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Undesigned coincidences are a part of the overall argument for the inspiration and veracity of the Scriptures. They are an internal proof. Lydia McGrew has revived this argument from undesigned coincidences in her book Hidden in Plain View.  McGrew draws upon the past works of: William Paley, Horae Paulinae, John Blunt, Undesigned Coincidences, J. S. Howson, Studies in the Life of St. Peter; T. R. Birks, Horae Apostolicae, T. R. Birks, Horae Evangelicae; Stephen Jenner, The Three Witnesses; and James McDonald, The Life and Writings of St. John.
An undesigned coincidence is: “a notable connection between two or more accounts or texts that doesn’t seem to have been planned by the person or people giving the accounts.  Despite their apparent independence, the items fit together like pieces of a puzzle” (McGrew, p. 12).  An undesigned coincidence is a coincidence, it is not contrived and it appears undesigned in that the authors did not collude in the details of the accounts.  All undesigned coincidences in the Bible show that there is really only One Author of the Bible and that is, God (II Tim. 3:16).  Undesigned coincidences are a way of expressing intertextuality, that is, the Scriptures interconnect and so we say that Scripture is the best interpreter of Scripture.  Intertextuality demonstrates the integrity of the Scriptures and refutes the notion that Scripture contradicts itself.  Undesigned coincidences refute modernism which denies the inspiration of the Scriptures and they refute the notion that the Scriptures are fictional or mythical tales.  The details of Scripture are flawlessly harmonized and depict historical reality rather than myth.
In this study, we will consider the sayings of Jesus and Peter regarding the defilement in eating meats.
The Parable On Defilement
In Mark 7:15, Jesus said, “There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.”  These words were spoken by Jesus at Capernaum.  The Lord had come back from across the Sea of Galilee; and certain Pharisees, with some scribes from Jerusalem, visited Him, and found fault with His disciples for eating with unwashed hands.  This led Jesus to rebuke their hypocrisy by exposing that religion that consists of the observance of externals to the exclusion of internals.  Jesus then addressed the crowd and told them to hearken unto Him and understand.  “If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Connection With Peter
Consider both Matthew 15:1-20 and Mark 7:1-23.  Both Matthew and Mark tell us the disciples afterward asked the meaning of the parable.  Mark 7:17 tells us that this conversation took place in the home of Simon and Andrew.  Peter asked the Lord to tell what the parable meant (Matt. 15:15).  Peter, as usual, was ready with his words and seems honestly eager for instruction.  Jesus said that what goes into a man’s mouth merely follows the physical laws and has no necessary effect on his character.  He further taught that evil thoughts and foul desires which come from the heart do defile morally and spiritually.  Only Mark adds the thought, “This he said, cleansing all meats,” (Mark 7:19).  Jesus taught that eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.  In addition, he taught that all meats were clean (this would set aside Jewish dietary laws).  This actually did not take place until the Law of Moses was abrogated and a New Covenant was put into force at the death of Jesus (Col. 2:14) and the Law of Christ was probated by the apostles on the Day of Pentecost (Heb. 9:15-17).
Peter’s Vision in Acts 10
Now, let us move forward to the vision of Peter recorded in Acts 10.  Peter was in Joppa.  He went up on the housetop to pray about noon.  He became very hungry and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance.  He saw heaven open and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth.  In the sheet were all manner of four footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.  A voice commanded, “Rise, Peter, kill, and eat.”  But Peter said, “no Lord, for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.”  The voice spake to him a second time, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” This was done three times and the vessel was received up again into heaven.  While Peter doubted in himself what the vision meant, three men sent from Cornelius in Caesarea to Joppa were at the gate of the house where Peter was staying.  In this text we have a lexical coincidence.  The same Greek word, katharizō found in Acts 10:15 was also used by Mark in Mark 7:19. Peter was instructed by an angel to go with the men from Cornelius to Caesarea “nothing doubting” (Acts 10:20).  Peter instructs Cornelius and his household in the gospel of Christ.  Cornelius and his household were Gentiles and this is the first time that the Gentiles were afforded the opportunity to hear the gospel of Christ, believe it and obey it and become New Testament Christians.  Peter’s words spoken later indicate that he understood the meaning of the vision which occurred at Joppa. “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:34-35).  In Capernaum, Jesus rebuked His disciples for not understanding His words (Matt. 15:16-17).  Now, in Caesarea, Peter understands fully.  Jesus cleansed all meats (Mark 7:19).  Peter learns, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common,” (Acts 10:15).  The cleansing of meats removed a barrier between Jew and Gentile (established by the Law of Moses) that would indicate the universal intent of God to save all men through the gospel of Jesus Christ.  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth;  to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”  The change in the dietary laws marked a change in the covenants.  The New Covenant, the gospel of Christ, would be a universal law intended by God to free all people from the tyranny of sin (Matt. 28:18-20).
This link of connection between Capernaum and Caesarea, between a parable, at first obscure, and the broad import of the universal teaching of the gospel, is full of interest and deserves careful attention and thought.