul were, in like manner, hungering and thirsting after a wider fellowship which should embrace “all manner” of the races that make up mankind, while, on the other hand, he was as yet waiting to be taught that the distinction between Jew and Gentile was done away in Christ.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:9-18 The prejudices of Peter against the Gentiles, would have prevented his going to Cornelius, unless the Lord had prepared him for this service. To tell a Jew that God had directed those animals to be reckoned clean which were hitherto deemed unclean, was in effect saying, that the law of Moses was done away. Peter was soon made to know the meaning of it. God knows what services are before us, and how to prepare us; and we know the meaning of what he has taught us, when we find what occasion we have to make use of it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wherein ... - This particular vision was suggested by Peter's hunger, Acts 10:10. It was designed, however, to teach him an important lesson in regard to the introduction of all nations to the gospel. Its descending from heaven may have been an intimation that that religion which was about to abolish the distinction between the Jews and other nations was of divine origin. See Revelation 21:2.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. all manner of four-footed beasts, &c.—that is, the clean and the unclean (ceremonially) all mixed together.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of that thou seest, without any exception, whether they be clean, or (formerly) unclean creatures. The moral of which command is, that he might now converse with Jews and Gentiles indifferently, and preach unto these also the word of life.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And there came a voice to him,.... Formed by an angel, or rather by Christ himself:

rise, Peter, kill and eat; he might be on his knees when he fell into this trance, being at prayer, and therefore is bid to rise; and he is called by name, the more to encourage him to do as he was ordered; and he is bid to kill and eat of all the creatures without distinction, which were represented to him in the sheet; and the design of this was to teach him, that both the distinction between clean and unclean creatures in the law was now abolished, and men might lawfully eat of whatsoever they pleased; and that he might and should without any difference converse with all sorts of men, Jews and Gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised, and preach the Gospel to one as to another, and maintain a church communion and fellowship with all equally alike.

Geneva Study Bible

And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 10:13. ἀναστάς, see above on Acts 5:17 : he may have been, as St. Chrysostom says, on his knees.—θῦσον: the beasts are represented as living—not here in a sacrificial sense, cf. Luke 15:23.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. Rise, Peter; kill, and eat] As he was hungry before he fell into the trance, here is presented the means of satisfying his hunger, and by the command in which he is directed to kill without distinction among all that he sees, this divinely-communicated abrogation of the law of Moses concerning the choice among living creatures afterwards informs his waking mind that now all the nations are to be alike included among God’s people.

Bengel's Gnomen

[13. Φάγε, eat) Such food was awaiting Peter as Christ Himself is satisfied with: Isaiah 53:11, “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.”—V. g.]

Acts 10:13