TRV
Bede
Late Patristic · AD 500–800 · 6,271 passages across 45 books
Commentary
Acts 10:9
· 2 passages
On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
To pray about the sixth hour. At the sixth hour, Peter hungered amidst the prayers, certainly for the salvation of the world, which the Lord in the sixth age of the world came to seek and save. He also wished to indicate this when at the same hour of the day, he thirsted by the well of the Samaritan woman.
Peter went up to the housetop. This signifies that the Church, leaving behind earthly desires, will have its conversation in the heavens.
Acts 10:10
And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
A trance fell upon him, and he saw heaven opened. The opening of heaven designates the future imminent revelation of heavenly mysteries to the Gentiles, and the very entrance of the heavenly kingdom being opened.
Acts 10:11
· 2 passages
And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
And a certain vessel descended as it were a great sheet. That vessel signifies the Church endowed with incorruptible faith. For a moth does not consume linen, which corrupts other garments. Therefore, whoever wishes to belong to the mystery of the Catholic Church, let him exclude from his heart the corruption of evil thoughts, and thus be incorruptibly firm in faith, so that he is not gnawed in mind by wicked thoughts as if by moths. Alternatively: The moth is a heretic, wishing to corrupt the garment of the Lord but not being able by the dispensation of the Lord. This was also prefigured in the tunic of the Lord which the soldiers did not dare to tear.
Submitted by heaven to earth at four corners. The four corners, by which the sheet was hanging, designate the four regions of the world to which the Church extends. For she is indeed the city of our God in His holy mountain, expanding the rejoicings of all the earth. For what is submitted from heaven indicates that it is preserved and increased by the grace of the Holy Spirit alone. Whence John says in the Apocalypse: I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (Rev. 21). The four corners can also prefigure the evangelists, through whom the Church is imbued and exalted by heavenly grace.
Acts 10:12
Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
In which were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles of the earth, and birds of the air. Those animals are all the nations impure by errors, but cleansed by the thrice immersion, that is, by the mystery of the Holy Trinity in baptism, which, leaving the image of man, took on the forms of beasts and serpents. Thus it is said to Herod because of his deceitful wickedness: Go tell that fox (Luke 13). And to the Pharisees: Brood of vipers (Luke 3). And to the lustful: Horses maddened in pursuit of mares (Jer. 5). And of the shameless: Do not give what is holy to the dogs (Matt. 7). And of the voluptuous: Do not throw your pearls before swine (ibid.). And of the proud and deceitful: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests (Matt. 8). And generally of all: And man being in honor, that is, made in the image of God, did not understand, was compared to senseless animals (Ps. 49). But Solomon shows the true man, that is, incorrupt: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man (Eccl. 12).
Acts 10:13
· 2 passages
And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
Rise, Peter, kill and eat. He says, rise to prepare for evangelization. Kill in the nations what they were, and make them what you are. For he who eats food outside takes it into his own body. Therefore, he commands that the nations placed outside through unbelief, with their past life killed, be incorporated into the society of the Church, which Peter signifies. According to what the Apostle Paul says about himself: For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God and Christ. And again: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2). But those who are surrounded by heretics are as if devoured alive by death.
Rise, Peter, kill and eat. What is said in Latin as "kill" is said in Greek in this place as θύσον, which is not a general term for killing but a specific term for the kind of killing by which sacrifices are offered to God. For both the sacrificial victim or sacrifice in Greek is θυσία, and the altar is called θυσιαστήριον. And in the psalm where we sing: "Sacrifice the sacrifice of righteousness" (Psalm IV), it is said in Greek, θύσατε θυσίαν, and "Offer to God the sacrifice of praise" (Psalm IV), θύσον τῷ Θεῷ θυσίαν. According to this meaning, therefore, it is said to Peter: θύσον and eat, which our translator has rendered as "Kill and eat." He could equally have translated it as "Offer and eat," so that Peter would understand that the various kinds of animals offered to him from heaven were to make those who were designated by such animals, by preaching the sacrifice of the Lord, taken from the harmful life of the paternal tradition and transferred into the new life of divine servitude through the sacraments of the Lord's passion.
Acts 10:14
But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
Because I have never eaten anything common and unclean. The people of the Jews, boasting themselves as part of God, call common foods those which all men use. For example, pork, oysters, hares, and such animals which do not split the hoof, nor chew the cud, nor have scales among fish. But unclean foods are said to be the flesh of beasts or reptiles, which are not edible by any mortals.
Acts 10:15
And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
What God has cleansed, do not call common. The meaning of this divine voice is indeed clear, that the Gentiles, whom Peter still considered unclean, the internal providence of their Creator already counted among the clean. But note the custom of Holy Scripture, which usually calls unclean things common, because whoever wants to serve various allurements cannot be clean, as Scripture says: No one can serve two masters (Matt. VI). And again: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve (Luke IV). Therefore, whoever desires to be clean should not divide his mind with diverse and multifarious thoughts, but should constrain himself to follow solely the will of his Creator.
Acts 10:16
· 2 passages
This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
And immediately the vessel was received into heaven. After the third submission, the sheet is taken up to heaven, because after the conversation of this world, in which the Church sojourns purified by faith and baptism, the blessed and eternal heavenly habitation follows.
Now this happened three times, because the mystery of the Holy Trinity was to be preached by the twelve apostles to the four parts of the world, therefore four lines were let down from heaven a third time. Or as blessed Ambrose interprets, the figure repeated three times expressed the operation of the Trinity. And therefore, in mysteries, a triple question is put forth and a triple confirmation is celebrated, nor can anyone be purified except by a triple confession. Hence, Peter himself in the Gospel is asked three times whether he loves the Lord, so that by a triple response he might loosen the chains that he bound by denying the Lord. These things were shown to Peter opportunely, when Cornelius the gentile sent to summon him, so that he would not hesitate to deliver the Christian faith to the uncircumcised. For he was like those animals shown in the vessel by the Gospel. Hence also by the Holy Spirit he is confirmed to do the same.
Acts 10:19
While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
The Spirit said to him: Behold, three men seek you. He heard this in his mind from the Spirit, not in the ear of the flesh.
Acts 10:20
Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.
Rise therefore and go down, and go with them. He is commanded to go down from the roof and go to preach, that the Church may not only watch for the Lord by climbing high, but also may preach the same to the infirm and to those still placed outside, as it were, but knocking at the door of Simon, that is, obedience, by returning to the active life, as if rising from bed. According to what the Lord said: You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (John 1). Of which it is rightly remembered that his house was placed by the sea. For the sea designates the turbulent tumults and furies of the world, where wicked men, like very greedy fish, pursue and devour one another. But the conversation of the saints is in heaven (Philippians 3), who, even if the earthly house of this habitation is dissolved, have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5).
Acts 10:21
Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come?
Behold, I am he whom you seek. What is the reason for which you have come? The Spirit told him that soldiers were present, and he was silent about why they had come, because to preserve the humility of the human mind, sometimes the Spirit of prophecy touches on part and does not touch on part.
Acts 10:25
And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.
And it happened that when Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshiped him. By his bodily gesture, Cornelius showed what he had inwardly in his heart of devotion. For the listener met his teacher, who receives the word of faith with a pure heart, attentive ear, and eager desire. For he who is slowly drawn to believe is as if he were raised by his teacher from lying down. But he who, blushing at the stains of his life, falling on his face shows signs of humility and modesty, rightly merits to be raised by his teacher.
Acts 10:26
But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.
Peter, however, lifted him up, saying: Stand up; I too am a man. For the holiness of action has deserved the equality of communion. For in the fault of Ananias and Sapphira, the crime revealed the right of authority’s vengeance.
Acts 10:28
And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
And God showed me that no man should be called common or unclean. He undoubtedly showed this when the angelic voice sounded: What God has purified, do not call common.
Acts 10:30
· 2 passages
And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
And Cornelius said: Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour. In Greek, it is written more fully and clearly: Four days ago to this hour, I was fasting and praying from the sixth hour until the ninth. Where it is clearly shown that four days before he spoke with Peter, he remained fasting until the ninth hour; and to make the fast acceptable to God, he prayed devoutly from the sixth hour until the ninth; hence he deserved to obtain what he sought with great persistence in fasting and prayer.
From the fourth day until this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me, and so on. In Greek and in some Latin manuscripts it is written thus: From the fourth day until this hour I was fasting, and praying from the sixth hour to the ninth, and behold, a man, and so on. It was very appropriate that he who extended his prayer for three hours from the sixth to the ninth should be heard. At which time the Lord himself, whom he beseeched, prayed with outstretched hands on the cross for the salvation of the whole world.