Acts10:16

Translation

And this took place for three times

and directly

the vessel was take up into heaven. (See comment below.)

Paraphrase

This same thing happened three times, and in a direct line from that, the container was taken back to heaven from which it came.

Footnotes

1

Three times means that God was really serious, and that Peter was slow in getting the point.

2

This word is usually rendered “immediately,” but the various uses of it in the New Testament make me think that it is better to translate it as “in a direct line from the first to the second thing.” This is not always measured in time, but there is some type of connection between the two.

GREATER ACCEPTANCE

The method that God used in the Law to teach one spiritual principle is now being employed to teach a different spiritual principle. Earlier God was teaching them to reject those who would lead them into idolatry; here in Acts 10 God was teaching Peter to accept those who have rejected idolatry and chosen to follow Jesus.

The Israelites of the Old Testament were asked to balance the principles of separation from the Gentiles so as to avoid being drawn into their worship of other gods, while at the same time having enough contact with the Gentiles to be God’s tool to draw them into a proper relationship with Him. The latter would have been most applicable to the Gentiles that desired to become proselytes (converts to Judaism). But the Israelites had often held an “us vs them” attitude and shown disdain for all foreigners.

In the New Covenant, some things would remain the same; some things needed to change. Being seen by God as a tool to reach the world was still the same. Their unwarranted “us vs them” attitude had to change because God was now reaching out to the Gentiles in new way. Previously, they were expected to show acceptance of those Gentiles that became proselytes; now they were being asked to show acceptance to anyone who showed even the slightest sign of wanting to follow God.

All this is confirmed in the account of the council in Jerusalem, recorded in Acts chapter 15. There we read statements such as the following: “God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them (v8), he made no distinction between us and them (v 9), all the Gentiles who are called by my name (v 17), the Gentiles who turn to God (v 19)”. At that council the leaders of the early church recognized what God was doing and were willing to make the necessary changes in their thinking, attitudes and actions.