Topical Bible: Blood: Forbidden to be Used As Food

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The prohibition against consuming blood is a significant biblical mandate that appears in both the Old and New Testaments. This command underscores the sanctity of life and the symbolic representation of blood as life itself.

Old Testament Foundations

The initial prohibition against consuming blood is found in the covenant God made with Noah after the flood. In Genesis 9:4 , God commands, "But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it." This directive establishes a universal principle for all humanity, emphasizing the sacredness of life, as blood is equated with life itself.

The Mosaic Law further elaborates on this prohibition. Leviticus 17:10-14 states, "If anyone from the house of Israel or any foreigner living among them eats any blood, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life." This passage highlights the theological significance of blood in the sacrificial system, where it serves as a means of atonement, pointing to its sacred role in the relationship between God and His people.

Deuteronomy 12:23 reiterates this command: "But be sure that you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat." The repetition of this command in the Torah underscores its importance and the need for the Israelites to adhere strictly to it.

New Testament Continuation

The New Testament reaffirms the prohibition against consuming blood, demonstrating its continued relevance for the early Christian community. In Acts 15, during the Jerusalem Council, the apostles and elders addressed the issue of Gentile believers and the requirements of the Mosaic Law. Acts 15:28-29 records their decision: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond these essential requirements: You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things."

This directive to abstain from blood was part of the essential requirements for Gentile converts, indicating that the prohibition was not merely a cultural or ceremonial law but held moral and theological significance for the early church.

Theological Implications

The prohibition against consuming blood is deeply rooted in the biblical understanding of life and atonement. Blood, as the life force of a creature, is reserved for God and His purposes, particularly in the context of sacrificial atonement. This understanding is foundational to the sacrificial system of the Old Testament and finds its ultimate fulfillment in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed for the atonement of humanity's sins.

The command to abstain from blood serves as a reminder of the sanctity of life and the reverence due to God's creation. It also points to the unique role of blood in God's redemptive plan, culminating in the New Covenant established through the blood of Christ.

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Genesis 9:4
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat.
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Leviticus 3:17
It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that you eat neither fat nor blood.
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Leviticus 7:26,27
Moreover you shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.
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Leviticus 17:10-14
And whatever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eats any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
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Leviticus 19:26
You shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall you use enchantment, nor observe times.
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Deuteronomy 12:16,23
Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth as water.
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Deuteronomy 15:23
Only you shall not eat the blood thereof; you shall pour it on the ground as water.
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Ezekiel 33:25
Why say to them, Thus said the Lord GOD; You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall you possess the land?
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Acts 15:20,29
But that we write to them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
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Acts 21:25
As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.
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Library

Discourse on Spiritual Food and True Discipleship. Peter's ...
... to the Jew, for he was forbidden to taste ... therefore, on the drinking of his blood,
Jesus has ... to-day, being more spiritually minded, and more used to spiritual ...
/.../mcgarvey/the four-fold gospel/lxiv discourse on spiritual food.htm

Whether There was any Reasonable Cause for the Ceremonial ...
... They were forbidden to eat the fat: both because idolaters ... in honor of their gods;
and because it used to be ... in honor of God; and, again, because blood and fat ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether there was any reasonable.htm

The Conversion of Cornelius.
... refrain from baseness, but resents even to blood the imputation ... of the animals were
such as were forbidden by the ... sorts of animals which might be used for food ...
/.../dick/lectures on the acts of the apostles/lecture xiii the conversion of.htm

Whether a Suitable Cause Can be Assigned for the Ceremonies which ...
... The reason for this was, first, in order to prevent idolatry: because idolaters
used to drink the ... For they were forbidden the use of the blood that they ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether a suitable cause can.htm

Faustus Willing to Believe not Only that the Jewish but that all ...
... be no flesh; as it is written, "Flesh and blood shall not ... it unnecessary that any
food should be forbidden or unclean ... And because the Lord used this food, He is ...
/.../faustus willing to believe not.htm

Letter Xlvii. (AD 398. )
... use was absolutely forbidden, or they were forbidden to carry ... to acknowledge the
shedding of their blood as a ... of the other alternatives, it may be used for his ...
/.../augustine/the confessions and letters of st/letter xlvii a d 398.htm

The Crisis in Galilee
... The figure which Christ used was a familiar one to the Jews. ... By the ritual law they
were forbidden to taste blood, and they now construed Christ's language ...
//christianbookshelf.org/white/the desire of ages/chapter 41 the crisis in.htm

The Council of Jerusalem.
... Under the law, blood was forbidden, because it made atonement for ... and the legal
sacrifices have ceased, blood is not ... sacred than water, and may be used with as ...
/.../dick/lectures on the acts of the apostles/lecture xvi the council of.htm

Leviticus
... fair to remember that the hymn-book used by these ... prohibition of the eating of fat
and blood (vii ... signal punishment, x.1-7. Officiating priests forbidden to use ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/mcfadyen/introduction to the old testament/leviticus.htm

The Nile and Egypt
... a colour as to look like newly shed blood. ... nearly raw by the operation, he used to
cover ... and daughter, however, was perhaps not wholly forbidden,[*] and that ...
/.../chapter i the nile and egypt.htm