I don't want anybody to think that they will be condemned for what they eat, that is not what I'm saying.
(1 Tim 4:3) Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, WHICH God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
"Which" is a qualifying word. Those meats which God created to be received are found in
Deu. 14 and
Lev. 11.
If you look at those meats God commanded to stay away from, you will find that many are scavengers...they eat dirty, or dead, or dying things to cleanse the earth. Eating them would be like eating the contents of your vacuum cleaner.
(1 Tim 4:4) For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
Every
what creature? The qualifier was given in the prior verse, "
which God hath created to be received..."
(Rom 14:20-21) For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. {21} It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing WHEREBY thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
There's another qualifier..."whereby". Paul is speaking of new, specifically, new gentile Christians. Don't hound them with food laws because there salvation is more important.
1 Cor. 8:12 is speaking of meat sacrificed to idols. It has nothing to do with the food laws of
Deu. 14 or
Lev. 11.
