Acts 11:9

9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.'

Acts 11:9 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 11:9

But the voice answered me again from heaven
From whence the former voice came, and was the voice of the Lord, or of an angel of the Lord, and which answered him again, or

a second time;
not that it said to him a second time kill and eat, but what follows;

what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common;
that is, had declared to be clean and fit for use, and did not defile, and could not defile the man into whose mouth it entered, and therefore ought not to be pronounced unclean, and of a defiling nature; this Jesus Christ did, who is God over all blessed for ever, and by whose death an end was put to the ceremonial law, and the distinctions of meats by it; ( Matthew 15:11 ) ( Romans 14:14 ) .

Acts 11:9 In-Context

7 And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.'
8 But I said, 'No, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'
9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.'
10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven.
11 At that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesare'a.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.