Clean and Unclean Foods: Do the Levitical Laws Apply to Christians?

[Sophia7]

Thanks for the information Sophia7.

I'm genuinely confused in that the "first commandment" regarding clean and unclean meats isn't in the book of Leviticus at all but rather it is in the book of Genesis and was directed towards Noah.

No, there was no commandment in Genesis regarding eating clean or unclean meats. This is what God told Noah after the flood:

GE 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

GE 9:4 "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.
​

If you read the whole thread, you'll see some previous posts that discussed this passage.

 

[Sophia7]

If I may, let me for this one time combine both the Ten Commandments with the 613 laws that were a combination of the Levitical and creamonial laws which were given in Exodus and Livitcus, and added to by the Hebrews as time went by. The initial Ten Commandments were given by God Himself and written with His own finger in stone. The statutes, also known as the Mosaic and Livitical laws, were expounded on by Moses, especially in the book of Liviticus.

The whole Torah was given by God.

 

[RND]

Hi RND,

Hello Doc.

Welcome to the Discussion/Debate Sub-Forum!

Thank you!

In your last post you said:
Don't feel like you are alone when you say you are "genuinely confused"

Actually, it was a figure of speech. Genuinely, I'm not confussed at all about the application of God's law.

QUOTE]on this topic. If I may, let me for this one time combine both the Ten Commandments with the 613 laws that were a combination of the Levitical and creamonial laws which were given in Exodus and Livitcus, and added to by the Hebrews as time went by.[/QUOTE]

None the less, there is no such thing as "levitical" laws. This is a misapplication and understanding the law.

The initial Ten Commandments were given by God Himself and written with His own finger in stone.

Actually, I don't necessarily agree with this assertion. Abraham kept God's commandments, laws, and statues (Gen. 26:5) so we have to assume these are the same as those written in Sinai. Also, Cain knew murdering his brother was wrong. In fact, in the first 6 chapters of Genesis all 10 Commandments are clearly broken. So it would appear from just applying what was given on Sinai to what happened in the Bible that clearly the 10 Commandments were in effect prior to actually being written.

statutes, also known as the Mosaic and Livitical laws, were expounded on by Moses, especially in the book of Liviticus. There continued to be additions to this last set of laws by the Jewish leaders.

The prime reason for confusion about all of these 'commandments,' as to who they applied to, when they were intended take effect, why they were given, when or if there was an experiation date, and are they still binding, stems from the fact that we seldom take the time to study all of these topics as one topic. This topic is somewhat like taking a trip in your car. Its very easy to just stay on the main road, but you won't undestand why the road has taken the course it has unless you also observe what is along the way.

I think this can be easily applied when studying any scripture topic and not just the application of God's Moral law. Wouldn't you agree?

I know of no way to remove your questions and concerns with just a short reply or just a couple of passages from Scripture. What we really need to do is do a complete Bible study that will cover all of the above mentioned topics, how they tie in with each other, as well as some other closely related subjects that need to be understood if we are to get a look at the complete picture.

Actually I appreciate your attention to "my concerns" but it isn't really necessary. I feel I have a fairly good grasp of the subject but if you have something you think I might benefit from, by all means, please share your thoughts.

If you will be patient with me, since we just got started with a complete study of the books of Daniel and Revelation in the Bible Study sub-foum, I will be more than happy to cover this topic start to finish. I say be patient with me because once we get going in the other study, and I get a couple of computer glitches fixed, we can probably work on both of these subjects at the same time ( if thats OK with evereyone).

Again, thanks for your concern but it isn't really necessary.

Once again welcome to the forum! We look forward to your participation!

Thanks again.

 

[RND]

No, there was no commandment in Genesis regarding eating clean or unclean meats. This is what God told Noah after the flood:

GE 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
GE 9:4 "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.
​

If you read the whole thread, you'll see some previous posts that discussed this passage.

Sometimes it is best to read all of a particular subject to have a complete understanding of the totality that subject. This is a wonderful case in point.

Noah was commanded to take of the "clean" animals 7 by 7. Of the "unclean" he was commanded to take 2 by 2 (See Genesis 7).

Now if we assume that God told Noah he could eat "any" of the animals that were on the Ark, then it would be difficult for Noah to eat any of the "unclean" animals, in that we can legitimately ask, How then would the "unclean" animals procreate if Noah and his family ate on of the "unclean" animals? There would be nothing of which to mate with?

For example if Noah took 2 pigs on the Ark and ate 1 then whether he ate a male or female pig would make no difference, simply because the remaining pig would have no mate left in which to renew the earth.

Simply looking at the situation and trying to reasonablly understand scripture we can see the impractibility in eating the unclean animals not to mention the health applications.

 

[djconklin]

No, there was no commandment in Genesis regarding eating clean or unclean meats. This is what God told Noah after the flood:

BEFORE the Flood the when animals came into the Ark there were 7 of the clean (one for a sacrifice after the Flood) and only two of the unclean. I'm quite sure that this would have been pointedf out to you in the other thread that you refer people to--if not, it certainly should have!

 

[djconklin]

The whole Torah was given by God.

Only the Ten commandments were written by God, on stone. No one disputes that the Bible was inspired by God--but God doesn't dictate, He inpires the thought. The writers are His penmen, not His pen.

 

[Sophia7]

BEFORE the Flood the when animals came into the Ark there were 7 of the clean (one for a sacrifice after the Flood) and only two of the unclean. I'm quite sure that this would have been pointedf out to you in the other thread that you refer people to--if not, it certainly should have!

Point out to me where there was a commandment prohibiting eating unclean animals in Genesis. And I was referring RND to the rest of this thread. Read the whole thing; this has already been discussed.

 

[djconklin]

Point out to me where there was a commandment prohibiting eating unclean animals in Genesis.

Point out to me where I said anything about "eating."

RND has already made an excellant observation about eating any of the unclean animals.