ACC ~ Acts 10 v9 - 16

OVERVIEW:

The early Christian authors delight in finding the universal in the particular, be it historical or spiritual. Following the pattern of rabbinic exegesis, they search for spiritual meaning in every word of the sacred text, and most particularly in sacred numbers. Peter’s place of prayer teaches not merely about a suitable physical location of prayer (CHRYSOSTOM), but even about the transformative nature of prayer (GREGORY OF NYSSA), and that when we pray, we are in the house of the divine tanner (ORIGEN). The cloth is viewed as the whole world (ARATOR, GREGORY OF NYSSA) or evokes a covering for a banquet table and the baptismal garment (GREGORY OF NYSSA) or symbolizes the church (BEDE), while the animals are all the races of people who are acceptable to God (DIDYMUS, CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). The triple command and rebuke evokes the Trinity that cleanses through the trinitarian baptismal formula (GREGORY OF NYSSA, ORIGEN) or both the cloth and the triple rebuke together can express the call of all the nations (AUGUSTINE), whom Christ has cleansed by his blood (IRENAEUS). The time of this event, the sixth hour, likewise illustrates the universal call to faith in Christ, for we see in Peter the hunger and thirst of Christ breaking through (ARATOR). It is difficult at times to know whether the Fathers are allegorizing (“this stands for that”) or whether they are merely making explicit what we intuitively understand to be the message of the vision and its role in preparing Peter to enter a Gentile’s house and ultimately to baptize them. The primary concerns of modern interpreters are to determine the exact nature of the vision as something appropriate to the admission of the Gentiles to the church and to avoid typology or allegory in understanding Peter’s vision. To secure that this vision was as Luke portrays it, they resort to theories that find it emerging out of Peter’s physical (he is hungry, so he thinks of food) or local (he is looking out into the Mediterranean and sees the sails of passing ships) condition, or that the vision is suggestive and his response hints at his rejection of the Gentiles.

10:9 | Peter Went to the Housetop to Pray

LEAVING BEHIND EARTHLY DESIRES. BEDE: This signifies that when the church has left behind earthly desires, it will have its way of life in heaven. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.9A.

SEEKING THINGS ABOVE. ORIGEN: But the apostle Peter, when he was in Joppa and “wanted to pray, ascended into the upper part” [of the house]. Immediately, I take these words to be not in vain, that he did not pray in lower places but “ascended to the higher.” For the reason that so great an apostle chose to pray “in a higher place” is not superfluous, but rather, I believe, to show that Peter, because “he had died with Christ, was seeking the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God” and “not the things upon the earth.” “He ascended” there, to that “roof,” to those heights about which the Lord also says, “Let the one who is on the roof not go down to remove anything from the house.” Then, so that you may know that we do not say these things suspiciously about Peter because “he ascends to the higher,” you will confirm it from the following. It says, “He went up to the higher place to pray, and he saw the heavens open.” Does it not yet appear to you that Peter had gone up “to the higher,” not only in the body but also in mind and spirit? . . .

It is appropriate that Peter stays “at the house of a tanner,” that one, perhaps, about whom Job says, “you clothed me with skin and flesh.” HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 7.4.4-6.

FOR THE SALVATION OF THE WORLD. BEDE: At the sixth hour, in the midst of his prayer, Peter became hungry—hungry indeed for the salvation of the world, which in the sixth age the Lord had come to seek and to save. Christ himself also wished to indicate this when, at the same hour of the day, he became thirsty at the Samaritan well. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.9B.

THE HUNGER AND THIRST OF GOD. ARATOR: Peter proceeds to go to the high upper story as it is now the blazing middle of the day: the high place looking down upon the earth teaches Peter always to follow heavenly, not earthly things; the circuit of the sixth hour also discloses the [number of the] age in which Christ came into the world to dispense the wealth of him who saves. The number, with respect to days, manifests the pattern by which he earlier established the world which the Redeemer, coming in this very age, forbids to be crushed under the sway of sin. Finally it is said that these things also took place at the sixth [hour]; when the Master, weary from his journey [and] sitting at the mouth of the well, asks for a cup of water by means of the maid’s vessel, he is about to provide his church’s rest everywhere from the font. In the [same] hour that Peter was hungry, his godly Master thirsted, always loving to add to his gifts. He who increased the honor of [Peter’s] name enabled him at the same time to nourish faith. The earth will rejoice, filled by this hunger [of Peter’s] which, richer than any gift, flows deliciously and, as it brings eternal feasts, leaves no one empty. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

10:10 | Peter Fell into a Trance

A SPIRITUAL VIEW. CHRYSOSTOM: Observe how the Spirit connects the times: no sooner than this, and no later, he causes this to take place: “Peter about the sixth hour went up upon the housetop to pray”; that is, privately and quietly, as in an upper chamber. “And he became very hungry and would have eaten; but while they made ready, there fell upon him a trance.” What does this expression, “trance,” mean? There was presented to him in the ecstatic vision a kind of spiritual view; the soul, so to speak, was caused to be out of the body. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 22.

FASTING AND PRAYER. AMBROSE: And what is the purpose of Scripture in teaching us that Peter fasted and that the mystery regarding the baptism of the Gentiles was revealed to him when he was fasting and praying if not to show that the saints themselves, when they fast, become more illustrious? Moses received the law when he was fasting, and so Peter, when he was fasting, was taught the grace of the New Testament. Daniel, too, by virtue of his fasting, stopped the jaws of the lions and saw the events of future times. Or what salvation can we have unless by fasting we wipe out our sins, since Scripture says fasting and almsgiving purge away sin! LETTER 59 (63).

THE UNITY OF HUMANITY. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: Those heretics who introduce [different] natures [into the argument that some are evil by nature] claim that those people who are called, because of their depravity, “dogs” and “pigs,” are unable to have a share of salvation, and that it is to these that the Savior forbade the giving of what is holy, the divine pearls. They also say that these people, who are called ravenous wolves and foxes along with the names of all the other brute animals, are evil by nature. Their claim is to be refuted from the vision in this passage that none of them is evil by nature but by his intentions. For when God wanted to teach Peter that no one must be rejected as impure and polluting, he sent down from heaven to earth by its four corners a certain vessel similar to a linen cloth, in which were all the species of brute animals, from which Peter was ordered to sacrifice and eat. And, since he still observed the Jewish laws and thought that what he was seeing was physical, he refused to eat, saying that he had never eaten anything impure and unclean. When he had spoken these words, he heard the divine oracle: “What God has purified do not call unclean.” Drawing from this the conclusion that these things were said about the character of people, he said that God had shown him that no one is unclean by his nature. He therefore went without objection to the house of Cornelius, who desired to receive the fruit of the gospel teaching together with all his family. Thus it has been shown that four-footed animals, reptiles and birds, in reference to the different characters of human beings, are acceptable to God. And therefore, not because of an opposing nature has it been forbidden to throw pearls or what is holy to dogs and pigs, but because of the extremely evil character that can be left behind until no dog or pig exists anymore. Thus the Syrophoenician woman was made from a dog into a human being, so that Jesus also granted her the bread of the children.

“He fell into a trance,” Scripture says, “and saw the heavens opened.” Those who love to be the disciples of delirious women—those from Phrygia—claiming to be prophets, inspired by the Holy Spirit, do not understand their own utterances at the moment of prophecy. They believe they have proof for their error from this passage of Scripture that Peter fell into a trance. But let the foolish and truly insane know that this word means many different things. For it indicates both the awe at something wondrous, and the action of going out of the tangible world to the spiritual, as well as the delirium of senses, which cannot be applied to Peter or the prophets, but the other meanings of this word can be. For without a doubt, Peter, in a trance, followed along so as to proclaim what he saw and heard and what the signs, which he received, revealed. And you can certainly say the same about all the prophets who followed along with and saw the things that they reported to have seen. Indeed they were wise and learned from the same mouth what they proffered, for the Lord openly commanded them, after his resurrection, to instruct all the nations in his doctrine. So why did the apostles in Jerusalem, after hearing what had been done at the house of Cornelius, argue with Peter?

Clearly Peter, the all-holy leader of the apostles, needed the divine revelation concerning the nations. He did not know that there is no distinction between circumcised and uncircumcised with respect to the faith. Furthermore, he did not clearly know that the Lord called for the nations to be made into disciples apart from the visible worship according to the law until he revealed the mystery of God’s unspoken will and revelation. And through the figure shown by the linen cloth and through the granting of the grace of the Holy Spirit in like manner to the nations according to faith, he made the case that in Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.10.

PETER INSTRUCTED TO BAPTIZE THE NATIONS. GREGORY OF NYSSA: I also know that the blessed Peter was both hungry and at the same time drunk in such a type of drunkenness as this. Before his bodily meal was brought to him, when “he became hungry and wanted to take food,” while his own were preparing the table for him, there came upon him a divine and sober drunkenness. Through this drunkenness he stood outside himself and saw the gospel linen sent down from above by four corners and holding the whole human race within itself in the myriad forms of birds and quadripeds and creeping things and beasts formed according to the cults, whose beastly and irrational form the Word commanded Peter to sacrifice, in order that by being cleansed what was left would become edible. This cleansing is clear from the word of piety not being handed over naked, for the divine voice says not once that what God has made clean is not unclean, but this proclamation happens thrice, so that we may learn from the first voice that God the Father purifies and from the second that in the same way the God purifying is the only-begotten God and from the third that equally the God purifying all that is unclean is the Holy Spirit. HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS 10.

10:11 | Like a Great Sheet

A SYMBOL OF THE WHOLE WORLD. CHRYSOSTOM: What is this? It is a symbol of the whole world. The man was uncircumcised. He had nothing in common with the Jews—they would all accuse him as a transgressor: “You went into the house of uncircumcised men, and ate with them”; this was a thing altogether offensive to them. Observe then what is providentially managed. [Peter] himself also says, “I have never eaten,” not being himself afraid—far be the thought from us—but it is so ordered by the Spirit, in order that he may have it to say in answer to those accusing him, that he did object: for it was altogether necessary for them to observe the law. He was in the act of being sent to the Gentiles: therefore that these also may not accuse him, see how many things are shaped [by the providence of God]. For, that it may not seem to be a mere fancy, “this was done three times.” He said, “Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. And the voice came to him, ‘What God has cleansed, you must not call common.’” It seems indeed to be spoken to him, but the entire message is meant for the Jews. For if the teacher is rebuked, much more these also. This is what the linen sheet denotes. The earth, then, and the wild beasts in it, are the Gentiles. The command, “Kill and eat,” denotes that he must go to them also; and that this is done three times denotes triune baptism. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 22.

THE CHURCH INCORRUPTIBLE. BEDE: “This vessel signifies the church,” endowed with an incorruptible faith, “for a moth, which corrupts other cloth, does not consume linen.” Therefore, whoever wishes to be part of the mystery of the Catholic church “should root out from his heart the corruption of evil” thoughts, “and in this way he may be incorruptibly strengthened in faith, so that he will not be consumed by perverse thoughts, like moths, in his mind.” Alternatively, the moth is a heretic, wishing to corrupt the Lord’s robe but unable to do so because the Lord does not permit it. This is also prefigured by the Lord’s tunic, which the soldiers did not presume to tear. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.11A.

LOWERED BY ITS FOUR CORNERS. BEDE: The four corners by which the linen sheet hangs down designate the four regions of the world to which the church extends, for it is “the city of our God on his holy mountain,” spreading sounds of joy to every land. [That the sheet] is lowered from heaven indicates that [the church] will be preserved as well as increased only by the grace of the Holy Spirit coming upon it. Hence John says in the Apocalypse, “I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” Also, the four corners may be figures of the Evangelists, through whom the church is nourished and exalted with heavenly gifts. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.11B.

THE UNITY OF THE EVANGELISTS. ARATOR: Enjoying his office, the celestial keeper of the keys sees heaven opened. From there an image of a vessel is let down, so that there might be a vision on earth that all things can be taken by the body of Peter, who makes into food for the church whatever he takes to be eaten. The vision is brought before him, let down by its four sides: it is one image of the church, which rises from the four parts of the world and spreads the eloquence of the same number of heralds [evangelists], keeping together every kind of bird and domestic beast, of wild animal and reptile: these [animals] are connected to humans on account of their merits and vices. It is therefore clear that the Creator bids the Gentiles to be poured into the bowels of the church, as he instructs [Peter], “Kill and eat, take away what they are and make them like yourself.” He who is turned about is considered changed. Saul perished at length because Paul began to live. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

CALLED TO THE CORNERS OF THE EARTH. AUGUSTINE: So, by the grace of the blessed Trinity, the whole earth from its four corners is called to the faith. According to this reckoning, when four is taken three times, the apostolic number, twelve, is consecrated as symbolizing the salvation of the whole world from its four corners in the grace of the Trinity. This number was also indicated by the vessel full of all kinds of animals, as it were of all nations, shown to Peter. For this vessel, let down from the heavens by the four corners, was lowered and taken up three different times, so that the four became twelve. On that account, perhaps, when twelve days had elapsed after the birth of Christ, the magi, the firstfruits of the Gentiles, came to see and to adore Christ and thus merited, not only to insure their own salvation, but also to prefigure that of all Gentiles. SERMON 203.3.

10:12 | Containing All Kinds of Animals

ALL THE ANIMALS SYMBOLIZE ALL THE NATIONS. BEDE: These animals are all the nations, unclean in their error but cleansed by a threefold lowering, that is, by the mystery of the holy Trinity in baptism. Leaving behind the form of humans, they take on the shapes of beasts and serpents. Hence, because of his treacherous and wicked character, it is said of Herod, “Go and say to that fox”; and the Pharisees are referred to as “a brood of vipers.” Of the lustful it is said, “Horses made mad for their mares”; of the shameless, “Do not give what is holy to dogs,” and of the voluptuous, “Do not cast your pearls before swine.” Of those who are proud and at the same time treacherous it is said, “The foxes have dens and the birds of the air have nests.” And of all people in general it is said, “And man, when he was held in esteem” (that is, made in the image of God), “did not understand; he was like foolish cattle.” Solomon, however, shows man [humankind] as he truly is, that is, uncorrupted, when he says, “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is all there is to man.” COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.12.

10:13 | Kill and Eat

AN INVITATION TO CHRIST. BEDE: It [the voice that Peter heard] told him: Arise to make ready to preach the gospel. Kill in the Gentiles what they had been, and make [them] what you are; for whoever eats food lying outside of himself turns it into his own body. Therefore it [the voice] taught that the nations, which had formerly lain outside through their lack of belief, would, once their former life had been put to death, be incorporated within the society of the church. This Peter indicates, just as the apostle Paul had said of himself, “Through the law I have died to the law that I may live to God in Christ.” And again, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Indeed, those who are taken in by heretics are as though devoured by death while they are still alive. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.13.

10:14 | Not Eating Anything That Is Common

THE TIME OF CORRECTION. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The law is spiritual and does not provide an explanation that stops at physical meanings. For while the holy Peter still desired to follow the customs of the Jews, and since he was trying to advance towards better things, yet because he was terribly overcome by his reverence for these figures, God sent down from heaven the linen filled with animals, which … were condemned figuratively by the decrees of the law as impure. He then ordered Peter to kill and, if he should choose, to eat. But the disciple was reluctant and spoke as a Jew: “Absolutely not, Lord, because I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean, and no impure meat has entered my mouth.” So the voice of the Lord came down, not only because God was rebuking him but also he was saying clearly, “What God has cleansed, you must not call common.” Then [Peter] immediately understood that the time had come when the shadows had to be transformed into truth. And so the passage of the figures into truth fulfilled them and should not show, as some people think, that they were placed there without a reason. Doubtless, the lawgiver does not consider a pig, or the other animals, now clean, now unclean. No, for he knows that they are well-made, for it is written, “And God saw all that he had made, and behold all was very good, and he blessed it.” For to the extent that each thing of creation has come to be and to the extent that it has been made, it will only have, so I suppose, in itself what is good. So even though the pig cannot chew the cud, it is not unclean, but rather is perfectly edible, and what is proper to something’s nature does not pollute it. As I have said, the law was figures and shadows that remained “until the time of correction.” AGAINST JULIAN 9.318-19.

10:15 | What God Has Cleansed

CLEANSED THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. IRENAEUS: At that time Peter saw a vision in which a heavenly voice answered him, “What God has cleansed, you must not call common.” For the God who had distinguished through the law the pure food from the impure, that same God had cleansed the nations through the blood of his Son, and that is the God whom Cornelius worshiped. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.15.

10:16 | Three Times

A SYMBOL OF THE TRINITY. BEDE: For the mystery of the holy Trinity was to be preached throughout the four regions of the world by the twelve apostles. It is for this reason that four linen cords were let down from heaven three times. Or, as it is interpreted by the blessed Ambrose, “The third repetition of the figure expressed the operation of the Trinity. And so in the mysteries a threefold question is put and a threefold confirmation is proclaimed. Nor can anyone be purified except by a threefold confession. Hence in the gospel Peter himself was asked three times whether he loved the Lord, so that his threefold response might loose the bonds with which he had bound himself by denying the Lord.” These things shown to Peter were very appropriate to the situation, since the Gentile Cornelius appealed to him to show him that he should not hesitate to entrust the Christian faith to the uncircumcised. For he was from among those living things that were manifested in the evangelical vessel. Hence it was confirmed by the Holy Spirit that he should act in the same way. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.16A.

THE CHURCH AS PILGRIM. BEDE: After the threefold lowering the vessel was taken up to heaven, since after the affairs of this world, through which the church travels as a pilgrim who has been cleansed by faith and baptism, there then follows a happy and everlasting heavenly dwelling. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.16B.

A THREEFOLD REMINDER OF SALVATION. ARATOR: Three times the voice of the Lord resounds. This is repeated for [our] salvation: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit do this together. Arius, contentious against this faith, fell by denying that the One is in three Persons; Sabellius admitted the One, but [it is] the Father, he said, who then in turn is called Son and Holy Spirit, being the same, but so that the whole is the Father himself; and what the One greatest contains in its threefold order the former divides and the latter abandons. Both lie vanquished; for the threefold command of the [Lord’s] bidding indicates a single number in [three] Persons, with their own qualities, [and] by this command he calls the Gentiles: to believe this is right, if we wish to believe perfectly. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

CLEANSED THROUGH BAPTISM. ORIGEN: For the things made clean are made clean not by a single invocation nor by a second, but unless a third invocation is pronounced, no one is cleansed. For unless you were cleansed in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, you could not be clean. HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 7.4.5.