Bible Studies

God Said a Believer Can Never be Considered Unholy

by Michael Edwards 
10/30/16
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For years, I have known that in Acts 10:15 Peter is conveying a message that he received from God that all foods were now permissible for him to eat as a Jew because no foods that have been cleansed by God can be considered unholy.

Again a voice came to him a second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." Acts 10:15 NASB

The word used for unholy in the Greek means to make unclean or regard as unclean.

Recently I was reading that verse again and the word “cleansed” stuck out to me.  It hit me that God was not only talking about food. God was saying that nothing he has cleansed can be considered unholy. I read further for confirmation, and there it was plain as day from Peter.

And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. Acts 10:28 NASB

Peter realized long ago what I had just realized. Nothing cleansed by the blood of Christ can be considered unholy.

It is interesting to note, the Gentiles never had the law and the Jews viewed them as a most unholy people. Most reading this will be Gentiles, and the Jews would have never even considered that a Gentile like yourself would have the slightest chance of being holy before God. The Jews considered the Gentiles as unholy dogs who were outside the law. How could they possibly be holy outside the law?

And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Matt 15:26 ESV

To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 1 Cor 9:21 ESV

Yet God clearly tells Peter to consider nothing he has cleansed as unholy.

and he made no distinction between us (Jews) and them (Gentiles), having cleansed their hearts by faith. Acts 15:9 ESV

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish Eph 5:25b-27 ESV

The Greek word for holy means set apart or sacred. 

If Jesus is your Savior, the Bible states you are sanctified, perfected and holy due solely to the single sacrifice offered by Christ. It has zero to do with you, your actions or law keeping and everything to do with the fact that you believe God. With Jesus one sacrifice it was finished.

So the next time the enemy, the accuser of the brethren, points out your faults and claims you are unholy, firmly remind him that nothing God has cleansed can be considered unholy. 

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, Heb 10:12 ESV

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Heb 10:10 ESV

For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (holy). Heb 10:14 NASB (Emphasis mine – Greek word used in NT for sanctified is the same word for holy)

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 1 Cor 15:20 NASB

For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. Rom 11:16 NASB

Now, do you know someone who has also trusted in Christ, maybe someone you see at work or in the mirror that at times looks like an unholy Gentile dog living outside the law? Is God telling you what he told Peter?

Again a voice came to him a second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." Acts 10:15 NASB

More New Covenant Studies that Apply: 

I Am a New Creation IN CHRIST

Why Don't I look Like a New Creation in Christ in the Mirror?

I Am Holy, I Am Sanctified, I Am Perfected

Sanctified or Not?

Why Christians Should Not Pray to Be Made Holy and Righteous

Believers are Never Called Sinners in the New Testament

Jesus Never Called a Believer a Hypocrite

We Must Believe We Are Already Sanctified to be Transformed

How to be Transformed Into His Image

Doubting Your Complete and Total Forgiveness is What Keeps You Sinning, Christian

Walk from Faith to Faith with No Doubt, Fear or Worry

Many more New Covenant Bible Studies HERE. Jesus poured out His blood for the New Covenant of grace and truth, replacing the Old Covenant law of Moses. Believers are exclusively under the New Covenant, the last will and testament of Jesus that began after the cross. 

And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Luke 22:20