Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Craig Keener Observations About Acts 10:15-16

Keener's remarks are more extensive than what I'm posting here, but this should give you some idea regarding his stance. Taken from his thick and multi-volume Acts commentary, Volume 2:
The voice, correcting Peter’s inappropriate attitude, commands him to stop regarding as common what God has cleansed (Acts 10:15).[438] This passage should probably be included among the early Christian texts that challenged the necessity of kashrut, at least for the Gentiles (Mark 7:18–19; probably Rom 14:2–3; Col 2:21–22; 1 Tim 4:3; Heb 13:9).[439] Some scholars cite a later Jewish tradition about the cleansing of unclean animals in the world to come, as they were clean before Noah’s day;[440] this tradition is probably too late to constitute background for this text, however.[441] The primary point, in any case, is not the cleansing of foods but the cleansing of people who eat them (Acts 10:28).[442] Not calling foods impure in context refers to not calling Gentiles impure,[443] but there is a reason that the image for Gentiles involves cuisine.[444] The image of pure foods represents the Gentiles in two ways. First, because ancient moralists used the language of external “purity” also for the soul and moral behavior,[445] the analogy between “pure” foods and pure people was a natural one.[446] But second, table fellowship between Jew and Gentile was a major factor in emphasizing Gentiles’ impure status. Food purity is related to the basis for table fellowship with Gentiles (cf. esp. 15:20, 29) and is an important issue in Peter’s interaction with Cornelius, at least from the perspective of its critics within the Jerusalem church (11:3). Both in Rom 14:2–23 (in the entire context of Romans) and in Mark 7:19 (if closely related to its following context), the debate over pure foods also addresses the welcoming of Gentiles into the Jesus movement. Part of the original purpose of the kashrut was separation (Lev 11:44); various nations had their own respective food customs (see comment above on Acts 10:12). Acts 10 does not forbid the usefulness of kashrut for Jews, but it forbids making food rules (except the minor ones in Acts 15:20, 29) a basis for eating together.

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