The ages of my three children together totaled 60 years before any of them visited a doctor for illness or antibiotics (excluding visits to the dentist). Their mother hasn’t used my health insurance for 35 years – no doctor visits, no prescription drugs, no antibiotics. When they infrequently were sick, they were prayed for and anointed with oil (Ja.5:14-16). God heals by faith. (see the topic, “Healing Our Bodies”.)
Two main factors contributed to their general good health: Divine healing, and refraining from eating any creature identified as unclean by Christ’s guidelines.
Ex.15:26 reveals, “If you will obey the Lord your God, and hearken to His commandments and keep His statutes; I AM the Lord your Healer.”
According to the apostle Paul and others, Christ was the Rock, the Old Testament (OT) God of Israel. cf. De.32:3-4, 18 with 1Co.10:4. “That Rock was Christ.” Also in the Greek Septúagint/LXX De.10:17, Moses told Israel their God is “Lord of lords”…and in Re.17:14 the Lamb Jesus is “Lord of lords”. The same Greek terminology. In the LXX Is.45:21 their God is the Savior…and in 1Jn.4:14-15 Jesus is the Savior. The same Greek term. (also see “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.)
Christ the Word/Lógos (Jn.1:1-4, 14) created the creatures in Ge.1. They were all declared “good” (v.20-25). He created them for their purpose/place in the ecosystem and food chain of life. But not all of these good creatures are fit for human consumption. Only clean creatures are, according to scripture.
Clean animals are naturally herbivores. Herbivores are grazing/plant-eating ruminants (cud-chewers).
Most unclean creatures are scavengers/garbage disposers, carnivores, or omnivores. Carnivores are meat-eating, and often carry pathogens & dangerous toxins. Omnivores eat both plants and animals.
Unclean creatures aren’t called ‘food’ in the Bible. By definition, it must be clean…else it’s not real food in scripture. (However, food can be rendered unclean when it becomes defiled or contaminated.)
Jesus’ basic injunctions regarding clean & unclean creatures are described twice in the Law He gave to Moses/Israel, in Le.11 and De.14:2-20. Christ told man His instructions and the characteristics of clean & unclean creatures He’d created. Jesus as Creator should know…and they’re His food/dietary laws!
What was Christ’s motive in giving ancient Israel the knowledge of His dietary laws? Most New Testament (NT) readers don’t view Jesus as a harsh or overly restrictive God…not one who would encumber people unnecessarily just to flaunt His authority. De.7:6-15 Moses told the Israelites, “You are a holy people; the Lord your God has chosen you. The Lord loved you”. Christ the Lord gave Israel His dietary laws for their well-being, because He loved them! To bless them, not burden them.
Actually, two of the four restrictions of Acts 15 for the NT church…are dietary. Ac.15:28-29 “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things dying of itself (strangled), and from sexual immorality.”
Christ previously had decreed these four restrictions in the OT too. Abstention from blood and from eating things dying of itself/strangled are dietary laws involving clean animals only (Le.17:12-15), for Israelites and aliens. (see “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)
Unclean is disallowed as food. The oral law of the Pharisees was burdensome (Ac.15:5, 10). Christ’s dietary laws are beneficial, not burdensome.
Man’s harvesting of unclean creatures as food removes them from God’s created purpose. Opposition by man to God’s intent brings a penalty. Consuming unclean creatures can cause sickness, even cancer.
Scavengers were designed for their role in maintaining the environment. Reducing the numbers of God’s ‘creature janitors’ limits the amount of carcass clean-up on the planet, and thereby disease can increase. Harvesting unclean shrimp has destroyed nearly 40% of vital mangrove forests worldwide; reducing the populations of bottom-feeders (to eat them) results in unwanted excess CO2 in our atmosphere; and so on. The earth and humanity suffers – man reaps what he sows (Ga.6:7).
Also, the overall effect of hunting & killing wild unclean animals for trophies isn’t good. They too are God’s creatures. Their survival in nature depends on the intricate balance of ecosystems. Natural predators maintain this normal balance by killing the sick and weak. Needless hunting disrupts the balance.
Let’s see what scripture and Jesus reveals about unclean & clean meat. We can have faith in His word!
To begin, even centuries before God conveyed His dietary guidelines to ancient Israel, the gentile Noah knew the difference between clean & unclean animals. Noah wasn’t Jewish. Clean and unclean was known prior to God’s law at Sinai for Israelites/Jews! Perhaps such knowledge was passed down from Christ’s instructions in Eden, or from Adam & Eve’s experience, or righteous Enoch had taught it.
Ge.7:1-2 “The Lord said to Noah, ‘Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, male and female; and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, male and female.” Then after the Flood, Noah sacrificed clean animals, Ge.8:20. God didn’t accept sacrifices of unclean animals or wild animals – only domestic clean animals were suitable for sacrifice. The pairs of wild clean animals (e.g. deer) were for food. But if Noah’s family had eaten an unclean male or female, that kind might have become extinct (there was only one pair of each unclean kind). Important note…righteous Noah was a gentile!
The Lord Christ told Israel the characteristics which identify edible creatures. Le.11:1-8 “Whatever creature has split hooves and chews the cud you may eat.” Clean land animals/ruminants have a complex digestive system which removes toxins. Examples of clean are sheep, goat, cattle, bison, deer, giraffe. Unclean are swine, rabbit, squirrel, groundhog, bear, dog, cats, mice, bats, monkeys, etc. Pulpit Commentary Le.11:2 “There is something loathsome in the idea of eating such flesh.”
Le.11:9-12 “Whatever is in the water, all that has fins and scales you may eat.” No shellfish or skin fish are permitted. Shellfish can be contaminated with parasites and have viruses which high heat even may not kill. Shellfish (e.g. raw oysters & clams) can contain pathogenic bacteria such as salmonella.
Le.11:13-19 lists unclean birds. By process of elimination, it is ascertained that clean birds have a crop for storing food, double-lined gizzard, extra finger/toe; and they eat their food only on the ground, while not holding it. Birds of prey and scavengers (e.g. vultures) are unclean. Wading birds don’t have the necessary gizzard with a double lining, and are unclean to eat. Unclean birds transmit viral diseases, and their enzymes make their flesh incompatible with the human digestive system.
Most insects and creeping things are unclean, Le.11:20-23.
All reptiles and amphibians are unclean (cf. Le.11:29-30, Re.16:13).
All carnivores and most all omnivores are unclean. Humans are omnivores, unclean to eat. (ref Ezk.4:12-15 dried cow dung was an okay common fuel.) Cannibalism, eating a human corpse or afterbirth (even when killing isn’t done), is sin. Humans don’t have split hooves and don’t chew the cud (Le.11:3).
Swine are unclean scavengers. Christ commanded in Le.11:7-8, “Swine divides the hoof, making a split hoof, but does not chew the cud. You shall not eat their flesh, they are unclean to you”.
The Bible doesn’t indicate that swine were ever created as food, or became food, for humans. There’s no historical evidence that the anatomy or habits of pigs suddenly changed at the cross! Swine are still scavengers.
Swine carry tapeworms and trichina worms. Trichinosis can kill people. Those who thoroughly cook & eat pork are still ingesting (dead) trichina worms! Who would knowingly want to eat or serve even dead trichina worms?! In third world countries, pigs choose to be in garbage.
Squamous cancer in the pig’s skin is common. Pig fat is even used as a medium for cultivating lab cancer growth. Since pork fat is found throughout all cuts, it’s difficult to trim off. Sausage and bacon are high in saturated fat & cholesterol. For more, see the article, “Why You Should Avoid Pork”, by Christian talk show host Dr. Axe.
{Sidelight: Mine isn’t a scientific essay…but readily accessible on the internet are dozens of more technical medical articles which detail the many health hazards of eating unclean creatures.}
As scavengers, pigs will eat decaying flesh, maggots, feces, slop. Some cities utilize swine to eat their garbage/sewage (e.g. Philadelphia, Cairo), saving millions of $ in landfill costs. This is a wiser use of pigs. But serving someone pathogenic unclean creatures such as swine…isn’t loving our neighbor!
The Hebrew term for swine, chazíyr Strongs h2386, occurs 7 times in the OT. Pr.11:22 “As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.” The Greek term for swine, chóiros g5519, occurs 14 times in the NT. Mt.7:6 “Neither cast your pearls before swine.” In Lk.15:13-17, Jesus said the prodigal son’s status in a distant country was reduced to feeding swine and eating swine husks. In the Bible, swine represent unclean and degradation, the low state to which a person can fall!
De.14:3, 8 “You shall not eat any abomination…the pig.” Here Christ says eating swine’s flesh is an abomination! For comparison, other abominations are: causing a child to pass through the fire, witchcraft, sorcery, casting spells (De.18:9-12)!
At Gádara in the Decápolis was a herd of swine which was being used wrongly to feed the occupying Roman army. A man there was possessed by a legion of demons, which Jesus cast out. Mk.5:8-16 “The unclean spirits entered into the swine, and 2,000 of them rushed down the hill and drowned in the sea.” Of note…here Jesus wasted 2,000 unclean swine, yet saved fragments of clean food in Mk.6:41-44! (ref Jn.6:10-13)
In the NT and OT LXX, the Greek term for unclean is akáthartos, g169. The term applies to both unclean creatures and spirits, as we saw in Mk.5 (another example is Mt.10:1). In the NT, unclean (akathartos g169) occurs 30 times, usually referring to unclean spirits.
{{Sidelight: Uncleanness also applies to worshiping foreign gods (2Co.6:16-17), religious prostitution, seeking advice from the occult darkside, ungodly heathen mourning rites. Also to contact with decomposition (Nu.19:11-ff), house mold (Le.14:37), and impure bodily conditions such as leprosy, bodily discharge, infection, blood, menstruation, copulation (Le.13–15). Not all uncleanness is wrong or sin. These other aspects of unclean which are unrelated to eating won’t be discussed here.}}
Perfectly good food (clean) could become defiled if eaten in a heathen temple as a sacrifice to idols. (see “Sacrifices To Idols and Romans 14”.)
Also, the carcass of an unbled or unslaughtered clean animal was defiled as food and was forbidden. For example, an animal that died a natural death or was killed by another animal (Le.17:15, Ac.15:29).
The admonitions in Le.7:19-20, Le.22:4-6, Hag.2:12-13 referred to holy meals like peace offerings, not common meals. However, if someone who’d touched a human corpse was to handle/prepare food, that (clean) food could become defiled (Nu.19:16, 22). Infectious disease, hepatitis, HIV, TB, ebola can be transmitted from a corpse.
Some Bible readers think there are NT scriptures which indicate a distinction no longer exists between unclean and clean creatures (fit to eat). As if Christ suddenly changed the human digestive system or the composition of His unclean creatures, or His character & principles aren’t really the same yesterday, today and forever (contrary to He.13:8)!
There’s more to this extensive topic. It’s continued and concluded in “Unclean versus Clean Food (2)”. There we examine more NT passages such as Mt.15/Mk.7, Ac.10, 1Ti.4:1-5, and other verses. We’ll see whether or not Christ has a double-standard…one standard for the gentile Noah and then the Israelite people He loved…and a different standard for other gentiles since the cross.
Bible Topic Exposition 