Arise, Peter; Kill and Eat

About noon the following day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” (Acts 10:9-13)

Banners were widely used in the Church, especially during processions, since they could be mobile, hoisted up on a pole, and carried along the route. This is a banner picturing a sheet filled with animals, clean and unclean according to Jewish dietary rules, that Peter saw in a dream from the Lord.

Peter led a faction of the Early Church that maintained that new Gentile converts should be required to follow all the laws handed down from Moses just as the Jewish believers did. Paul, however, maintained that new believers, whether Jew or Gentile, were under a new Covenant of Grace and therefore free from the Old Covenant laws.

At this time, Peter was staying with Simon the tanner, and he received this vision on the roof of his house. A tanner was involved in handling the skins of dead animals, an activity considered unclean according to Jewish law. Peter’s decision to stay with him already showed a willingness to reject Jewish practice and accept Gentile believers on an equal footing with Jewish believers. Thus, his dream, which included the command, “Arise, Peter, kill and eat,” settled the controversy for good.