Common

But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean, Acts 10:14.

Of old, royalty was not allowed to marry a common person. Such a person was called a commoner. That did not mean that there was something wrong with being a commoner, it just meant that such a person was not descended from a royal line, they were a common sort of person. Among the definitions for common are; prevalent; usual; or done often.

Such a person did not have the distinction of a royal pedigree. Royalty is rare, common people were prevalent. It is unusual to run into a person with royal blood. It is far more usual to come across people with no royal blood in their veins. Such is a common occurrence.

In New England most villages have a common. This is a public place usually in the center of the village which functions as a park or common gathering place. This came from the English tradition of having a common area whereon anyone could graze their animals. It was a common area, no one needed to have a special permission to utilize it.

Why then does our King James Bible have Peter saying that he had never eaten anything common or unclean? The unclean part is easy to understand. The Book of Leviticus very clearly spells out what is unclean to eat for a person under the law. Peter also avoided common food. What was that?

Common food was food commonly sold in the shambles (outdoor market). It may have been clean or it may not have. It may have been offered to idols before it was sold. It may have touched unclean things or people. The only way to be sure that such food was not defiled was to only eat food from sources that could be trusted to procure, store, and prepare food in accordance with the Law of Moses. Therefore, Peter never ate food from a common source.

The Sin Offering of Leviticus 4 had a provision for when a common person sinned through ignorance; And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, Leviticus 4:27. The Sin Offering was broken down into four parts, the priest that is anointed, the whole congregation, a ruler of the people, and of course "one of the common people".

This was a person who was not anointed and wasn't a ruler. He (or she) was just a plain person from among the population at large. The Lord made provision for such a person. Such a person may not have a high and mighty title, he may not have friends among the powerful of his society, but he had a God who cared for his welfare.

That brings us to the faith of Jesus Christ. Both the Apostle Paul and Jude called it common. To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, Titus 1:4. Here was a faith offered to the whole world. The rich, the poor, the Jew, the Gentile, the clean and the unclean could find grace. They could know the mercy of God. They could have; peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5:1.

The word common is in your King James Bible 21 times. God wanted you to understand that a common thing was not anything special. It had no claim to royalty or to special treatment. People who were not royalty, or in the ruling class, or not wealthy, are common people. It is to them that the Lord has poured out grace.

One of the wealthiest people to have ever lived in England in the 1600s, a person from whom many royal persons were birthed said this, "I am saved by one letter in the alphabet. If the Lord had said "not any" I should have perished and gone to hell. Instead he said; For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called, 1st Corinthians 1:26.

When Jesus Christ preached, the rulers hated him. The scribes and Pharisees hated him, but the common people loved him. David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly, Matthew 12:37.

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints, Jude 1:3. Herein we have a common faith, a common salvation. We have a God who has poured out his grace to one and all who will repent. [F]or the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart, 1st Samuel 16:7.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2nd Peter 3:9.