CLEAN OR UNCLEAN? - Part 1
Are Christians obliged to make a distinction between clean or unclean animals, or can we eat anything because "Nothing is unclean"? This is a topic which causes much controversy and in this presentation, I will discuss, primarily, Biblical facts in order to determine the true position we as Christians should take.
The dispute over what is good for food is primarily caused by a misunderstanding of statements made by Paul in some of his epistles, and many persons have misinterpreted his writings. However, in concluding one of his responses to a food dispute he says:
"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."[Romans 15:4]
In II Timothy 2:15 He also says; "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
Therefore we will search the scriptures (The word of truth) to learn what foods should be eaten and to see God's response to how we have acted upon what has been taught. The passages in the New Testament, which cause many to be in error (through misinterpretation) and, which also are the main sources of the controversy, will be discussed and I pray earnestly that the Holy Spirit will open your understanding to these facts.
Man (NB Not Israel) was given his original diet as is seen in Genesis 1:29, and Genesis 3:18, and this consisted of fruits, nuts, grains and vegetables (herbs). This was the prescribed food for man until the flood [Genesis 7:6]. After the flood Noah was allowed to eat the flesh of animals as well as herbs.[Genesis 9:31]. Note that Noah knew the difference between clean and unclean beasts.[Genesis7:2-9] Hence this command to eat of every moving thing is directed to the animals which are designated as clean beasts. Also for Noah to use the animals for food just he did with the herbs means there must have been conditions for the animals even as there were conditions for the herbs:
Genesis 2:
29And God said, Behold, I have given you
every herb bearing seed, which
is upon the face of all the earth, and
every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Genesis 9:
3Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
Adam was not to eat every single green herb but the green herbs to be eaten were specified and Noah knew the specifications of the clean animals and it is all of these that he should eat.
(This also is proof that many of the things recorded by Moses later on, in the law, was already known to men before the formation of the nation or Israel.) Read what Noah was told to do:
Genesis 7:
2Of every clean beast
thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that
are not clean by two, the male and his female.
He was the one who selected the animals. It is therefore misleading to say he had no knowledge of the difference between the clean and unclean animals. Noah was also instructed to abstain from the blood of these animals.[Genesis 9:4]
Moses when he wrote the law, documented the method to differentiate between the clean and unclean animals and also gave other restrictions regarding the blood of animals and animals which died of itself. [See Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14:3-21; Leviticus 7:22-27;17:10-14;Deuteronomy 12:16,23]. This was given to Israel as a guide to maintain their health and since we are made up of the same flesh and bones as they, these guidelines should be applicable to us also. The reason given to Israel for these guidelines was:
"For thou art an Holy People unto the Lord thy God, and Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing " [Deuteronomy 14:2-3;See also Leviticus 11:45-47;19:25]. Similar sentiments are expressed by the apostles in the following passages:
[I Peter 2:9; I Peter 1:15-16; Romans 12:1; I Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; II Corinthians 6:17]
From these passages we see that our body's health is of great importance to God and he wishes for us to keep them in good condition and many persons in realizing this will refrain from doing things which are injurious to their health. They will avoid; smoking, addictive drugs, alcoholic beverages, tattooing of the body, processing of the hair and of late consumption of animal fats which has been shown, by doctors and scientists, to be the cause of illnesses like Diabetes, Hypertension, Heart disease, High cholesterol levels and Cancers among others. It is to be noted that the scriptures do not give explicit directions about some of these practices, but the principles forbidding them are clear.
These same persons however, will not accept the clear directions given by God to avoid eating of animals which were not made for that purpose. They say Jesus came and made all things clean or that Paul has declared all things are clean and hence there are no more unclean animals. The contradiction exhibited by these persons is further compounded by those who will eat of certain unclean animals but detest other animals in the same category. They will gladly eat of the swine, crab, lobster and shrimp, but would "kill" if given a meal of dog or rat, although the dog and the rat are in the same category as the others. They will quite explicitly state how detestable the dog is as food but quite happily consume the swine and others which should be equally detestable.
To be continued.
CLEAN OR UNCLEAN? - Part 2
Many persons, however, will say that Jesus declared all unclean animals as clean, in his discourse with the Pharisees as is found in Mark 7 and Matthew 15, by saying:
"Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man....but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man." [Matt.I5:11,18]
Some new versions even add that in saying so, he declared that all foods were fit to be eaten [See, Mark 7 in Revised Standard Version, The New English Bible, Good News Bible.]
To understand this incident we must first recognize that this incident was in parable form and we must seek the point of the discourse rather than the surrounding incidents. [Matthew 15:15; Mark 7:17] The aim of Jesus is to let the Pharisees understand what is the source of sin, not what is or is not sin. This is more clearly seen in a similar, if not the same, incident recorded in Luke 11:37-42, where he rebuked the Pharisees for making only the outside free from dirt (clean) but the inside (heart); "Is full of ravening and wickedness." He encouraged them to make the heart clean and all would be clean (verse 41) and to be concerned about both areas not just outward appearances.[Luke 11:42]
Luke 11:
37And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.
38And when the Pharisee saw
it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.
39And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
40Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?
The other passages also had a similar sentiment and was not concerned about the food being eaten but with the fact that Jesus was eating without washing the dirt off His hands.
Matthew 15:
1Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
2Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
Mark 7:
1Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
2And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
Hence, what Jesus is saying is that; the source of sin is in the heart and that dirty hands does not make the heart dirty, because this dirt is passed out into the draught (
excrement), but it is the "dirt" in the heart which causes sin. This is echoed and is more easily understood in James 1:14-17:
"But everyman is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
So also, it is the lust for the unclean animals which is the source of the defilement which occurs when they are eaten. Dirt in the incident is used in parable form to denote sin or sinful desires and it is to be noted that the incident makes no mention of clean or unclean animals.
If Jesus had meant that nothing which goes into the body does not affect it, then we could all smoke, consume alcohol liberally, use addictive drugs, consume animal fats liberally, without them affecting the body or mind in any way and also consume unclean animals without them affecting the body or mind.
However, other passages in Acts of the Apostles and Revelation prove that this is not so.
In Acts 10 and Acts 11 is contained another event which some use, to say that God had declared all animals fit for food. [Acts10:11-13] But the response of Peter is most enlightening. He says:
"..Not so Lord; for
I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." [Acts 10:14]
This response shows that before Jesus came, while he was on earth and after he had ascended, Peter still had not eaten of any unclean animals
and still had a strong aversion to doing so. He was also uncertain about the meaning of the vision,
which he should not have been, had Jesus declared all animals clean. [Acts 10:17] It was the arrival of the men from Cornelius and their story which allowed Peter to understand the meaning of the vision:
"And he said unto them; ye know how it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation;
but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean." [Acts 10:28; Acts 11:18]
Hence in this vision the beasts represented people from all the nations of the earth whom God had called to partake of the promise of life for those who will repent and believe on Jesus, just as was promised. [See,Isaiah 55:5-7; Amos 9:11-12; Isaiah 19:20-23; Jeremiah 12:14-17.]
The other passage which confirms that animals were still classified as being clean or unclean, after Jesus' sojourn on earth, is found in Revelation 18:1-2, in which an Angel is describing the state of "Babylon the Great." The fact that the Angel uses the term "
Unclean and hateful bird" shows that animals are still to be classified as clean and unclean, whatever this bird may mean or symbolize. It is to be noted that the purpose of Jesus' sojourn on earth was to sanctify man and not the unclean animals. [Titus 2:13-14; I Timothy 1:15; Luke 19:10]. The animals fit for food had already been set apart by God [Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14.]
In Acts 15;20, we see the Gentiles, who had turned to God, being directed, by the apostles, to be careful about what they eat.
They should not eat of that which had been offered to idols, animals which had been strangled, (or died of itself) and to abstain from blood. If we could eat anything then they would not have been given these instructions. In fact these instructions are found in Leviticus 17: 13-16 and were given after it was known which animals could be eaten.
Hence these instructions which were taken from the law [See Acts 15;21] and
which came after it was known which animals were fit to be eaten, must also have been given after the Gentiles had knowledge of what is fit to be eaten. The prophecy of the Gentiles being called to serve God, in Jeremiah 12:14-17, also shows that they are called to learn the righteous ways of Israel, not some new way or to come with their own ways. It is to be noted that these instruction about what to eat, given by the apostles, are not widely observed by Christians since they, in error, say; "Nothing you eat will defile you", contrary to the Apostles instructions. Note that Gentiles were exposed to the teaching of the law and prophets:
Acts 15:
21For
Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
Acts 14:
1And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into
the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
I could stop here and hope that it would be clear to all that we are still required to make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and that not everything is fit to be eaten. However, those who strongly propose the view that "nothing is unclean" would still be clinging to some of the writings of Paul, which through wrong interpretation cause many to be in error, [II Peter 3; 15-17] and which are used to justify their position. I will attempt to make these passages more clear and I pray, the Holy Spirit may give you the understanding needed to receive the explanations.
To be continued.
P.S. Comments like that below, is completely discredited by what the scriptures show of the encounter, which many use to say, Jesus declared all foods to be clean.If Jesus had declared all foods clean, then Peter was there to hear. Jesus obviously did not, and so nothing persons who reason like this, say, should be taken seriously. They merely come up with arguments to support their positions in the heat of the moment.
"I believe that God’s revelation of the New Covenant was still progressing. Peter did not know yet that God had made all things clean. This was as much a revelation to him as it is to you."
