Peter and the kosher laws

​Perhaps the most famous "abrogation" (specific revocation) of Mosaic law in the New Testament is that of the kosher laws (forbidden foods, like pork) in Peter's sheet vision (Acts 10:11-16). But is that really what is happening here? After this vision, Peter is said to be perplexed as to the meaning of the vision--the supposedly clear interpretation that the vision implies the abrogation of the kosher laws does not present itself to him. Instead, Peter interprets the vision as referring to the purification of the Gentiles with whom he is going to eat. "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean" (Acts 10:28). The "Jewish law" that prohibits Jews from eating with Gentiles is found nowhere in the Mosaic code, but must be referring to the Pharisaic oral tradition of his day (perhaps this was one of Rabbi Shammai's infamous "18 ordinances"). The concept that YHWH should repeal a law which he specifically instituted (that the foods YHWH called unclean are now clean) seems less fitting to Peter than the idea that YHWH is repealing a law which he did not specifically institute (that Jews cannot eat with Gentiles).

​"The issue in Acts 10 is not a debate between unclean and clean, but between unclean and impure." There are two Greek words used: κοινον (koinos) and ακαθαρτον (akathartos). Akathartos is the concept of intrinsic uncleanness, while koinos is the concept of ritual impurity. The text does not say that all the animals in the sheet lowered down are akathartos, it says 'all kinds of animals,' yet Peter refuses to eat any animal because any kosher animal which had come in contact with the akathartos would become koinos. An animal which had become ritually impure could be cleansed by a priest, but an animal which was intrinsically impure could never be made pure. The Jewish customs of the day prohibiting Jews from eating with Gentiles reflected the mindset that the Gentiles were akathartos and that Jews eating with them would become koinos. But Peter sees in the sheet vision that YHWH does not consider the Gentiles akathartos (beyond hope of redemption), but rather koinos (defiled by contact with idols, etc, but not impure of themselves) and that they can consequently be made pure if they are cleansed by the great priest, Jesus Christ. "What God cleansed call not koinos" (Acts 10:15), "God hath shewed me that I should not call any man koinos or akathartos" (Acts 10:28).

​Thus, Acts does not present Peter's vision as abrogating the kosher laws, but rather as YHWH's plan to cleanse the ritual impurity of the Gentiles through Christ's cleansing blood. While Peter clearly violated the oral tradition of his day by eating with the Gentiles, there is no evidence that he violated the kosher laws or the Mosaic code in any way.

1. Israel B. Betzalel, "Understanding Acts 10:9-19 (Peter's Vision of the Unclean and Clean Animals; And Parasha Tazria)," The Jerusalem Council, http://jerusalemcouncil.org/articles/commentaries/peters-vision-clean-unclean/ (accessed 17 October 2010).

Created 12 months ago