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Acts 9-10

1. How can God call something unclean clean since the Bible says the He does not change? (Acts 10:15)

The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15). 

Peter is given this vision of unclean animals and commanded by God to eat them. Yet, Peter resists the command, even though he recognizes that it is from the Lord. Peter learns that he is wrong in his thinking, because God can make the unclean clean. And He can change His laws as He pleases. God can even tell Abraham to sacrifice his only son, even though this is the kind of thing only the wicked idolators practiced. Abraham was right to obey, because he recognized that the command was from God. 

But what about the Scripture that says God does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8 of Jesus)? Isn't God changing when He changes His laws? 

No. It is to misunderstand Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8 to presume that God's unchanging nature means that He cannot change what He decrees and does in different times and with different peoples. If pushed to the limit, God would not be able to relent from destroying Israel in the golden calf incident, where Moses prayed for them. How about Hezekiah's prayer for extended life after God decreed his death? 

It is true that God's holy, just, merciful, compassionate, and good nature never changes. However, these perfections of God do not preclude Him from changing how He chooses to relate to people, sometimes by means of laws, other times by means of grace, etc. We read in Scripture, "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). 

What is more, since God is the Lawgiver, He has particular authority to make any changes to these laws that He pleases:

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge,the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:11-12).

While we cannot stand in judgment on the Law, the implication here is that God can. Since He wrote it, He can also change it. Now, if He binds Himself to keep the same laws that He has given for the people, that would be a different story. If He declares that the laws He gives will never change and will last forever, that too would be a different matter. But such is not the case.

Therefore, God can remain the same even though He may change the law by declaring, "Do not call anything impure that God as made clean." (cf. Jesus' declaring all foods clean in Mark 7:19). In other words, what used to be unclean is now clean. What you could not eat before, now you can eat. What you used to avoid, you no longer need to avoid.