Acts 11:9

9 “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’

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 say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’
8 “‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean. ’
9 “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’
10 This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.
11 “Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.