Dietary Restrictions In The New Testament?

• Defining The Issues:

           -Professing Christian groups such as the Seventh-Day Adventists and Hebrew Roots movement maintain that the New Testament does not abolish the Mosaic distinction of eating clean meats versus eating unclean meats. Those restrictions are listed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. However, these dietary laws were intended strictly for Israel. God did not give them to the Egyptians or Canaanites, for instance. This teaching ignores the historical context of dietary restrictions, which was to make the Jews a different people from neighboring countries. They centered around ritual purity.
           -Notice especially the language of New Testament passages discussing Jesus Christ's fulfillment of the Old Covenant such as Romans 10:4, Galatians 3:24-26, Ephesians 2:14-15, and Colossians 2:13-16. He very clearly terminated mandatory observance of Mosaic customs by His crucifixion. That in and of itself eliminates any possibility of us being under compulsion of adhering to dietary regulations. The distinction between Jew and Gentile has been abrogated by God Himself. National boundaries are of no consequence in this regard.

           -This is not a matter of selectively picking which texts to regard as binding over our lives, but properly recognizing their application. It is sound procedure to put the Mosaic dietary restrictions into their rightful context. Moreover, they fit into a broader system of theology, which helps us to appreciate their true significance. While Christianity emerged from Judaism, both remain separate religions. They have different teachings about the Mosaic system. Reintroducing dietary restrictions contradicts every principle on which the gospel stands.

           -Those who desire to reinstate customs of the Old Testament fail to realize that doing so undermines the gospel itself. If we are going to adhere to dietary laws, then why not also revert to performing animal sacrifices? After all, the Law demands perfect obedience (Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10-11). No one is able to do so, which is why it condemns us in the first place. The Law of Moses was given as a whole, and was, therefore, intended to be obeyed as a whole (Deut. 6:24; 8:1; 12:28; 27:1; 28:1;58; 31:12; 32:45-47). If Mosaic dietary restrictions are still in effect, then why do the New Testament gospels or epistles never warn us against eating certain kinds of food?

• Jesus Declared All Foods To Be Clean:

           -"because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man." (Mark 7:19-20)

            *That would logically refer to meat as a general category. Christ was speaking in very broad terms. His point is that corruption stems not from outside us, but from within. The inference to be made from this is that eating meat cannot defile us spiritually. This has been set in stone by God Himself. Thus, no man has the authority or ability to diminish this reality.

• God's Vision To Peter About Cornelius:

           -"But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy. This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.” (Acts 10:10-16, emphasis added)

            *In the vision that the apostle received, God commanded him to kill four-footed animals and eat their flesh. The point being made is that Peter was to be accepting of Gentile converts into the faith. His reaction was one of shock, since he was a Jew. This was obviously something new to him. This text is relevant in that Gentiles do not observe Jewish dietary laws, nor are they to be forced to do so (Galatians 2:13-14).

• The Apostle Paul On Eating Meats:

           -"Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him." (Romans 14:1-3)

            *Those who teach that the dietary laws of the Mosaic system are still in effect have violated the very foundation of gospel teaching. They are not exhibiting a charitable spirit by trying to make other believers act in the same way as themselves.

           -"I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died." (Romans 14:14-15)

            *One may individually choose to forgo eating various meats for the sake of conscience, but cannot legitimately impose such convictions on others. God has given us liberty to choose on this matter. Those who persist in condemning the consumption of meats are doing so not on the basis of divine commandment, but human tradition.
           -"Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense." (Romans 14:20)

            *Obviously, in the Apostle Paul's mind, there are more important matters than what one eats. He focused more on preaching the gospel and godly living. Paul doubles down on his teaching by stressing that there is no food which we may not eat. Compare with 1 Corinthians 8:8.

• Commanding That Others Abstain From Eating Meats Is Heresy: 

           -"But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer." (1 Timothy 4:1-5)

            *Why is this heresy? It calls into question the goodness of God, who created the things that we eat. It reveals a lack of thankfulness on our part, which is an insult to God. He called His creation good, and so did Paul. Further, this gives authority to the apostle's teaching because it shows that he upheld the Old Testament as authoritative. Those who assert that Mosaic dietary restrictions are in place today have fallen into the same error as the early Gnostics spoken of here. Things are made worse when somebody's arrogance is dressed in pious language. It is wicked to denounce as unclean the things that God Himself has sanctioned for us to use.