Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 10:14

"But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean." — Acts 10:14 (ASV)

Peter’s shock and repugnance are expressed in his words: “Surely not, Lord”—a response like that of the prophet Ezekiel when called upon by God to eat unclean food among the Gentiles (Ezekiel 4:14). While not overly scrupulous, Peter nonetheless had always observed the basic dietary restrictions of Lev 11, which distinguished clean and unclean animals. And while clean animals were represented in the sheet, Peter was scandalized by the unholy mixture of clean and unclean and by the fact that no distinctions were made in the command to “kill and eat.” Indeed, it was a command given him by one he acclaimed as “Lord”—perhaps recognizable to him as the voice of Jesus. But that did not leave him any less repelled by the idea.