Ananias and Sapphira Die

5 But a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold ·some land [a piece of property]. ² He ·kept back [pilfered; skimmed off] part of the ·money [proceeds; price] for himself; his wife knew about this and agreed to it. But he brought the rest of the money and ·gave it to [^Llaid it at the feet of] the apostles. ³ Peter said, “Ananias, why did you let Satan ·rule your thoughts [^Lfill your heart] to lie to the Holy Spirit and to ·keep [pilfer; skim off] for yourself part of the ·money [proceeds] you received for the land? ⁴ Before you sold the land, it belonged to you. And even after you sold it, you could have used the ·money [proceeds] any way you wanted. Why did you think of doing this? You lied to God, not to us!” When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. Some young men came in, wrapped up his body, carried it out, and buried it. And everyone who heard about this was filled with fear.

⁷ About three hours later his wife came in, but she did not know what had happened. ⁸ Peter said to her, “Tell me, was the ·money [payment] you got for your field this much?”

Sapphira answered, “Yes, that was the price.”

⁹ Peter said to her, “Why did you and your husband ·agree [conspire] to test the Spirit of the Lord [Gal. 6:7–8]? Look! The ·men [^Lfeet of those] who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” ¹⁰ ·At that moment [Instantly] Sapphira fell down by his feet and died. When the young men came in and ·saw [discovered; found] that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ The whole church and all the others who heard about these things were filled with ·fear [terror; awe].

John Preaches About the Christ^(A)

¹¹ “I baptize you with water ·to show that your hearts and lives have changed [for repentence]. But there is one coming after me who is ·greater [mightier; more powerful] than I am, whose sandals I am not ·good enough [fit; qualified] to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² ·He will come ready [^LThe winnowing fork is in his hand] to clean the grain, ·separating the good grain from the chaff [^Lto clear his threshing floor]. He will put ·the good part of the grain [^Lthe grain/wheat] into his barn, but he will burn the chaff with ·a fire that cannot be put out [never-ending/unquenchable fire; ^Ca metaphor for judgment, when Jesus will separate the righteous from the wicked].”

Jesus Is Baptized by John^(B)

¹³ ·At that time [Then] Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River ·and wanted John to baptize him [^Lto be baptized by John]. ¹⁴ But John tried to ·stop [deter; dissuade; prevent] him, saying, “·Why do [Do] you come to me to be baptized? I need to be baptized by you!”

¹⁵ Jesus answered, “Let it ·be this way for [happen] now. ·We should do all things that are God’s will [or In this way we will do what God requires; ^LFor thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness].” So John ·agreed to baptize Jesus [gave in; consented; allowed it].

¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. Then ·heaven [the sky/heavens] opened, and he saw God’s Spirit ·coming down [descending and lighting/settling] on him like a dove [^Ceither in the form of a dove, or in bird-like descent]. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my ·Son, whom I love [dearly beloved Son; Ps. 2:7; Gen. 22:2], and I am ·very [well] pleased with him [Is. 42:1].”

The Things that Truly Please God^(A)

7 When some Pharisees and some ·teachers of the law [scribes] came from Jerusalem, they gathered around Jesus. ² They saw that some of Jesus’ ·followers [disciples] ate food with hands that were not clean, that is, they hadn’t [ceremonially] washed them. ³ ([For] The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands ·in the way required [^Lwith a fist; ^Cthe meaning of the idiom is uncertain; it could mean “with a handful of water,” “with cupped hand,” “up to the wrist” or something else] by ·their unwritten laws [^Lthe traditions of the elders]. ⁴ ·And when they buy something in the market, they never eat it [or, And when they come from the market (where they might have touched something “unclean”), they do not eat] until they wash themselves in a special way. They also ·follow [hold fast to; observe] many other ·unwritten laws [traditions], such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.^[a])

⁵ The Pharisees and the ·teachers of the law [scribes] asked Jesus, “Why don’t your ·followers [disciples] ·obey [walk according to] the ·unwritten laws which have been handed down to us [traditions of the elders]? Why do they eat their food with hands that are ·not clean [defiled]?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right when he ·spoke [prophesied] about you hypocrites. ·He wrote [As it is written],

⁸ You ·have stopped following [neglected; abandoned] the commands of God, and you ·follow [hold on to] only human ·teachings^[b] [traditions].”

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “You ·cleverly ignore [are very good at ignoring/despising] the commands of God so you can follow your own ·teachings [tradition]. ¹⁰ [For] Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ [Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16], and ‘Anyone who ·says cruel things to [speaks evil of; curses] his father or mother must be put to death’ [Ex. 21:17; Lev. 20:9]. ¹¹ But you say a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but it is Corban—a gift to God.’ [^CCorban is a Hebrew term meaning dedicated or set aside to God.] ¹² You no longer let that person ·use that money [do anything] for his father or his mother. ¹³ By your own ·rules [tradition], which you ·teach people [have handed down], you are ·rejecting [nullifying; canceling] what God said. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴ After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand what I am saying. ¹⁵ There is nothing people put into their bodies that ·makes them unclean [pollutes/defiles them]. [But rather] People are ·made unclean [polluted; defiled] by the things that come out of them. |¹⁶ ·Let those with ears use them and listen [see 4:23].|”^[c]

¹⁷ When Jesus left the ·people [crowd] and went into the house, his ·followers [disciples] asked him about this ·story [parable; see 3:23]. ¹⁸ Jesus said, “·Do you still not understand [Are you so dull]? ·Surely you know [^LDon’t you know…?] that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person ·unclean [polluted; defiled]. ¹⁹ [Because] It does not go into the ·mind [heart], but into the stomach. Then it goes ·out of the body [^Linto the sewer/latrine].” ·(When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.) [or, (In this way, Jesus cleansed all food.)]

²⁰ And Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them ·unclean [defiled]. ²¹ ·All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind [^LFor from within, out of human hearts, come]: evil ·thoughts [intentions; ideas], sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, ²² greed, ·evil actions [wickedness], ·lying [deceit], ·doing sinful things [indecency; lust; lewdness], ·jealousy [envy; ^Levil eye], ·speaking evil of others [slander; blasphemy], pride, and foolish living. ²³ All these evil things come from inside and make people ·unclean [defiled].”

Peter Teaches Cornelius

10 At Caesarea [^Ca coastal city, 25 miles south of Mount Carmel; a center of Roman government for Palestine] there was a man named Cornelius, ·an officer [^La centurion; ^Can officer in charge of about a hundred soldiers] in the Italian ·group of the Roman army [^Lcohort; regiment; ^Ca cohort was about six hundred soldiers]. ² Cornelius was a ·religious [pious; godly] man. He and all ·the other people who lived in his house [his household] ·worshiped the true God [^Lfeared God; ^C“God-fearers” were Gentiles who worshiped the one true God of Israel]. He gave much of his money to ·the poor [or the Jewish people; ^Lthe people] and prayed to God often. ³ ·One afternoon about three o’clock [^LAbout the ninth hour of the day], Cornelius clearly saw a vision. An angel of God came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

⁴ Cornelius stared at the angel. He ·became afraid [was terrified] and said, “What do you want, ·Lord [or sir]?”

The angel said, “·God has heard your prayers. He has seen that you give to the poor, and he remembers you [^LYour prayers and your alms have gone up to God as a memorial/memorial offering]. ⁵ Send some men now to Joppa [9:36] to bring back a man named Simon who is also called Peter. ⁶ He is staying [as a guest] with a man, ·also named Simon, who is a tanner [or named Simon Byrseus; 9:43] and has a house beside the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who spoke to Cornelius left, Cornelius called two of his ·servants [household slaves/servants] and a soldier, a ·religious [devout; pious; godly] man who ·worked for him [or was on his staff; or was loyal to him]. ⁸ Cornelius explained everything to them and sent them to Joppa.

⁹ About ·noon [^Lthe sixth hour] the next day as they ·came near Joppa [^Ljourneyed and drew near the city], Peter was going up to the roof [^Cin ancient Israel flat roofs were used as living spaces and for storage] to pray. ¹⁰ He was hungry and wanted to eat, but while the food was being prepared, he ·had a vision [or fell into a trance]. ¹¹ He saw heaven opened and ·something [an object] coming down that looked like a big sheet being lowered to earth by its four corners. ¹² In it were all kinds of ·animals [^Lfour-footed creatures], reptiles, and birds [^Lof the air/sky]. ¹³ Then a voice said to Peter, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.”

¹⁴ But Peter said, “·No [Absolutely not], Lord! I have never eaten food that is ·unholy [profane; common] or ·unclean [ritually defiled; ^Cthe OT food laws differentiated Israelites from Gentiles; Lev. 11; Ezek. 4:13–15].”

¹⁵ But the voice said to him again, “God has made these things clean, so don’t call them ·‘unholy’ [‘profane’; ‘common’]!” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and at once the ·sheet [^Lobject; thing] was taken back to heaven.

¹⁷ While Peter was ·wondering [perplexed about] what this vision meant, [^Llook; ^Tbehold] the men Cornelius sent had found Simon’s house and were standing at the gate. ¹⁸ They asked, “Is ·Simon Peter [^LSimon who is called Peter] staying [as a guest] here?”

¹⁹ While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “·Listen [^LLook; ^TBehold], three men are looking for you. ²⁰ [So; ^LBut] Get up and go downstairs. Go with them without ·doubting [or hesitation], because I have sent them to you.”

²¹ So Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are ·looking [searching] for. Why did you come here?”

²² They said, “A holy angel spoke to Cornelius, ·an army officer [^La centurion] and a ·good [righteous] man; he ·worships [^Lfears] God. ·All the people [^LThe whole Jewish nation] ·respect [speak well of; ^Ltestify to] him. The angel told Cornelius to ask you to come to his house so that he can hear what you have to say.” ²³ So Peter ·asked [invited] the men to come in and ·spend the night [^Lentertained them as guests; ^Can unusual gesture, since Jews would not normally invite Gentiles into their homes].

The next day Peter got ·ready [up] and went with them, and some of the ·followers [Jewish believers; ^Lbrothers] from Joppa joined him. ²⁴ On the following day they came to Caesarea [10:1]. Cornelius was ·waiting for [expecting] them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵ When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell at his feet, and worshiped him. ²⁶ But Peter helped him up, saying, “Stand up. I too am only a ·human [mortal].” ²⁷ As he talked with Cornelius, Peter went inside where he ·saw [^Lfound] many people gathered. ²⁸ He said, “You people understand that it is against our law for Jewish people to associate with or visit anyone who is a ·foreigner [Gentile]. But God has shown me that I should not call any person unholy [profane; common] or unclean [defiled]. ²⁹ That is why I did not ·argue [object] when I was asked to come here. Now, please tell me why you sent for me.”

³⁰ Cornelius said, “Four days ago [10:3], I was praying in my house at this same time—·three o’clock in the afternoon [^Lat the ninth hour]. Suddenly, there was a man standing before me wearing ·shining [dazzling] clothes. ³¹ He said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and ·has seen that you give to the poor and remembers you [^Lyour alms have been remembered by/before God]. ³² So send some men to Joppa and ask Simon [^Lwho is called] Peter to come. Peter is staying [as a guest] in the house of a man, ·also named Simon, who is a tanner [or named Simon Byrseus; 9:43] and has a house beside the sea [see 10:5–6].’ ³³ So I sent for you immediately, and it was ·very good [kind] of you to come. Now we are all here ·before [in the presence of; or available to] God to hear everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

³⁴ Peter ·began to speak [^Lopened his mouth]: “I ·really [truly] understand now that ·to God every person is the same [God does not show favoritism/partiality]. ³⁵ [^LBut] In every ·country [nation] God accepts anyone who ·worships [^Lfears] him and ·does what is right [practices righteousness].

Warning About Non-Christians

¹⁴ Do not ·join yourselves to [become partners with; ^Lbe mismatched/unevenly yoked with] unbelievers. ·Good and bad do not belong together [^LFor what partnership has righteousness and wickedness/lawlessness?]. ·Light and darkness cannot share together [Or what fellowship/partnership can light have with darkness?]. ¹⁵ How can Christ and Belial [^Cthe devil; Satan] have any ·agreement [harmony; accord]? What can a believer ·have together [share in common] with a nonbeliever? ¹⁶ What ·agreement [union] can the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God [1 Cor. 3:16]. As God said: “I will live with them and walk with them. And I will be their God, and they will be my people [Lev. 26:11–12; Jer. 32:38; Ezek. 37:27].”

7 [^LTherefore] ·Dear friends [Beloved], we have these promises from God, so we should make ourselves pure—free from ·anything that makes body or soul unclean [^Levery defilement of flesh and spirit]. ·We should try to become holy in the way we live [or …and in this way bring our holiness to completion/perfection], ·because we respect [out of reverence for; in the fear of] God.

Paul Shows that Peter Was Wrong

¹¹ [^LBut] When ·Peter [^LCephas; ^CPeter’s name in Aramaic; 1:18] came to Antioch, I challenged him to his face, because he ·was wrong [^Lstood condemned]. ¹² [^LFor; Because] ·Peter [^LHe] ate with the Gentiles until ·some Jewish people [^Lcertain people] sent from James [1:19] came to Antioch [^Ca major city in Syria]. When they arrived, Peter ·stopped eating with those who weren’t Jewish [^Lbacked off; withdrew], and he separated himself from them. […because] He was afraid of the ·Jews [circumcised; or the pro-circumcision group]. ¹³ Then the rest of the ·Jewish believers [^LJews] joined him in this hypocrisy. Even Barnabas was ·influenced [swept along; carried away] by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ [^LBut] When I saw they were not ·following [acting in line with] the truth of the ·Good News [Gospel], I spoke to ·Peter [^LCephas; v. 11] in front of them all. I said, “You are a Jew, but you are living like a Gentile and not a Jew. So how can you now try to force Gentiles to live like Jews?”

¹⁵ We were not born as Gentile “sinners,” but as Jews. ¹⁶ Yet we know that a person is ·made right with God [justified; declared righteous] not by ·following [^Lthe works of] the law, but by ·trusting in [faith in; or the faithfulness of] Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be ·made right with God [justified; declared righteous] ·because we trusted in [through faith in; or because of the faithfulness of] Christ. It is not ·because we followed [^Lby the works of] the law, because no ·one [human being; ^Lflesh] can be ·made right with God [justified; declared righteous] by ·following [^Lthe works of] the law.

¹⁴ ·Now that you are [As; or Like] obedient ·children of God [^Lchildren] ·do not live as you did in the past. You did not understand, so you did the evil things you wanted [^Ldo not be shaped by the desires/lusts of your former ignorance]. ¹⁵ But be holy in all ·you do [your behavior/conduct], just as ·God, the One [^Lthe One] who called you, is holy. ¹⁶ [^LFor; Because] It is written in the Scriptures: “You must be holy, because I am holy [Lev. 11:45; 19:2; 20:7].”

Jesus Is Our High Priest

8 Here is the [main; most important] point of what we are saying: We have a high priest who sits on the right side of ·God’s [^Lthe Majesty’s] throne in heaven. ² Our high priest ·serves [ministers; performs priestly service] in the ·Most Holy Place [sanctuary; ^Lholy things], the true ·place of worship [Tabernacle; Holy Tent; Ex. 33:7] that was made by the Lord, not by humans.

³ [^LFor] Every high priest ·has the work of offering [is appointed to offer] gifts and sacrifices to God. So our high priest must also ·offer something to God [^Lhave something to offer]. ⁴ If our high priest were now living on earth, he would not be a priest, because there are already priests here who follow the law by offering gifts to God. ⁵ ·The work they do as priests [or The sanctuary in which they serve] is only a ·copy [model; prototype] and a shadow of what is in heaven. This is why God warned Moses when he was ready to build the ·Holy Tent [^TTabernacle]: “Be very careful to make everything by the ·plan [pattern; design] I showed you on the mountain [Ex. 25:40].” ⁶ But the priestly ·work [service; ministry] that has been given to Jesus is ·much greater than [far superior to] the work that was given to the other priests. In the same way, the new ·agreement [covenant; contract] that Jesus ·brought from God to his people [^Lmediates] is much ·greater [better] than the old one. And the new ·agreement [covenant; contract] is ·based [founded; legally enacted] on ·promises of better things [^Lbetter promises; ^Call God’s promises are reliable, but these promises bring greater blessings].