What New Testament passages discuss dietary laws and their fulfillment in Christ? Starting Point: Deuteronomy 14:8 – The Unclean Pig “...the pig, because it has a divided hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses.” (Deuteronomy 14:8) Israel’s dietary distinctions taught holiness, separation, and obedience. In Christ, those ceremonial shadows reach their intended goal, so the New Testament repeatedly revisits food laws to reveal their fulfillment. Jesus’ Teaching: Purity Flows from the Heart Mark 7:14-23 (parallel Matthew 15:10-20) • v. 18-19: “Do you not realize that nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him…? It does not enter his heart but passes into the stomach and is eliminated.” The text adds, “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.” • He shifts the focus from external regulations to inner righteousness: evil thoughts, immorality, pride—these defile. Peter’s Vision: God Calls the Animals Clean Acts 10:9-16; 11:4-18 • A sheet containing “all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and birds of the air.” • Voice: “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” • Threefold response: “By no means, Lord; I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” • Divine answer: “What God has cleansed, you must not call impure.” • Immediate application to Gentiles (Cornelius), yet the plain language also affirms the ceremonial wall is down—unclean foods included. Paul’s Counsel: Liberty Governed by Love • v. 14: “I am convinced by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.” • The kingdom is “not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” • Believers may abstain for conscience; the strong gladly limit freedom to avoid causing a weaker brother to stumble. 1 Corinthians 8 & 10:23-31 • Food offered to idols is “nothing”; yet knowledge must serve edification. • v. 31: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” Shadow and Substance: Ceremonial Law Fulfilled • “Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink… These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body belongs to Christ.” • Regulations “concerning food and drink” were “external ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.” • Christ “abolished in His flesh the law of commandments and ordinances” that divided Jew and Gentile. Warnings Against False Asceticism • False teachers “forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving.” • “Everything God has created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.” • “It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods.” Putting It All Together • The Mosaic food distinctions were real, God-given, and pointed to holiness. • Jesus literally declared the ceremonial boundary fulfilled; He never nullified the moral law. • The apostles ratified this freedom, tying it to the gospel’s expansion to all nations. • Christian liberty is exercised with gratitude to God, sensitivity to consciences, and love for fellow believers. |
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