Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 10]
calls for the optative \ei•\ (may it not be) or the imperative
\est•\ (let it be). It is not \oudam•s\, a blunt refusal (I shall
not do it). And yet it is more than a mild protest as Page and
Furneaux argue. It is a polite refusal with a reason given. Peter
recognizes the invitation to slay (\thuson\) the unclean animals
as from the Lord (\kurie\) but declines it three times. {For I
have never eaten anything} (\hoti oudepote ephagon pan\). Second
aorist active indicative, I never did anything like this and I
shall not do it now. The use of \pan\ (everything) with
\oudepote\ (never) is like the Hebrew (_lo--k•l_) though a like
idiom appears in the vernacular _Koin•_ (Robertson, _Grammar_, p.
752). {Common and unclean} (\koinon kai akatharton\). \Koinos\
from epic \xunos\ (\xun, sun\, together with) originally meant
common to several (Latin _communis_) as in Ac 2:44; 4:32; Tit
1:4; Jude 1:3. The use seen here (also Mr 7:2,5; Ro 14:14; Heb
10:29; Re 21:27; Ac 10:28; 11:8), like Latin _vulgaris_ is
unknown in ancient Greek. Here the idea is made plain by the
addition of \akatharton\ (unclean), ceremonially unclean, of
course. We have the same double use in our word "common." See on
¯Mr 7:18f. where Mark adds the remarkable participle
\kathariz•n\ (making all meats clean), evidently from Peter who
recalls this vision. Peter had been reared from childhood to make
the distinction between clean and unclean food and this new
proposal even from the Lord runs against all his previous
training. He did not see that some of God's plans for the Jews
could be temporary. This symbol of the sheet was to show Peter
ultimately that Gentiles could be saved without becoming Jews. At
this moment he is in spiritual and intellectual turmoil.
10:15 {Make not thou common} (\su m• koinou\). Note emphatic
position of \su\ (thou). Do thou stop making common what God
cleansed (\ekatharisen\). The idiom of \m•\ with the present
active imperative \koinou\ means precisely this. Peter had just
called "common" what God had invited him to slay and eat.
10:16 {Thrice} (\epitris\). For three times. Peter remained
unconvinced even by the prohibition of God. Here is a striking
illustration of obstinacy on the part of one who acknowledges the
voice of God to him when the command of the Lord crosses one's
preferences and prejudices. There are abundant examples today of
precisely this thing. In a real sense Peter was maintaining a
pose of piety beyond the will of the Lord. Peter was defiling
what God had cleansed. {Was received up} (\anel•mphth•\). First
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