Unclean meat great for Christians
By Robert K. Sanders
Does the old covenant law of eating unclean animals apply to Christians
The old covenant was a legally binding agreement between God and the Israelites. Christians are not a party to that old covenant. Is this not the definition of twisting the scriptures? To claim or insist Christians keep the old covenant and its conditions is to alter Scripture and its application; something no one have the right to do. The law required one not born of Israel to undergo circumcision before they came under that old covenant. Were Gentile Christians required to undergo circumcision? No! See Acts 15.
Another method of deception is called “replacement theology” aka “substitution theology.” By taking that which God commanded one group and applying it to another group; Christians. If this were valid, then you should sacrifice a son, seeing as God commanded Abraham to do so. Can Christians be held to the conditions of a covenant (contract) they were never a party to, and a covenant that ended? No. Does God deal with us illegally? No. Does God leave things for us to figure out through assumptions? No. Yet SDAs assume that what God required of Israel He requires of us. Assumptions, inference, and rationalizations are also methods of deception.
What Are Unclean Animals? See Lev 11:2 - 31 and Deut 14:4-21.
The command forbidding eating unclean meat is found ONLY in the Mosaic Old Covenant Law. Please provide chapter and verse where Jesus commanded Christians under the new covenant to keep the old covenant law. What happens when a covenant terminates? The conditions of said covenant also terminate. 2Corinthians chapter 3; Romans 7:6; Galatians 4:21-5:1.
God allowed Noah was allowed to eat "everything that lives and moves" after the flood as he was not under the Mosaic Law.
Gen 9:3-5 (NIV) Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.
Ellen White quotes the Bible text then contradicts God.
EGW: As Noah looked upon the powerful beasts of prey that came forth with him from the ark, he feared that his family, numbering only eight persons, would be destroyed by them. But the Lord sent an angel to His servant with the assuring message: "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." Before this time God had given man no permission to eat animal food; He intended that the race should subsist wholly upon the productions of the earth; but now that every green thing had been destroyed. He allowed them to eat the flesh of the clean beasts that had been preserved in the ark. Patriarchs and Prophets p. 107.
Ellen G. White the Adventist prophetess contradicts God. By saying that God gave Noah permission to eat of the clean animals. This is a lie. God gave Noah to permission to eat Everything that lives and moves will be food. Will someone tell us how EGW has the right to alter the covenant God made with Noah?
The Adventist denominational leaders continue EGW's lie to keep her propped up. Seventh-day Adventists Believe 27 Fundamental Beliefs p.285:
2. Clean and unclean flesh foods. Another stipulation Scriptures implies that God gave Noah was that he and his family were to eat only what God identified as clean animals. It was because Noah and his family needed clean animals for food as well as for sacrifices (Gen 8:20) that God instructed Noah to takes seven pairs of each kind of clean animal, in contrast to one pair of each kind of unclean, with him into the ark (Gen 7:2,3).
This one of many examples of how deceptive SDA denominational leaders are to support EGW. God clearly states what Noah was to eat for food and SDAs have to re-interpret it to mean Noah could not eat unclean animals. EGW and the denomination try to keep the church under the old covenant law which makes them a cult.
SDAs that try to tell us that Noah and his family would never be allowed to eat unclean meat because they were few allowed on the Ark. Did God made a mistake telling Noah he could eat any living thing that moved? God does not make mistakes; it is people that do not believe God when it does not fit their agenda.
Noah would not be so stupid to start feasting on the few unclean animals as he would wipe out the gene pool. He knew that it was God's intent to "increase" all the animals as seed for perpetuating the species. It is like we do when animal species are rare; we put them on an endangered species list till they multiply. Here is what God told Noah and his sons: to be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. I am sure this included the animal species both clean and unclean.
Gen 9:1 (NIV) Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.
1Tim.4:4 Paul repeats that every creature is good for food and nothing to be rejected because it is consecrated by the word of God (Gen.9:3 sanctifies all meats as good for food) and prayer. However, man is not to eat the blood of the animal. This commandment is again repeated in Acts 15:29 from blood and strangled meaning improperly drained meats containing blood (Gen.9:4).
1 Tim 4:4-5 (NIV) For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
We know that the Gentile converts coming into the early church were eating all kinds of unclean animals. Was there any reprimand by the Apostles decrying their practice of eating unclean meat? NO. Were some of the Jews upset these Gentiles were not following the Mosaic law? Yes they were. It created such confusion that the Jerusalem Council was convened to make clear what was to be imposed on the Gentiles and not imposed on them that accepted the new covenant.
In order to obey any of the old covenant the entry into it was circumcision.
Acts 15:1 (NIV) Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Acts 15:4-5 (NIV) When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”
The Judaizers arguments: Acts 15:1-2 (NIV) Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
Peter's argument: Acts 15:8-11 (NIV) God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
The Jerusalem Council's decision made it clear that Gentiles were not required to obey the Mosaic Law which would include circumcision, Sabbath keeping, paying tithe and forbidding eating unclean meat. The exclusions were to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, meat of strangled animals, and sexual immorality. It is sad that here 2000 years later we see Judaizers still attempting to impose the Law of Moses on Christians. The Torah has 613 commands. The modern day Judaizers attempt to impose three of these laws on Christians which are Sabbath keeping, paying tithe, and forbidding eating unclean meat while ignoring the rest of the law.
Paul tells us that God cancelled "the written code with it's regulations.
Col 2:13-17 (NIV) When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
These "shadow laws" are NOT to be enforced on Christians as they were shadows of things that were to come and the reality found their fulfillment in Christ. Why live in the shadows of the old covenant and deny the fulfillment of Christ that is found in the new covenant?
Do not let anyone judge you on these
- JEWISH DIETARY LAWS
- ANNUAL FEAST DAYS
- MONTHLY FEAST DAYS
- WEEKLY SABBATHS
Notice that Paul's letters to the Corinthians, Colossians, Romans and Ephesians were addressed to the churches in general and not just to Gentile converts which shows the Jewish converts were no longer under the Mosaic law forbidding eating of unclean meat or keeping the Sabbath or paying tithe.
Paul says to eat anything sold in the meat market or at an unbeliever’s table. The unbelieving Gentiles would be serving unclean meat. 1 Cor 10:25 - 27 (NIV) 25Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” 27If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.
Paul declared no food is unclean all food is clean
Rom 14:13-14 (NIV) Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
Paul declared all food is clean
Rom 14:20-21 (NIV) Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
God abolished the old covenant commandments and regulations at Calvary. Which in the past was the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles now united them both equally for salvation.
Eph 2:14-15 (NIV) For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.
The point in time that the written code was canceled, (old covenant) was when Jesus died on the cross. (Mark 15:38 NIV) "The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom."
When a member of the covenant agreement dies in this case Jesus the incarnated God of the OT, then the covenant is cancelled such as a marriage covenant. If you have not died to the old covenant then you are married to a corpse.
Rom 7:1-4 (NIV) Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
What about Peter refusing to eat unclean meat that God declared clean in Acts 10:9-17?
While food is discussed, the purpose of Peter's vision was to show that Gentiles were not unclean and the new covenant Jews can now enter their homes and eat with them. Acts 10:28 (NIV) 28He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
What about Jesus declaring all foods clean in his controversy with the Pharisees? The context of Mark 7 is dealing with Jewish traditions of eating with unwashed hands and not that of making unclean meat clean. This was still taking place under the old covenant.
Mark 7:1-4 (NIV) The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were “unclean,” that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.
Mark 7:14-15 (NIV) Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’
Mark 7:18 (NIV) For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
Robert D. Brinsmead makes this observation on the meaning of Jesus declaring all foods clean. Then Mark (or an early church redactor) adds this comment, which appears in the most reliable manuscripts: "In say this, Jesus declared all foods 'clean'" (Mark 7: 18, 19). It is clear that Jesus did not make Mark's editorial comment, for it is well known that even after Pentecost the Jewish Christians continued to observe the Mosaic food laws (Acts 10:14). Mark was probably written for a Gentile audience, and here Mark (or a very early redactor) drew from Jesus's saying the conclusion that Christians were not bound by the Mosaic food laws.
Jesus was still under the Mosaic law when in context of Mark 7. Jesus was ending Jewish traditions and not ending the old covenant Mosaic law. This came later under the new covenant when Sabbath keeping, tithe paying, and forbidding eating unclean meat ended.
- There is no law forbidding eating unclean meat in the new covenant or sin in eating unclean meat.
- Paul states no food is unclean in itself and you can eat any meat sold in the meat market.
- Noah was allowed to eat unclean animals.
- For people to insist others obey Old Covenant laws, they are denying the New Covenant.
Rom 14:17-18 (NIV) For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.