I did a comic a while back showing that there are three types of categories of things in the Bible: Holy, Common, and Pagan (or unholy). I want to dive deeper into each category. This is on what is Common.

In my initial comic I compared things like driving as being common. However, when we look at verses such as Acts 10:14 (some translations say 'impure' or 'unholy' instead of common) we can see that Peter is calling something other than unclean animals as common.

We know from Leviticus 11 there is only clean and unclean. So, what is this common? This goes back to Acts 10 and what is happening in the vision, and the result of that vision.

In the vision it is stated that the sheet contained "all kinds of animals". Many look at this and say this was just the unclean animals due to Peter's response. If we consider the "all" to mean "all", then in the sheet there were also clean animals.

However, these clean animals were no longer being considered clean by the tradition at the time because they were co-mingling with unclean animals. So, even though God made lamb as clean to eat, if it was hanging around a pig, Peter wouldn't eat it, essentially acting like it is unclean.

This is where the interpretation and definition really play out in the chapter.

Acts 10:15 - A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call common.”

This isn't a declaration to make all animals now okay for food. This is saying if God says it is okay to eat this animal, it doesn't matter who it is hanging around with, it is still okay to eat.

Which is the message God was giving to Peter about people. It doesn't matter that the Gentiles were seen as unclean in the eyes of the Jews of the times. God didn't make people unclean, do not treat them as such.

Back to my initial assessment of common: I don't see the Bible really addressing things that aren't labeled as holy or pagan, such as driving. I don't think God ever felt that was something that was needed. There are things in our lives that everyone does, whether you are a believer or not: breathing, sleeping, driving a car (I know not everyone), etc...

But one thing those things do have in common, pun intended, is they aren't things used in religious worship practices.

https://thestraightandnarrow.cfw.me/comics/917

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