Love – Godly Love

This topic takes a look at love, primarily godly love, according to Bible verses about love.

1Jn.4:16 “God is love.”  Although God is love, God is greater than love.  His character exudes love.  And He has put within the human spirit of man, made in God’s image & likeness, the capacity to love.

One reason we’re on earth is…to learn how to love!  The Christian life consists of learning the principles of love and then practicing love.  The ultimate goal is for us to live forever together with God, in love.

There are at least five types of love indicated in the Bible Greek – philáutia, stórge, éros, philéo, agápe.

Philautia (Strongs g5367 phíl-autos) is the love of self.  The term occurs only in 2Ti.3:2.  Philautia can be good or bad.  It is inward; concerned with one’s own health (cf. Da.1:8-16), happiness, avoidance of pain, self-preservation, self-esteem, etc.  Some or most aspects of self-love come naturally to us.

Storge (stór-yee) is family love.  It develops between parents & children, siblings, extending to grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.  It’s a familiar love with commitment which can increase over the years.  The Greek term doesn’t occur in scripture.  A form of storge is seen in Ro.12:10 in regards to the at-large family of sons and daughters of God. “Be devoted [g5387 philóstorgos] to one another in brotherly love [g5360 philadelphía].”  (Philadelphia is called the ‘City of Brotherly Love’.)   Family love is evident in the Bible accounts of Abraham & Isaac (Ge.22:2), Jacob & his sons (Ge.49:1, 50:14), Job & his children (Jb.1:4-5), Mary & Martha & Lazarus (Jn.11:1-ff), Jáirus & his daughter (Lk.8:41-ff), etc.  Family love grows via attachment and dependency, by living together and relatives visiting.

Eros (áir-os g2064.2 in the Old Testament (OT) Septúagint/LXX Pr.7:18, 30:16) is a sensual or sexual desire/lust, physical attraction or ‘chemistry’, romantic or passionate love.  Testosterone and estrogen (created by God) causes desire.  The next two verses contain a form (g2037.1) of eros.  Pr.4:6 LXX figuratively, “Love her [wisdom], and she will guard you”.  Est.2:17 LXX “The king loved Esther, and she found grace and favor beyond all others.”  Desire is seen in Pr.5:18-19. “Rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; be ravished always with her love.”  Eros relates to self-satisfaction or self-gratification, though both partners can be gratified.

Phileo (phil-éh-o g5368) is the love in (deep) friendship.  This verb occurs 25 times in the New Testament (NT) and 27 times in the OT LXX.  The noun phílos (fée-los g5384) occurs 65 times in the LXX, and 28 times in the NT where it is translated “friend”.  Phileo is more general, present in various relationships.  It includes respect, shared goodwill, lovingkindness, fondness or affection – towards one dear, beloved, cherished, or a thing.  Ge.27:4-5 LXX Isaac loved (g5368) venison.  Father God phileo loves in Jn.5:20 & Jn.16:27.  Ge.37:4 LXX Jacob loved Joseph.  Phileo can be a powerful emotional attachment or bond.  Ge.29:11 LXX “Jacob kissed [g5368] Rachel.”  Phileo is part of being ‘in love’.  Rachel Pace writes, “Love, value, care, respect, and trust are the fundamentals around which emotional attraction is built.”  Phileo connects one with a ‘soul-mate’, and may lead to family/storge.  Phileo combined with eros can be exhilarating!  (Note: There is a degree of overlap between the types of love.)

Agape (ah-gáh-pay g26) is the Greek noun for universal love, empathy for all people.  In the NT, it is seen as godly love, transcendant, outgoing, unconditional.  It’s the highest form of love in the Bible!  Early Christianity viewed agape as the spiritual love God has for humanity, and the love man has for God.  Agape occurs 115 times in the NT and 15 times in the OT LXX.  A Greek verb meaning ‘to love’ is agapáo (ah-ga-páh-o g25).  It occurs 140 times in the NT and nearly 200 times in the LXX.  In OT times, agapao could resemble phileo.  Jesus loves with agapao in Jn.19:26, 21:7, 20, and with phileo in Jn.20:2; with agapao in He.12:6, and with phileo in Re.3:19.  The Creator too expresses various types of love!  After Peter denied Jesus 3 times (Lk.22:34, 54-62)…Peter phileo loves Jesus, he didn’t yet agapao love Jesus (Jn.21:15-16).  (But Peter as an old man agapao loved Jesus; ref 1Pe.1:8.)  Also, the adjective agapetós g27, translated as “beloved”, occurs 60 times in the NT and 15 times in the LXX.

{Sidelight: Agapao in the NT usually indicates a godly love.  His own benevolent, unselfish agape that can be present without reciprocity (Ro.5:8).  But agapao doesn’t always indicate godly love.  Sinners can agapao sinners who agapao them (Lk.6:32).  Also people can agapao darkness (Jn.3:19), the praise of men (Jn.12:43), and unrighteousness (2Pe.2:15)!  Those verses aren’t indicative of a divine love.}

Greek Bible scholar Dr. Spiros Zódiates: “Agapao is used of God’s love toward man and vice versa, but phileo is never used of the love of men toward [Father] God. Agape isn’t found in classical Greek, only in revealed religion.”  Only through godly love can man truly love God.  Such love originated with God.

Again, 1Jn.4:8, 16 “God is love [g26].”  How may we express benevolent godly love?  1Jn.5:2-3 “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”  Godly love (g26 in v.3) includes as a priority the keeping of His commandments!  Our obedience reflects love.

What are His commandments?  We may say, they are God’s instructions, His guidelines for right living.  To begin, 1Jn.3:23 “This is His [God’s] commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He [Jesus] commanded us.”  It is crucial to believe in and honor Father God’s Son Jesus, who died for our sins!  1Jn.2:23 “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father.”  And Jesus the Son said in Jn.14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”.

As we’ll see, Jesus’ commandments reflect love to God, love to our neighbor, and love to ourselves.  It’s natural to love ourselves, our own flesh.  Who is my ‘neighbor’?  In the broad sense, my neighbor is…other humans.  Jesus’ commandments tell us how to love God, other people, and ourselves.

According to John, Peter, Paul…the pre-incarnate Christ, the primordial word of God (Jn.1:1-3, 14), was the God of ancient Israel.  He was the Lord God, the Shepherd of Israel who dwelt above the cherubim in the Most Holy Place of God’s tabernacle & temple (Ps.80:1, Jn.10:14).  see the topic “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.  Christ gave His commandments, His instructions, His principles to Moses/Israel.

Let’s now identify Jesus’ commandments of love.  There are two main commandments.  In Mk.12:28-31 a Jewish scribe asked Jesus, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”  Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

Jesus’ many commandments are summarized into these two broad categories.  They represent enduring moral principles for mankind, and are seen in the OT.  De.6:5-7 LXX “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.”  Le.19:18 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (We can’t love others if we don’t love ourself!)  Love (g25) God and your fellow man.

Christ’s Ten Commandments, the Decalogue or Testimony, describe how to love God and love others.

Ex.20:1-11 the first four commandments pertain to loving God.  Christ said in v.6, “Those who love Me and keep My commandments.”  Man is not to have any god beside the true God, is not to make any idols or images depicting God, is not to use God’s name for a wrong purpose.  Observing the fourth commandment, “Remember the sabbath [h7676 Hebrew] day to keep it holy”, honors God and signifies that our God is the Creator.  Ge.2:1-3 God ceased/rested (shabáth h7673 on the 7^th day of Creation.

De.5:12-15 allowing people under our charge to rest also shows love to others.  Jesus said in Mk.2:27-28, “The sabbath was made for man…the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath.”  Jesus is Lord, of the 7^th day sabbath too.  He was the Creator who ordained the sabbath.  He made it for the benefit of mankind.  Resting on the sabbath encompasses love for ourselves too.  Our body has a circaseptan rhythm which requires rest approximately every 7 days to keep our immune system strong.  Sabbath rest even shows love to work animals.  The Lord’s creatures that work for man in agriculture and other uses need rest too.  (see the series “Sabbath 7^th Day”, and the topic “Ten Commandments in Genesis & Job”.)

Ex.20:12-17 commandments #5 through #10 describe how to love others. “Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet.”  Adultery is engaging in sexual relations with another man’s wife.  Analogous to not bearing false witness in court is Col.3:9, “Lie not one to another”.  Wrong coveting is desiring something we cannot rightfully have some day.  Christ’s Decalogue reflects enduring principles of love.

But godly love involves more than the Decalogue.  Ge.14:18-20 Abram tithed or gave a tenth to the priest-king Melchisedek, representative of church & state.  Our tithes or giving to church ministries contribute to their efforts of sharing/spreading the good news of God’s love and His Kingdom.  Paying just taxes to our government provides funds for societal benefits & entitlements for our neighbor and ourself.

Also, we show love to others by giving from our means to the poor & needy (Ja.2:15-16, 1Jn.3:17).

Paul wrote a strong admonition in 2Th.3:10-15. “If anyone does not work, neither let him eat”.  We are to work an honest job so we have money to help support the Lord’s commission of spreading the gospel.  And earning money buys food for our own family table…loving ourselves.

Ge.1:26-28 God created man in His own image and likeness.  God said, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it”.  Humanity has the God-given mandate/command to raise families, to produce offspring through the generations as caretakers to manage the earth and its resources God created.

Le.20:13 same-sex marriage violates God’s mandate for mankind to reproduce.  (It is understood that some couples are unable to have children.)  John R. Diggs MD The Health Risks of Gay Sex “Common sexual practices among gay men lead to numerous STDs, some of which are virtually unknown in the heterosexual population. Lesbians are also at higher risks for STDs.”  Disease isn’t love.

Le.18:23 beastiality, sexual relations with another kind, is vile.  Christ told Moses/Israel, “It is a perversion”.  Horrific Risks of Sex With Animals “The likelihood of disease transmission from an animal to a human is high.”  This demeaning practice harms; it doesn’t show love.

Ps.139:14 “I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  The psalmist David loved himself and understood it was the Lord who’d designed our remarkable human body.

John wrote in 3Jn.1:2, “I pray in all respects that you may prosper and be in health”.  We want to have good health.  We love ourselves (phílautos g5367).  Again, God’s instructions tell us how to rightly love ourselves.

De.14:2-21 our refraining from eating unclean creatures which are parasitic or carcinogenic reflects love to self.  Also, by refraining from feeding unclean creatures to others we show love to our neighbor.  Ge.7:2 even the antediluvian patriarch Noah (who wasn’t Jewish) understood the difference between clean and unclean!  (see the topic “Unclean versus Clean Food”.)

Abstaining from blood pertains to loving our self.  God told Noah in Ge.9:4, “You shall not eat flesh with its life [or soul], its blood”.  The life/soul is in the blood.  Blood is the carrier of both life and disease.  Le.17:10-16 “No person among you may eat blood, nor may the alien who sojourns among you eat blood.”  Nor are we to eat an animal that dies of itself, is suffocated or “strangled” (Ac.15:29), or roadkill.  Improperly bled carcasses attract harmful organisms.  (see “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)

Le.3:17 “You shall not eat any fat or any blood.”  We avoid eating animal fat, which can contain toxins.

Le.18:19 “You shall not approach a woman to have relations during her menstrual period.”  Blood is present.  We should abstain from menstrual sex.  It puts women at risk for disease.  Dr. (Ms) De Souza Dangers of Sex During Menstruation “Irritation and an introduction to infection are major risks. Any wound or bleeding is a gateway to infection.”  (see “Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism”.)

All the above are Christ’s commandments…they reflect love to God, to other people, and to ourselves.  In a broad sense…Ro.13:10 “Love is the fulfillment of the law”.

God gives believers His Holy Spirit (HS).  The HS enables us to love God, other people, and ourself in the right way.  It’s a spiritual love.  Ga.5:22 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace [etc.].”  Godly love is present now in us through the indwelling HS (1Co.3:16).  Ro.5:5 “The love of God has been poured forth into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  The love of the Spirit should flow from us.  Christians are to be reflectors of God’s divine love.  Jesus said in Jn.13:35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples [adherents], if you have love for one another”.

1 Corinthians 13 is known as the ‘Love Chapter’.  In it, Paul lists some facets or reflections of love (agape g26)…loving attitudes, mindset, words, and proper restraint & self-control.  1Co.13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t envious; love doesn’t boast and isn’t proud; love isn’t rude, it isn’t self-centered, isn’t quick-tempered to anger, doesn’t keep an account of wrongs suffered; love takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope and endurance never fail. Love never ends.”  Godly love is eternal.  Benson Commentary 1Co.13:8 “It [love] accompanies us to, prepares us for, and adorns us in eternity…of heaven.”  Love is forever.

Godly love is pure, altruistic, wanting the best for others, self-giving, self-sacrificing.  Mk.10:45 “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”  Jn.15:13 “Greater love has no man than this, that a person lay down his life for his friends.”  Jesus’ sacrificial death redeems us from the consequences of sin.  Jn.3:16 “For God so loved [agapao g25] the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”  ref 1Pe.1:18-19.  God willingly gave up Jesus to death, to die for our sins.

Divine love has a moral core.  It is dutiful, active, and obedient.  Yet godly love isn’t without right emotion.  Although godly love is compassionate, it can be ‘tough love’ too (cf. Lk.12:49, Jn.8:7).

God’s divine love is perfect.  It can be present with and enhance all types of love…agape, philautia, storge, phileo, and eros.  (God is responsible for placing sex hormones and right desire in mankind!)

The Lord has given us the capacity to love in its various forms, and to share love.  Col.3:14 “Above all, put on love [g26], which binds all things together in perfect unity.”  Godly love is as a garment which binds us in harmonious moral perfection.  Ep.3:17-19 “That you, being rooted and grounded in love [g26], may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and height and depth, and to know the love [g26] of Christ.”

Christ’s character, morality and principles of love are the same yesterday, today, and forever (He.13:8).  2Jn.1:6 “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.”  As we’ve seen…God’s commandments convey how to properly love God, other people, and ourselves, through the Holy Spirit.

Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape – (1)

Sexual sins and crimes are big concerns in society and in the church.  Cultures of the world have differing standards of morality/immorality.  Here we’ll look at sexual immorality from God’s word.

At creation, the first command God gave to man/ánthropos (Greek LXX) was about reproduction.  Ge.1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”  Human reproduction was a creation mandate!  God subsequently set guidelines which are recorded in His word to identify moral versus immoral.

Types of immorality or lewdness and harlotry are identified in Le.20:10-22, 5-6.  A similar listing of sexual sins is found in Le.18:5-24.  Without understanding what actions constitute immorality based on Christ the Lord’s commands to Moses/Israel, a person wouldn’t know all that is sexual sin in God’s eyes!  Sexual sin includes: adultery, incest, homosexuality/lesbianism, transvestism, beastiality, menstrual sex, idolatrous prostitution.  Without learning these foundational scriptures, knowledge of sexual sin may just be based on or skewed by the customs & traditions of our nation or church.

From Le.20: Sexual immorality with a married or betrothed woman (v.10) is adultery…with a near relative (v.11) is incest; 1Co.5:1 “It is reported that there is immorality [pornéia] among you, someone has his father’s wife”.  Intercourse with a person of the same sex (Ro.1:26-27, Le.20:13, De.22:5) is homosexuality or lesbianism…with an animal (v.15-16) is beastiality…with a menstruating woman (v.18) is uncleanness…with a harlot/prostitute to a pagan god (v.5-6) for pay or barter is idolatry.  As we see from reading Le.20, Christ prescribed serious penalties for those who committed such acts!

From Le.18:  v.20 adultery “Do not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife.”  v.6–ff incest “None of you shall have sexual relations with a close blood relative.”  v.22 homosexual intercourse “You shall not lie with a male, as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”  v.23 beastiality “You shall not have intercourse with any animal, to be defiled with it; nor shall a woman offer herself to an animal.”  v.19 menstrual sex “Do not have intercourse with a woman during her menstrual impurity.”  Ex.34:16 religious prostitution “They will seduce your sons and daughters to whore after their gods.”

There are many other scriptures which add detail and amplify the above passages.  e.g. Re.18:2-4 of Babylon the religious harlot. “All nations have drunk of her immorality [pornéia Strongs g4202, Greek], and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her. Come out of her My people.”

In the LXX/Septúagint the Greek term for idolatrous (and adulterous) harlotry was “porneia” (g4202).  The term was rare in classical Greek, but occurs often in the LXX and the New Testament (NT) koiné Greek.  During the intertestamental period, the meaning of porneia expanded to include other sexual sins too.  In the NT, porneia had come to mean sexual sin in general.

Some rabbis also believed ‘unnatural forms of intercourse’ are immoral, anal & oral sex.  Humans are unclean to eat (cannibalism is wrong, even when there’s no killing.  cf. Ezk.4:12-15, Is.36:12, De.23:13.)

To avoid confusion, I’ll rarely use the word “fornication”, from older English translations.  There is no ancient Greek term for “fornication”.  It came into English from two Latin words associated with brothels.  Since the meaning of this word has changed over the centuries, the term is a misnomer.  Rev. Bill McGinnis “Fornication’ is not really a very good translation for the word ‘porneia.”

Testaments of the XII Patriarchs, Test. Benj.9:1 “You will commit porneia with the porneia of Sodom.”  Homosexual intercourse and sex with a different kind/“strange flesh” are also forms of porneia and sin.  Jude 7 “Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in gross immorality [ekporneúo, cf. Le.17:7 LXX], going after strange flesh.”  ref Ge.19:1-5 Sodom.  Transvestism too is wrong.  De.22:5 “A woman must not wear that which pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on women’s clothing; anyone doing these is an abomination to the Lord your God.”  Pulpit Commentary “The divinely instituted distinction between the sexes was to be sacredly observed.”

The meaning of adultery in Christ’s theocracy of ancient Israel, as well as in most of the ancient world, differed from the meaning of adultery in modern western nations today.  Christ was the God/Rock of Israel.  In ancient Israel, adultery is…sexual activity between a married (or betrothed) woman and a man not her husband.  The man’s marital status isn’t a factor.  So by definition, it was impossible for a widow, divorcee, or otherwise single woman to commit adultery (unless she was betrothed)!  And it was impossible for a man to commit adultery with an unmarried or unengaged woman!

Biblical Archaeology Society: Understanding Israel’s 10 Commandments “You will not commit adultery.’ In our world, adultery is defined as sexual relations with someone who is not your spouse.  The Biblical understanding of adultery, however, is gender-specific. In the ancient world, a married man could engage in sexual relations with [his] wives & concubines, and prostitutes; a married woman could only have sex with her husband. Thus, committing adultery for a man consisted of sleeping with a woman who was someone else’s wife; for a [married] woman, adultery was sex with someone other than her husband. The same law and definition is ubiquitous throughout the ancient world.”

Christ told Moses/Israel the adultery penalty was death.  (even Jn.8:7 “Let him throw the first stone.”)   De.22:22-27 shows that the adultery law applied to betrothed women too.  If the adultery was by mutual consent, both the man and woman were guilty.  If he’d raped her, only the man was guilty.

But God’s meaning of adultery was altered over the centuries.  It was altered in Greco-Roman society too, differing from Christ’s meaning in His older theocracy.  Jesus and Paul lived in the Roman Empire, where the laws of Christ’s theocracy weren’t enacted.  Yes, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (He.13:8).  He knew what adultery is and what it isn’t.  But Jesus wasn’t the Roman ruler.  Although the inferior laws of men/heathens don’t change God or God’s morality, it wasn’t wrong to avoid Roman legal action, while not disobeying God.  But some laws & customs of Rome became part of early Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church, etc., and filtered down into Christian belief today.

For example, Ge.29:30, Ge.30:4, 9, the man Jacob/Israel isn’t an adulterer (he had four wives simultaneously)!  Ex.21:10 “If a man takes another wife, he must not diminish the food, clothing, or conjugal dues of the first wife.”  De.21:15 “A man might have two wives and love one but not the other, and they have borne him sons.”  1Sm.1:1-2 is about Elkanáh the father of Samuel. “He had two wives, one named Hannáh and the other Peninnáh.”  1Sm.25:42-43 “Abigail followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. David had also taken Ahinóam, and they both became his wives.”  Those marriages weren’t adultery in Christ’s theocracy.  Pagan Greece & Rome enjoined serial monogamy on their societies long before Christianity began.  These scriptures seem so strange to our modern western minds!

Yet God’s word is authoritative!  Jesus and Paul both said several times, “It is written”.  However, also ref Is.4:1 (which relates to Ex.21:10), and Jg.8:30 & SSol.6:8 for exorbitance.  Although a few Israelites were excessive, overindulging in this matter of plural wives…that doesn’t mean Christ erred in the commands & guidelines He gave to Moses/Israel regarding this marital option.  Jesus Christ is Lord!

It would be too lengthy to examine details of: the marital excess of Solomon (e.g. De.17:16-17), examples of concubinage in the Bible, lévirate marriage, and marital defilement.  Those matters relate to morality/immorality, but are beyond the scope here.  (see the topic “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes?”.)  And based upon the marriage customs in most (western) nations, it seems that only rarely would it be advised for a man to have plural wives today.

In ancient Israel, a young daughter belonged to her father or protector prior to her marriage.

Her father would eventually be paid the bride-price from the bridegroom.  Le.19:29 “Don’t profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the Land may not fall into harlotry and lewdness.”  Many commentaries relate this command to the practice of heathens, whose custom was to fund the daughter’s dowry with earnings from idolatrous prostitution.  A father wasn’t to degrade his daughter by making her a common prostitute, lest secular harlotry become the norm in the Land instead of marriage/family.

De.23:17-18 “None of the daughters or sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord, both of these are an abomination.”  God wouldn’t accept the offerings of religious prostitutes.  A “dog” in this context was the sodomite whose position for homosexual intercourse resembled a dog’s.  ref Re.22:15.  (The label of ‘dog’ also became an epithet against gentiles.)  2Ki.23:7 King Josiah “broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes.”  It seems that quarters in the temple precinct even housed sodomites in those days!  Le.21:9 “The daughter of any priest who profanes herself by harlotry profanes her father.”  Her prostitution at the sanctuary reflected on her father.  Le.21:7, 14 also priests weren’t to marry a profane woman.  Ancient Israel’s worship of Christ the Lord wasn’t to be a fertility cult…no religious sex!

A virgin living under her father’s roof was to remain chaste, else De.22:13-21 could later apply (I won’t quote the passage here).  But people in love may not always follow the usual or customary channels.  Christ made allowances for them too.  Ex.22:16-17 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, has sexual relations with her, he must pay the bride-price and marry her. If her father refuses to give her to him, he still must pay the bride-price for virgins.”  The man was then to marry the girl.  This wasn’t casual sex, it was another way (not the usual way) of obtaining a wife.  But if her father refused to let them marry, this non-virgin daughter would bring her father a lower bride-price in the future.  So taking a daughter’s virginity could also be a form of theft from her father too.  (And possibly there could be serious De.22:13-21 repercussions, if deceit is subsequently involved.)

Yet scripture is mostly quiet in regards to sexual relations with the unmarried non-virgin (not a harlot) with no protector, who’s not living under her father’s roof.  In Christ’s theocracy, it appears that intimacy with divorcees, widows, orphan women (not priests’ daughters) generally isn’t barred by scripture.  For example, Ru.3:7 Ruth the goodly widow lay down secretly in Bóaz’ bed one night.  The text gives no indication that Ruth’s action was sin.  And after spending the night with Ruth, Boaz didn’t rest until he’d obtained her the next day (Ru.3:18–4:10)!

In some cultures, economic conditions are such that an unmarried woman (e.g. divorcee, widow) with no protector/provider…could become destitute!  God didn’t outlaw commercial prostitution in Israel.

Again, a virgin living under her father’s roof must be chaste, else De.22:13-21 could apply.  But for a single non-virgin (not a temple harlot), who solicited her favors to obtain income (perhaps to avoid starvation)…Christ didn’t require strict punishment for her or her clients, and not even a blood sacrifice for sin!  It seems that wasn’t ‘sin’ or iniquity in God’s theocracy.  This may seem strange to western society.  Fathers were forbidden to prostitute their daughters (Le.19:29), but otherwise single women away from home weren’t prohibited from prostituting themselves, selling their body possibly to survive.

Other than Jesus Christ, King Solomon is called the wisest man who ever lived.  1Ki.4:29-34 “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind.”  God said to Solomon in 1Ki.3:12, “I have given you a wise and discerning heart, there has been none like you”.  Four verses later is the famous story of the two harlots who as ‘plaintiffs’ came to Solomon to settle their dispute.  1Ki.3:16-28 the king received even harlots, and rendered his wise decision.  He didn’t have them arrested for prostitution!  There was no animal sacrifice offered for any ‘sin’.  (Yet ironically, Solomon himself acted unwisely when he was older; his heathen wives turned his heart to pagan gods, 1Ki.11:1-10.)

Samson was an Israelite judge in whom the Spirit of God worked mightily with superhuman strength!  Jg.16:1 “Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there.”  Samson, a single man, had relations with a harlot.  v.4 “After this he loved a woman in the valley of Sorék whose name was Deliláh.”  It is thought that Sorek was not far from Samson’s home town of Zoráh (in the tribe of Dan, Jg.13:2).  Samson loved Delilah.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 5:8:11 said Delilah was a harlot among the Philistines who Samson lived with.  Jg.16:12 “Delilah took new ropes and bound him. Then Delilah said, ‘The Philistines be upon you Samson.’ But he snapped the ropes from his arms like they were threads.”  God is still with Samson, even after he visited a harlot (v.1) and had relations with Delilah!  Those acts weren’t sin that separated Samson from God.  Sleeping with harlots didn’t violate Samson’s Nazarite vow!  Jg.16:19-20 God leaves Samson only after his hair is cut, in violation of the vow (Jg.13:5, Nu.6:1-5).  Perhaps we think Christ should have left Samson earlier when he had relations with those women?  But we’re not God.

In Jsh.2:1-3, the two faithful Israelite spies wanted to stay with the harlot Raháb!  v.13 she’s unmarried.  (A married harlot is an adulteress.)  God didn’t rebuke either the spies or Rahab.  In Ja.2:25, Jesus’ relative James indicated that this gentile harlot Rahab was justified by her works.  He.11:31 Rahab is in God’s Who’s Who!  Mt.1:5 and her descendant Boaz (cf. Ru.4:18-22) is an ancestor of Jesus Christ.

In Ge.38, Judah was a single man whose wife had died.  He was one of Jacob’s sons and patriarch of the Jewish people.  v.11-19 Judah had sex with a woman who looked like a prostitute.  He didn’t know she was his disguised daughter-in-law, whose betrothal to Sheláh his son should have already resulted in marriage.  So she tricked Judah for procrastinating.  v.24 death was the penalty for a betrothed woman who has sex with another man.  The narrative is involved.  The point here…God didn’t rebuke Judah for having sex with a supposed prostitute.  And the son she conceived by Judah is an ancestor of Jesus.

There are those who might say that Boaz, Samson (before his haircut), the two faithful spies, the patriarch Judah…have ‘fallen from grace’, so to speak…if their above behavior was done today.  But that’s not what the scriptures indicate.  In recent decades, many churchmen have been maligned and accused of sexual sin/miscues, when their behavior may not have been sin according to scripture (unlike our customary beliefs in most modern nations)!  In the NT, Christ didn’t change His morality for Rome.

There are men & women who love each other but don’t have a government-issued marriage license, for whatever reason.  (Whether marriage should be authorized by the state, the church, the families, private contract…is debatable.)

God didn’t forbid non-incestuous responsible sexual relations between a man and an (independent) unmarried/unbetrothed woman, with mutual consent.  It wasn’t punished.

A pastor and his wife had raised several successful grown children.  She’d done her part, and was tired from childbearing.  (As Greta Garbo said in the old movie, “I vant to be alone.”)  Pastor provides for her & respects her wishes to abstain.  But he is still a man (with testosterone God created within us).  Pastor then fell in love with a younger single woman.  He now loved two women.  Christians were stunned.  This is heartrending…but the church/society doesn’t follow the relevant guidelines Christ gave Moses/Israel!

Maybe we too have judged others rigidly or unjustly for their supposed sexual indiscretions, based upon traditional societal or church beliefs…not the word of God.  God isn’t a prude.  Or perhaps we’ve had difficulty forgiving ourselves for our having committed (years ago or recently) what we’d been taught to believe was sexual sin…and it wasn’t really ‘sin’ after all in God’s eyes!

Greco-Roman society and later tradition has altered what sexual immorality is/isn’t, and the meaning of “fornication”.  Religious sex, eroticism, homosexuality, pederásty was widespread in the Roman Empire.  Regardless…marriage is best, if possible (e.g. 1Co.7:2, 6 as Paul suggested).

Secular prostitution in ancient Israel wasn’t sin as we might think it, for a single woman not dependent on her father.  But there are often grave consequences to that lifestyle!

A harlot who doesn’t take needed precautions may end up destroying “the temple of God” (1Co.3:16-17) with disease…her own body and/or that of her clients.  That isn’t loving her neighbor or herself; opposing the will of God.

There’s more to this broad topic of sexual immorality.  “Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape – (2)” concludes it.

Sacrifices To Idols and Romans 14

This is about sacrifices to idols, and the apostle Paul’s related conscientious guidelines.  The pertinent chapters are 1Corinthians 8, 1Corinthians 10, Romans 14.  This issue has to do with respecting the consciences of others, so others aren’t mistakenly influenced to return to sin.

The society and religious beliefs of Nero’s Roman Empire (54-68 AD), a ‘beastly’ regime, were quite different from ours.  Times were much worse in the 1^st century world than in 21^st century America!

As background, let’s first reference scriptures about idolatrous practices which were extant in the ancient world.  Ex.20:1-6 Christ had commanded ancient Israel to not have any other gods besides Him, nor were they to make or worship physical representations of God.  But those Israelites disobeyed, and engaged in rites to the heathen gods of other peoples & nations.

Despite Christ’s commands, Israel ate and bowed down to the god Báal (Nu.25:1-3).  David wrote of idolaters in Ps.16:4. “The sorrows of those who run after another god will be multiplied; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor take their names on my lips.”  Drink offerings to pagan gods were often blood mixed with wine.  Ezk.33:25 “Thus says the Lord, ‘You eat with the blood, and lift your eyes to your idols.”  Israelites were eating ‘strangled’ meat with the blood, dedicated to idols.  The heathen ate the blood of sacrifices, or sat beside that blood in a vessel, to communicate with evil spirits (Benson Commentary).  The heart of their sacrificial animals was often extracted.  Ho.4:12-14 Israelites were sacrificing to idols at altars with temple prostitutes.

Ac.14:11-15 “The priest of Zeus, whose temple was outside the city, brought oxen to the gates to offer sacrifice.”  In 1^st century Lýstra of S. Galatia, the priest of Zeus wanted to honor Barnábas & Paul with animal sacrifice, as if they were gods!  Oxen are clean animals.  But not all pagan animal sacrifices were clean…in the 160s BC Antíochus Epíphanes offered swine’s flesh and polluted the Jerusalem temple.

From the Acts 15 Jerusalem council, four prohibitions were sent out in a decree to the church at large.  (see the topic “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)  Ac.15:28-29 “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols (Strongs g1494 eidolóthuton, Greek), from blood, from things strangled (dying of itself), and from sexual immorality.”  These four things were customarily practiced in the Roman Empire and impacted the early church, especially gentile believers.

Gentiles worshiped idols by drinking the blood of strangled animals and having sex with heathen temple prostitutes.  Many gentile idol-worshipers were now coming to Christ.  This was a big issue!

It was said…anciently the worship of pagan deities could be engaged in on almost ‘every street corner’!  1Th.1:9 Paul wrote, Christians at Thessaloníca had “turned from idols to serve the true God”.  1Co.12:2 when Christians at Corinth were pagans, they were “led astray to dumb idols”.  Ac.15:29 prohibited Christians from sacrificing to idols at pagan temples.  Yet years later some in the churches at Pérgamos (Re.2:14) & Thyátira (Re.2:20) still “eat things sacrificed to idols and commit immorality”…violating two Ac.15 prohibitions.  The worship of pagan gods & goddesses was a way of life in the ancient world.  A multitude of animals were often sacrificed; a ‘hécatomb’ was the Greek term for offering 100 oxen.

Here’s a hypothetical question…would the Holy Spirit have approved or disapproved of Christians eating roast beef sandwiches at the Aphrodíte Diner and wine shop (adjacent to her temple)?

Paul explained where/when questionable food should and shouldn’t be considered defiled by idols, idolatry.  He wrote 1 Corinthians around 55 AD.  Ancient Corinth, located 50 miles SW of Athens, had many idol temples; e.g. to Aphrodite, Poseidon, Apollo, Ísis, Deméter.

In verses of 1Corinthians 8, Paul addressed eating things sacrificed to idols.  Pagan idols represented pagan gods.  1Co.8:1 “Concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”  v.6-7 “We know there’s no God but only the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But not all believers know this. Some people are so accustomed to idolatry, that when they eat food offered to an idol, their weak conscience is defiled.”  Some believers ate it thinking that since the idol represents a (lesser) god, the sacrificial meat is holy.  Or, since the meat was offered to a heathen god, it thereby became polluted, unfit to eat anywhere.  Two extremes.  Paul continues in v.8, “We’re no worse if we don’t eat it, and no better if we do”.  Although fasting, dieting, or of course eating have benefit, these actions won’t affect our salvation standing with God.

1Co.8:9-12 “But be careful that your choice doesn’t become a hindrance to the weak. For if someone sees you dining in an idol’s temple [eidolíon g1493], won’t his conscience be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? And through your knowledge the weak for whom Christ died is ruined. Thus by wounding their conscience you sin against Christ.”  Don’t you cause others weak in the faith to violate their conscience.  Your bad example of eating in an idol temple area might cause a weak Christian to think it’s okay to worship the pagan god, and thereby defile his conscience.  Paul sarcastically refers to this as your “knowledge” (or your abuse of it), which he indicated can make one arrogant (from v.1).  Jesus said in Mt.25:40, “Whatever you did to the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me”.

Paul concludes this passage with 1Co.8:13. “Therefore if food causes my brother to offend, I would never eat flesh again.”  Paul considers eating food/flesh comparatively unimportant, if it would cause a weak brother to return to idolatry.  Of note, whether such meat is clean or unclean isn’t addressed.

Orthodox Bible Note 1Co.8:4-13 “Throughout the Roman Empire, animals were sacrificed to gods at feasts and public occasions. Part of each offering was used in a ceremonial meal or went to the donor; the remainder was often sold in public meat markets. A dilemma…should Christians eat meat that had been offered before idols? Jews had prohibitions.”  Pagan temples also served as restaurants and butcher shops.

In 1Corinthians 10, Paul returned to this issue.  v.14 “Beloved, flee from idolatry.”  v.19-21 is an idol itself a god? “No. The things which the nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.”  Don’t do both the Lord’s Supper and an idolatrous ceremony.

1Co.10:25 “Eat whatever is sold in the shambles without letting your conscience trouble you.”  Of course, “whatever is sold” in the public markets doesn’t mean rancid meat or meat having harmful parasites!  Community, Conflict, and the Eucharist in Roman Corinth “The quality of the meat was questionable.”  Paul was saying that the buyer shouldn’t worry his conscience about the source of the food/leftovers, possibly unknown.

1Co.10:27 “If an unbeliever invites you to dinner, eat what is served without asking questions of conscience.”  It was okay to eat meat at a dinner or banquet in someone’s home (but not in pagan temple eateries) if a place at the table isn’t set for a god; no need to ask the host about the source of the food.  v.28-29 “But if anyone says to you, ‘This was sacrificed to idols’, don’t eat it, for the sake of him that disclosed it and for the conscience of another.”  If anyone makes an issue about the source of the food, then don’t eat it out of respect for the conscientious scruples of the person who informed/‘warned’ you or a fellow-guest.

1Co.10:31-32 Paul concludes the passage with, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to Jews, Greeks, or to the church of God.”  So in 1Co.10, Paul elaborated on this matter of things sacrificed to idols, which he began in 1Co.8.

Eating leftovers from previous sacrifices to idols would also offend Jews & Jewish Christians.  Mishneh Avodat Kochavim 7:15 doesn’t allow eating leftover flesh, wine, or fruits from an idol temple.  Jews had an overly restrictive interpretation from Ex.34:15, originally regarding heathens in the Land. “They prostitute themselves after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods and invite you to eat of it.”  This verse related to ancient Israel worshiping pagan gods with Canaanites in pagan idol-feasts.  Ahavat Israel “This prohibition [for Jews] applies to anything served to an idol in a sacrificial manner.”

Close to two years after his 1Corinthians epistle, Paul wrote to the Romans around 57 AD.  Here Paul addressed the same issue.  Ancient Rome had approximately 400 idol temples…e.g. to Diana, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Juno, the Pantheon to the gods.  (also see the topic “Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers”.)  The sacrifice for Jupiter (Zeus) was a castrated white ox, for Juno it was a white heifer.

Generally meat in ancient Rome could be expensive and was rarely eaten.  Only very cold weather would allow it to stay fresh.  Roman scholar R.W. Davies said the soldiers were reluctant to eat meat, fearing they’d get sick from it.  Cereals and legumes made up the bulk of most diets.

Misapplying or misinterpreting Romans 14 has resulted in hard feelings and even a measure of division in the church.  Let’s now go through Ro.14, keeping in mind the verses of 1Co.8 and 1Co.10.

Ro.14:1-2 “Accept him whose faith is weak, without becoming divided over his scruples. One believes he may eat all things; another who is weak eats vegetables only.”  No leftover flesh.  By “all things”, Paul doesn’t mean harmful or fatal things!  David Stern Jewish New Testament Commentary “Paul isn’t proposing that the Jewish dietary laws have been abrogated.”  Paul had referred to the weak in 1Co.8:9.  The weak in Rome are thought to be Jewish Christians (the minority) who’d returned after their 49 AD exile by Claudius (ruled 41-54 AD), Ac.18:2.  Strict kosher slaughter places in Rome were now fewer.

Jews and some God-fearers wouldn’t eat leftovers from idol temples.  Barnes Notes Ro.14:2 “Another who is weak – there is reference here, doubtless, to the Jewish convert; whether it was lawful to eat the meat which was offered in sacrifice to idols. In those sacrifices a part only of the animal was offered, and the remainder was eaten by the worshipers, or offered for sale in the market like other meat.”  Life Application Bible Ro.14:2 “After a sacrifice was presented to a god in a pagan temple, only part of it was burned. The remainder was often sent to the market to be sold. Thus a Christian might easily, even unknowingly, buy such meat in the marketplace or eat it at the home of a friend.”  Amy Jill Levine Judaism and Jewishness “Many Jews refused to partake of meat distributed at civic festivals, what the Jews called ‘meat sacrificed to idols.”  It was safer for Jews (and Jewish Christians) in Rome to just renounce all meat sold at markets.  That’s what Ro.14 is dealing with.

Ro.14:3-6 “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains condemn the one who eats, for God has accepted him. One man regards one day above another, someone else regards them all alike. He who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; he who eats not does so to the Lord and gives God thanks.” (cf. 1Co.10:31)  Some abstain from food due to scruples of conscience.  The self-righteous Pharisees appointed Mondays & Thursdays as fast days to abstain from food.  The Pharisee declared in Lk.18:12, “I fast twice in the week”.  They chided Jesus in Mk.2:18-20. “The disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples don’t fast.’ Jesus replied, ‘They will fast in those days.”  There were Christians (Jews & gentiles) who chose to eat nothing at all on some (fast) days…we shouldn’t judge Christians for being selective about what food groups (meat, fruit, veggies, etc.) they’ll eat “to the Lord”, Ro.14:6, on (non-fast) days.

Ro.14:13 “Let us not judge each other, nor put an obstacle or stumbling block in a brother’s way.” (cf. 1Co.8:13)  Don’t offend or cause another (Jewish) Christian to doubt, backslide, or lose his faith.

Ro.14:14 “I am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is defiled/common [koinós g2839] of itself; but to him who thinks anything to be defiled/common [koinos g2839], to him it is defiled/common [koinos g2839].”  Paul is saying it’s a matter of conscience.  Barnes Notes “Greek ‘common.”  Vincent Word Studies “Lit. common. Compare Mk.7:2 ‘With defiled [koinos g2839], unwashed hands.”

In Ro.14:14, many Bibles mistranslate koinos as “unclean”.  But the Greek LXX and New Testament term for unclean is akáthartos g169, not koinos g2839.  (In the LXX, koinos never meant unclean!)  This distinction is evident in Ac.10:14 where Peter used both terms in the same verse. “I have never eaten anything defiled/common [koinos g2839] or unclean/impure [akathartos g169].”  The two Greek terms had different meanings!

Meat of a healthy clean animal is naturally undefiled.  But it became defiled or made common and unfit for holy use if the animal was lame, blind, or defective (e.g. De.15:21 & 17:1), or if eaten in idolatrous rites (Ex.34:15).  Pharisees racially considered clean meat defiled if it’s touched by gentile hands.

Ro.14:15 “For if because of food your brother is hurt, you aren’t walking according to love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.”  Don’t grieve or trouble his conscience.  This is similar to 1Co.8:11-13.  Ro.14:20 “Don’t tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things are indeed pure, but they are evil for the man who eats and causes stumbling.”  Everything God said is pure, is pure, and to those with a pure conscience.  Paul wrote in Ti.1:15, “To the pure, all things are pure; but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure, both their mind and conscience are corrupted”.

Ro.14:21 “It’s better not to eat meat or drink wine or anything by which your brother stumbles.”  (Paul said in Ro.9:31-32 that those stumbling were Jews.)  Don’t eat meat from the butcher shop or drink wine which might have been used in pagan libations, if eating would offend a brother or sister present.  Da.1:8, 16 in Babylon, the prophet Daniel had refused royal food and wine which was corrupted.  He lived on mostly vegetables and water.

Ro.14:22 “Blessed is he who doesn’t condemn himself in what he allows.”  Stay free from a doubting conscience.  v.23 “But whoever has doubts, yet still eats, is condemned, because his eating isn’t from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.”  Don’t eat it, if we can’t eat it with a clear conscience.  Have an assured belief that what we do is right.  This is a general maxim of the Christian faith.  Matthew Poole Commentary “By faith here is meant knowledge or full persuasion, not a wavering mind.”  It’s dangerous to ignore one’s conscience, and possibly fall back into old ways of sin.

Ro.15:1 “We who are strong ought to bear with the weaknesses of the weak, and not just please ourselves.”  Paul began this passage about dealing with “the weak” in Ro.14:1 (also it’s in 1Co.8:11).  Don’t let one’s choice of action offend or hinder the weak, regarding the source of food sold in markets.  We’d want others to bear with us in matters where we may be weak!  Ro.15:2 “Let each of us please his neighbor for what is good to build him up.” (as 1Co.10:24 “Let no one be forever seeking his own good, but that of others.”)  Accommodate ourselves to others (for good, not for evil).  Speak and act so as to build-up our brothers/sisters in the faith, whether they be strong or weak.

In reading through 1Co.8, 1Co.10, Ro.14, similarities are noted.  The center column cross-refs in many Bibles tie several Ro.14 verses to 1Co.8, and 1Co.10 too.  Paul’s overall subject is the same.  In Rome there were 400 pagan temples…it’s possible much of the meat sold in the marketplace had come from a temple sacrifice somewhere!  So for a weak Christian or Jewish Christian to avoid thinking of an idol when eating meat, a form of ‘second-hand’ idolatry to him…he’d just quit eating meat altogether!

Ro.14 doesn’t address the eating of clean or unclean creatures, about which Christ commanded in Le.11.  (see “Unclean versus Clean Food”.)

Nazarite vows were anciently taken (Nu.6), and occasional fasting is a good Biblical principle (e.g. Mk.2:20).  But the Ro.14 avoidance of possible leftovers isn’t asceticism.  Abstaining from okay wine-drinking, ref Jg.9:13 (in moderation), could be due to asceticism with some people.  In the Ro.14:6 “he who eats not does so to the Lord”, its doubtful Paul was referring to Pythágorean vegetarians among the gentile majority…since the abstaining in the church at Rome was “to the Lord” (cf. 1Ti.4:1-3 “doctrines of demons”).  JFB Commentary Ro.14:2 “Restricting himself probably to a vegetable diet for fear of eating what might have been offered to idols.”

The main issue in Ro.14, 1Co.8, 1Co.10 was…whether or not Christians should eat meat (and drink wine) thought to have been previously sacrificed to idols.

Conclusion: It would’ve been unacceptable to eat a sandwich at the Aphrodite Diner (1Co.8:10).  1Co.6:9 idolaters won’t inherit the Kingdom of God.  But it’s okay to eat at home or church or at a friend’s home…food purchased in the marketplace/shambles.  Such meat or leftovers might have come from Diana’s Deli adjacent to her temple, or from Aphrodite’s Diner.  The source is unknown.  That is, it’s okay to eat the food/leftovers at home…if doing so didn’t bother someone’s conscience.  But, Paul says that if there’s a conscience problem (because a gentile Christian had worshiped idols before conversion, or a Jewish Christian was overly concerned about a possible idol temple source of leftovers prior to their sale in the shambles)…don’t eat it.  That’s the gist of Paul’s guidelines.

Idolatry is still practiced in today’s world.  This principle of not inadvertently hurting a Christian’s conscience or resolve is applicable to other matters besides idolatry…e.g. certain holidays so-called (such as Halloween), avoiding wine in the presence of a recovering alcoholic, etc.

The Holy Spirit with the written word of God will educate and guide our consciences rightly.  And while we ourselves are engaged in this education process as part of our sanctification, we should be considerate of others’ consciences.  So we won’t cause unnecessary offense which might result in a brother or sister backsliding into a past sinful practice or losing faith in God.

Unclean versus Clean Food (2)

Foundational scriptures for this topic were addressed in “Unclean versus Clean Food (1)”.  This Part 2 is the sequel to the material covered in Part 1.  The verses noted in Part 1 are essential to Part 2.

In Part 1, we looked at the scriptural concept of “unclean” in general.  We saw Christ’s basic guidelines in Le.11/De.14:2-20 about edible and inedible creatures (especially unclean swine).  We read in Ge.7:2 where the gentile Noah differentiated between clean and unclean creatures…prior to the Old Covenant!  Without recapping Part 1, here we’ll examine other passages, mostly from the New Testament (NT).

In NT times, Pharisees were overly concerned about self-righteous ritual washings.  The rabbis wrongly assumed hands could defile, even when no Tanakh ritual uncleanness applied.  Pharisees taught that hands must be washed before eating to avoid conveying some ‘uncleanness’ to the food they touched, supposedly resulting in unclean food.  (Also some thought evil spirits were washed away at the fingertips.)

Mt.15:1-2 “Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem asking, ‘Why do Your disciples violate the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat bread [ártos Strongs g740, Greek].”  The issue of cleanliness here specifically pertained to unwashed hands when eating bread, not to eating the flesh of unclean creatures!  The controversy had to do with oral law tradition, not with the Lord’s written Old Testament commands.  Jesus’ disciples and those Jewish Pharisees weren’t eating unclean flesh at meals!  Had Jesus done so, He would’ve sinned…and then we’d have no Savior!

The Pharisees self-righteously misapplied Ex.30:19-21. “Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet when they burn an offering by fire to the Lord.”  Ritual washing of the priests was required before they sacrificed, and then ate the holy meal of various (peace) offerings.  But that handwashing applied to priests.  (Foot-washing of guests was customary in the culture, cf. Jn.13:5.)  But there was no command in scripture/Tanakh requiring a layman to wash his hands before a common meal.  The Mt.15 passage reflects the Pharisees wrongly valuing their oral law above the written word of God.  So Jesus replied to them in Mt.15:3. “Why do you invalidate the word of God by your tradition?”

Jesus continued in Mt.15:10-20, “Everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated”.  But parasites, viruses, bacteria (e.g. salmonella) transmitted from unclean meat aren’t simply eliminated (see Part 1)!  Rather, Jesus is addressing eating bread with unwashed hands, not eating unclean animals.  v.15 “Peter said to Him, ‘Explain the parable to us.”  Note that it’s Peter who asks.  Jesus’ bottom line conclusion in v.20, “To eat with unwashed hands doesn’t defile the man”.

Mk.7:1-23 is a parallel account.  The Mk.7:19b phrase in some Bibles, “Jesus declared all foods clean”, isn’t in the earliest manuscripts or the KJV.  It’s a later addition.  Nonetheless, if it’s ‘food’, in scripture it’s innately clean (though it could become defiled or contaminated).  Contrary to the Pharisees, Jesus told them that laymen’s common bread remained clean and wasn’t defiled ceremonially when touched by unwashed hands.  (ref David H. Stern Jewish New Testament Commentary, p.93.)  In Luke’s shorter account (Lk.11:37-41), the Pharisee who asked Jesus to dine with him is surprised that Jesus didn’t wash before eating.

Unclean meat wasn’t mentioned in the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke.

Le.20:22-26 clean versus unclean creatures also had typified a distinction Christ made between His holy nation Israel (and aliens among them, v.2)…from heathen nations with their abominable practices.  Da.7:1–6 gentile empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece were symbolized by unclean wild animals.  But since all humans, Israelites and gentiles, are unclean to eat…it’s an analogy only, and will end.  This analogy doesn’t restrict Jews from associating with most gentiles.  (Ge.8:20 early post-Flood, when there was no Israel or clear separation of peoples, God required only clean creatures be sacrificed by the gentile Noah…also later by gentiles in Jb.42:8.  Those earlier gentiles weren’t unclean by analogy.)

Ac.10:9-17 Peter’s vision regarding gentiles occurred 5+ years after the Mt.15/Mk.7 unwashed hands incident.  When Peter saw in vision the mix of sheep, cows, snakes, spiders, bats, pigs, mice, cats, dogs, etc., most were unclean to him.  (Nigel Barber 2011 Psychology Today “In China, India, and other countries, dogs are commonly eaten.”)  Ac.10:13-15 “A voice came to him, ‘Arise, Peter, kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘No, Lord. I have never eaten anything defiled or unclean.’ The voice came to him again, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider defiled.”  Peter, knowing Christ’s commandments of Le.11, even said “No” to the heavenly voice!  Jesus hadn’t said unclean creatures were now fit to eat.  Rather, those envisioned unclean creatures symbolized the gentile world comprised of various peoples.

Jesus had told Peter and the disciples in Jn.14:26, “The Holy Spirit will remind you of all things I said to you”.  We recall that it was Peter specifically to whom Jesus gave the clarification in Mt.15:15-20; Jesus said eating with unwashed hands doesn’t defile a man.  In Mt.15/Mk.7 Jesus didn’t make any change to His food laws for the Holy Spirit to later remind Peter of in Ac.10!  Ac.10:14, 11:8 are NT verses later saying Peter still didn’t eat anything unclean (akáthartos g169).  Christ’s principles are consistent!  1Co.3:16-17 we’re not to destroy the ‘temple of God’ by eating toxic creatures He forbad.

By Ac.10:28, Peter understood the meaning of his vision. “God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man defiled or unclean.”  Contrary to Pharisee oral law, Christian gentiles weren’t to be shunned and racially treated as unclean compared to Jews.  Unclean donkeys & horses belonging to Jews were touched/ridden and cared for (but not eaten)!  Humanity is all of one blood, Ac.17:26 KJV.  No peoples are unclean due to race.  (Though all humans are omnivores…Noah & gentiles, Jews too…unclean to eat!)  Ac.15:7-9 & 1Jn.1:9 believing gentiles too are cleansed from unrighteousness.  The Le.20:22-26 distinction of men especially isn’t applicable to those cleansed by Christ’s blood and given the Spirit.

Christ had given Peter the keys to the Kingdom (Mt.16:17-19).  Peter wrote to scattered Christians (1Pe.4:16) 25 years after his Acts 10 vision (which debunked the Pharisee oral law that Jews mustn’t associate with gentiles, Ac.10:28).  In 1Pe.1:15-17, Peter quoted God saying “Be you holy, for I Am holy”.  Here Peter referenced the Le.11 passage about clean & unclean creatures (his quote is repeated in Le.20:25-26).  Le.11:43-47 “Be you holy, for I Am holy. This is the law regarding all creatures, to make a distinction between the clean and the unclean, between the edible and the inedible.”  That was God’s word on clean/unclean which related to sanctification or set apart or holy.  Even as an old man, Peter still tied holiness to Christ’s commands of Le.11!  Peter knew Jesus hadn’t flip-flopped on this.

2Ti.3:15-16 Paul said Timothy had known the sacred scriptures from childhood, i.e. the Old Testament (OT).  Paul said they’re inspired.  1Ti.4:1-5 Paul also said there’s “Men who advocate abstaining from foods which God created to be shared by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing to be rejected, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer”.  What is that truth?  Ps.119:160 “Thy word is true from the beginning.”  Jesus said in Jn.17:17, “Sanctify them by the truth; Thy word is truth”.

Where in God’s written word (known by Timothy) do we read the truth about sanctified meats?  Even unclean creatures were created for a good purpose (Ge.1:21, 25).  But they’re not sanctified as food fit for humans, according to the truth of God’s word!  ref Le.11 & De.14:2-20 (see Part 1).  Paul went on to tell Timothy in 1Ti.4:13 to even read the OT to the church!  In the Bible, no unclean creature is identified or sanctified as ‘food’.  (Though we needn’t be vegetarians.)

Jesus stated in His parable of the fishing dragnet that was cast into the sea, Mt.13:47-50. “They gather the good into vessels, but the bad they throw away.”  Van d Brink Commentary “The bad, unacceptable fishes are all unclean fishes (Le.11:9-12), i.e. all fishes without scales and fins, and all inedible water creatures.”  Pulpit Commentary “This would include the legally unclean.”  Jesus made the distinction.

We still see unclean in the book of Revelation, written decades after the cross.  Re.16:13 mentions “three unclean spirits like frogs”.  Frogs and all amphibians are unclean.  In Re.18:2, Babylon the Great is “a hold of every unclean and hateful bird”.  Many birds are unclean.  Unclean creatures are still unfit for human consumption & health.  God loves all people, beyond the 144,000 of Israel (Re.7:4-10).

Ezekiel wrote futuristically in his latter chapters.  In Ezk.44, God spoke of the Prince, and priests.  v.23 “They shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and to discern between the unclean and the clean.”  Barnes Notes “The directions in the new order represent the necessity for holiness in all Christians.”  Matthew Henry Commentary “This chapter contains ordinances relative to the true priests.”  Again, Peter quoted Le.11:44, which is dietary, “Be you holy, for I Am holy”.

God says in Is.66:4-5, “They did evil in My sight. Hear the word of the Lord.”  v.15-18 “The Lord will come in fire and render His anger. The Lord will execute judgment on all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many. Those who eat swine’s flesh, abominable things, and mice, shall come to an end,’ declares the Lord.”  In Isaiah’s futuristic prophecy, God’s punishment for willfully eating swine & mice pertains to “all flesh”!  Barnes Notes “He will execute His vengeance on all the human race. The small field mouse was regarded as a great delicacy by the Romans.”  Here God gave a stern warning!

In Ro.14, 1Co.8, 1Co.10, Paul dealt with the related issue of food sacrificed to idols…a prohibition of the Acts 15 Jerusalem council.  (for that issue, see “Sacrifices To Idols and Romans 14”.)

Ro.2:9-11 there is now no difference between Jews and Greeks/gentiles.  God is no respecter of persons.  And regarding dietary and the human digestive system…whatever harms the Jew, harms the gentile.  The whole church is to abide by the four prohibitions of Ac.15, some are dietary. (see “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)  Eating unclean (parasitic) creatures harms all the races of mankind.

Scientists say the AIDS virus was transmitted to humans by slaughtering & eating monkeys.  Monkeys are unclean.  How tragic…this scourge has nearly wiped out entire peoples!  It’s a result of disobeying the guidelines of Christ’s food laws!  False teaching or lack of teaching has led to this great calamity!

There are some who are willing to teach the scriptural truth about this issue.  Joel Osteen, pastor of the largest church in America, is one who teaches that unclean creatures aren’t to be eaten.  Dr. Don Colbert (author of What Would Jesus Eat?) is on Christian TV…he says pork is dangerous & prohibited, and he calls shellfish the ‘cockroaches of the sea’.  Pastor Benny Hinn has commented on Ge.7:2, where the gentile Noah differentiated between clean and unclean creatures.  Benny Hinn said clean creatures are ‘the ones we’re allowed to eat’.  Hinn is a gentile, as was Noah.  Ex.15:26 Christ said He won’t put sickness on those who obey His commandments and statutes.

In the 1300s AD, European Jews were even accused of instigating plague disease epidemics, because they themselves were less affected by those epidemics!  Yair Davídiy Bible Studies and Historical Researches “Contemporary evidence does indicate that proportionately less Jews than Gentiles died from the Black Death.”  Jewish History.org The Black Death “Christians claimed that the Jews died at only half the rate.”  Why weren’t Jews as affected?  Many of those Jews practiced Biblical food laws and sanitation…they didn’t eat or touch unclean rodents which had the yersínia péstis bacteria (and carried infected parasitic fleas/lice; the rat flea is xenopsýlla cheópis.)

George Lamsa was a Syriac Christian who translated the Aramaic Péshitta into English in the 1930s.  Reportedly he claimed that in the Near East neither Jews, nor Moslems, nor Christians, were eating creatures prohibited by Mosaic Law.

Again, eating unclean (parasitic/carcinogenic) creatures harms all races of mankind.  Feeding or serving unclean flesh to our neighbor…isn’t loving our neighbor!

A Christian brother I know visited the nation of Jordan in 1989.  He told me there was no unclean pepperoni pizza in those restaurants.

Christian evangelistic efforts to Jews & Muslims are hindered by Christians eating unclean creatures…it offends those peoples!  cf. 1Co.9:19-23 for Paul’s approach.  (see “Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism”.)

Before concluding, here’s a few additional passages which relate to eating/health:  Le.3:17 Christ said, “You shall not eat any fat or any blood”.  v.3-4 organ meats, which cleanse the body of impurities, weren’t eaten.  Fat, intestines, kidneys, liver, blood isn’t to be eaten!  Blood carries disease.

Ge.1:29 “God said, ‘I have given you every plant yielding seed on the surface of the earth; it shall be food for you.”  Unlike green plants, funguses aren’t seed-bearing.  They don’t do photosynthesis.  Funguses live on rot!  The most common commercial mushroom is said to be carcinogenic!  Neither do algae (e.g. spirulína) bear seed.  Seaweed isn’t a green plant.  (Carragéenan is a seaweed form of algae.)

After the Flood, Christ said in Ge.9:3, “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you, as I gave the green plant”…a parallel.  An unslaughtered carcass which had strangled/died of itself wasn’t a moving thing.  It’s not to be eaten.  We read some creatures are unclean & unfit to eat, as some green plants are poisonous & unfit to eat…e.g. African violet, philodendron, azalea, carnivorous plants (Venus flytrap), etc.  From Ge.9:3, vegetarians abstaining from meat are accepted (Ro.14:2).  However, most vegetable food lacks vitamin B12.  1Ti.4:1-3 Paul said, a doctrine of demons is to religiously advocate the abstention from (clean) meat.

Ge.1:11-12 at the Creation, “God said, ‘Let the earth sprout plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind”.  Christ ordained reproduction “kind after kind”.  No GMOs! (ref De.22:9.)  All the dangers of GMOs are yet to be determined.  There are those who engage in the business of genetically modifying organisms for the sake of profit.  Ps.59:2 “Deliver me from those who do iniquity.”  We can pray for protection from the effects of gene-splicing.

To conclude…naturopath Dr. Jordan Rubin’s The Maker’s Diet was a New York Times bestseller for a year.  He strongly believes unclean creatures such as swine, shrimp, lobster, shouldn’t be eaten.

Personally, God has shown me for 45 years the health benefits resulting from Divine healing and not eating the unclean!  (see “Healing Our Bodies”.)  God’s health guidelines haven’t been bondage for us…whereas visits to the doctor & waiting rooms and medical costs may seem like bondage to many.

Jesus and Paul said of the OT authority, “It is written!”  God loves us and wants us to enjoy healthy lives.  In Le.11/De.14 Christ gave knowledge of health principles the average person won’t obtain apart from the Bible.  Yet the findings of medical science increasingly provide data which validates the health benefits of God’s teachings.  Jesus Christ was/is Lord!

Unclean versus Clean Food (1)

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.

Jesus Obeyed God’s Written Laws

In the Old Testament (OT), the Hebrew term which is usually translated “law” in our Bibles is toráh (Strongs h8451).  It occurs 220 times.  Torah is instructive teaching with a wide range of meaning.  The BC Jewish translators of the OT into Greek (now become the Septúagint/LXX) translated torah as nómos (g3551), which means ‘law’.  Nomos occurs 240 times in the LXX, and 200 times in the New Testament (NT) where it usually refers to a body of law or the first five books (Péntateuch) of the OT.

God’s OT written word includes: laws, the Lord’s Testimony (edúth h5715) Decalogue on Mt Sinai, commandments (mitzváh h4687), judgments/legal decisions (mishpát h4941), ceremonial statutes or ordinances & civil decrees (choq h2706 & chuqqáh h2708).  Ne.9:13 the Lord God “Came down on Mt Sinai and spoke to them from heaven; and gave them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments”.  In De.4:8, “this whole law” includes all the above. However, by NT times most of God’s precepts were generally called commandments (entoláy g1785, Greek).

According to Jewish rabbinic tradition, there are 613 laws or commandments in the Pentateuch.  Of these, 248 are positive ‘do’s’ and 365 are negative ‘don’ts’.  Rámbam (1138-1204 AD) listed 613.  That number is disputed.  Wikipedia: 613 Commandments “Some rabbis declared…that it was not logically possible to come up with a systematic count. A number of authorities denied that it was normative.”

Theologians have divided God’s laws into three broad categories: moral, civil or judicial, ceremonial.  There’s some overlap.  Did Jesus disobey any of the Lord’s written injunctions, His requirements?

God’s foundational moral code was the Testimony of Ex.20 & De.5, the ‘10 Commandments’ so-called.  Actually, the expression ‘10 Commandments/10 Mitzvót’ (h4687) never occurs in the Hebrew Masoretic text!  The Decalogue was the ‘10 Words’ (dabár h1697) or ’10 Sayings’.  ref De.4:13.

From the Decalogue the Lord gave to Israel…Jesus affirmed in Mt.19:18-19 that you shouldn’t commit murder or adultery, you shouldn’t steal or bear false witness; and honor your father & mother.

Jesus honored His heavenly Father.  Jn.8:29 “I do always those things which please Him.”  Lk.2:49-51 Jesus said He must be about His heavenly Father’s house/affairs/business.  Yet Jesus continued to be in subjection to Mary & Joseph, His earthly parents.  Jn.19:26-27 while hanging on the cross, Jesus entrusted the care of Mary to His cousin the apostle John.

Jesus didn’t commit murder or adultery.  Jesus didn’t steal.  Lk.19:30-35 Jesus needed a colt.  Without objecting, the colt’s owners let two of Jesus’ disciples take the colt.  It wasn’t a criminal act.

Jesus didn’t lie.  Jn.7:8-10 although Jesus delayed leaving for the Feast right then with them, He did go to it.  Gill Exposition Jn.7:10 “The Ethiopic version reads, ‘He went up that day’; which is very likely, Jn.7:14 though He didn’t go to the temple to teach till the middle of the feast.”  He is the truth, Jn.14:6.

Neither did Jesus wrongly covet/desire.  Ex.20:17 “You shall not covet.”  Jn.6:15 Jesus even withdrew from the multitude who wanted to make Him a temporal King Messiah then.

It doesn’t appear that Jesus disobeyed any of God’s Testimony, the 10 Words, the 10 Commandments!

Some may think that Jesus neglected to perform all the applicable ceremonial or sacrificial aspects of God’s written word given to Moses/Israel.  Most Christians aren’t knowledgeable about details of ancient Israel’s ritualistic practices, though we do see references & glimpses of them in the NT.

Jesus Christ wasn’t remiss in ceremonial aspects of the Mosaic Law.  Christ Himself, as the Word of God (Jn.1:1, 14) and Rock of Israel (De.32:18 & 1Co.10:4), had sanctioned it for Israel!  (see the topic “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.)  There’s no scriptural evidence which indicates that Jesus sinned or violated this aspect of His written Law or torah.

What is sin?  Scriptural ‘definitions’ of sin:  Ro.14:23 “Whatever is not of faith is sin [hamartía g266].”  Ja.4:17 “The person who knows the right thing to do, and does it not, to him it is sin.”  1Jn.5:17 “All unrighteousness is sin.”  And 1Jn.3:4, “Sin is the transgression of the Law [or lawlessness].”  That’s four NT descriptions of sin.  Also Pr.24:9 “The thought of foolishness is sin [chattáh h2403].”

Did Jesus the Christ commit any sins?  The Jewish NT writers said Jesus didn’t sin in any manner!  The apostle Peter wrote in 1Pe.2:22, “Christ did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth”.  John wrote in 1Jn.3:5, “In Him is no sin”.  He.4:15 “Jesus was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”  That’s the assertion coming down to us from three Jewish Christian writers!  Jesus didn’t transgress the Lord’s written Law/torah.

And well Jesus should have obeyed written torah.  Mary/Miriám, the young woman who bore Him, was a Jewess from the Israelite tribe of Judah.  He.7:14 “It is evident that our Lord [Jesus] sprang from Judah.”  In Jn.4:22, Jesus Himself indicated He was a Jew. “We worship that which we know, for salvation is of the Jews.”  God’s written laws were for Israelites, including the Jewish Mary and Jesus.

Jesus/Yeshúa must obey the laws for male non-Levites, that is.  Laws which applied only to females, or to the service of Levites and priests, didn’t apply to Jesus.  Jesus wasn’t a priest from the tribe of Levi.

Let’s examine the gospel narratives in some detail, and in so doing compare Jesus’ words & actions with other laws of God which were given to Moses/Israel.  The following is from the scriptural record:

Beginning with the family of the infant Jesus before His human birth, His Uncle Zacharias and Aunt Elizabeth were blameless (Lk.1:5-6).  Mary was favored by God, and she believed the amazing words of the angel Gabriel spoken to her about her Son (Lk.1:30-38)!  Her husband Joseph, Jesus’ Jewish legal father, was a just man (Mt.1:18-19).  These relatives weren’t habitual breakers of written torah.

After Jesus was born, Joseph & Mary had Him physically circumcised on the 8^th day (Lk.2:21).  This was in obedience to the command given to Moses in Le.12:3 for Israelite male newborns. “On the 8^th day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.”

Lk.2:22 after the male birth, Mary was away from the temple during her required days of purification, in obedience to Le.12:4.  Then appearing at the temple, in Lk.2:23-24 they offered a required sacrifice to obey Le.12:8. “She shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons.”  Jesus the firstborn son was presented to the Lord (Lk.2:22) in accordance with Ex.13:2. “Sanctify to Me every firstborn among the sons of Israel.”  Written torah was closely adhered to by them.

Then during Jesus’ childhood, Lk.2:41-42 “His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year for the Passover”.  This in obedience to De.16:5-6. “You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns; but at the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name.”  Later as an adult, Jesus’ disciples made preparation in Mk.14:12 to eat the sacrificial Passover with Him as commanded. “When the Passover was being sacrificed.”  In Jerusalem, not in Galilee.  Another ceremonial observance was reflected in Jn.7:2, 10-14 where Jesus was attending the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkót at Jerusalem.  In obedience to De.16:16, “All your males shall appear” at the one singular place of the Lord’s choice.

Some Bible readers regard God’s dietary laws as a mixture of moral and ceremonial directives.  It’s not loving one’s neighbor to feed them unclean parasitic or carcinogenic creatures.  (see the topic “Unclean versus Clean Food”.)  Jesus said in His parable of Mt.13:47-48 that they gathered-in the good fish but cast away the bad fish.  Pulpit Commentary Mt.13:48 “This included the legally unclean.”  Obeying the Lord’s guidelines of Le.11:9-10 which defined clean & unclean, “All [sea creatures] that have fins and scales you may eat”.

In Mt.17:24-27, Jesus paid the poll/temple tax for Peter (and Himself).  Ex.30:13-14 had required this tax.  And in Mt.23:23, Jesus told Jewish Pharisees they should pay tithes stipulated by written torah, even on their garden crops…tithes holy to God (Le.27:30).

What about sacrifices?  Some OT sacrifices were voluntary options, others were commanded.  In Mk.7:11-13, Jesus reprimanded scribes & Pharisees for their having chosen to do voluntary sacrifice (korbán, Hebrew, e.g. Le.1:2) to God, instead of responsibly honoring their aging parents (Ex.20:12).  Individual burnt offerings were voluntary (Le.1).  Many grain offerings were voluntary (Le.2).  Many peace offerings were voluntary (Le.3).  Three types of peace offerings are identified in Le.7:11-ff; thank, votive, freewill.  (also see “Passover and Peace Offerings”.)

As to whether or not Jesus brought such individual offerings…is a non-issue.  Because…those offerings were voluntary, not commanded.  (That is, unless some incidental matter such as a Nazarite vow was involved, of which there’s no NT account of Jesus ever taking such a vow.)

The individual sacrifices of Le.4-6 for sin & guilt weren’t voluntary or optional in the sense other types were.  These were offered by the offending Israelite for atonement and forgiveness, e.g. Le.6:1-7!  (see “Day of Atonement”.)  Although sin & guilt offerings were expiatory for forgiveness, they too were a personal non-issue for the person who hadn’t sinned.  And the NT writers said Jesus never sinned.

In Nu.15:37-39, the Lord commanded Israelite men to wear fringe or tassels (g2899 LXX) on their garment hem.  (ref De.22:12, Zec.8:23.)  This was to help them remember His commandments/mitzvot.  Mt.23:5 scribes & Pharisees pridefully lengthened their tassels (g2899), perhaps to show their supposed ‘rank’.  In Mt.9:20-22, a woman diseased with an issue of blood touched the tassels (g2899) on Jesus’ garment.  Jesus didn’t disobey this ceremonial tassels requirement.  And He healed the woman.  (cf. Lk.8:44, Mt.14:36, Mk.6:56.)

If Jesus had close physical contact with someone He healed from an issue of blood, then perhaps He became ritually unclean…until He washed at evening (Le.15:25-27).  But such ritual uncleanness wasn’t sin.  Becoming ritually unclean could even be mandatory!  A man must properly attend to his father’s dead body, for example.  Even priests did so (Le.21:1-3).  A corpse is unclean (Nu.19:11).  Attending to a close relative’s corpse reflects compassion and honor for the deceased…which isn’t sin.

In Mk.1:40-44, Jesus healed a leper and told the healed leper to “Go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded”.  This was to obey that which God had instructed Moses in Le.13:1-2, 17. “If the infection has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him clean”.

Leprosy was infectious and lepers were to be quarantined (ref Le.13:44-46, 5:3).  The priest was a type of ‘health inspector’.  However, I know of no written torah which clearly forbad touching a leper.  Again, it wasn’t always a violation to touch an unclean person.  Doing so could just make you unclean until you went through the proper ceremonial procedure and the required time elapsed.

In the OT, only two individuals are named who were healed of leprosy…Miriam the Israelitess (Nu.12:10-15) and the gentile Naamán, general of the opposing Syrian army (2Ki.5:1-14).  But not one Israelite man!  (Moses’ brief ordeal was a sign, Ex.4:5-7.)  Bible historians say 1^st century Jews therefore came to believe that only the Messiah could heal an Israelite man from leprosy.  Jesus did so!

Also 1^st century Jews believed only the Messiah could heal a man blind from birth.  In Jn.9:1-7 there was a man blind from birth.  Jesus’ disciples thought the man was born blind because he’d sinned in a prior life, or else his parents had sinned.  But Jesus said this blindness was so the works of God would be displayed in him.  Perhaps the man had blind faith…the Son of God healed him!  Praise God!

But it is understood that Jesus didn’t observe all the Jews’ oral law traditions.  And in Mk.7:7-9, Jesus castigated scribes & Pharisees for favoring the traditions of men above the written commands of God!

Returning to the account of the man born blind…out of love and compassion, Jesus gave him sight, applying clay & spittle.  But after questioning the man who now could see, Pharisees said in Jn.9:13-16, “This man [Jesus] is not from God, because He doesn’t keep the Sabbath”.  Because Jesus had “made” clay on the sabbath (v.6, 14), those Pharisees viewed His act as a breach of rabbinic sabbath laws.  T. Hieros Sabbat 14.4 “It is forbidden to put fasting spittle even on the eyelid on a sabbath day.”

Historians say the Jews had 39 categories of burdensome man-made sabbath laws (with even further detail)!  But those were merely the commandments of men.  Jesus’ action didn’t violate the written law of God.  And even the famous 1^st century rabbinic schools of Hillél and Shammái differed over points of traditional observance.  (Ti.1:14 Paul too warned about Jewish “commandments of men”.)

Jesus healed a man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  Jesus asked those who would accuse Him in Mk.3:1-5, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?’ But they kept silent.”  They failed to give Jesus a good answer.  Matthew Henry Commentary Jn.9:16 “On the sabbath…works of necessity and mercy are allowed.”

Jesus customarily went to synagogue on the sabbath day.  Le.23:3 “On the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation.”  Jesus obeyed God’s Decalogue sabbath command.  And of Jesus’ commitment in Lk.4:16, “As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read”.  Jesus regularly attended synagogue on the 7^th day sabbath.

It’s not that all traditional observances are wrong.  Most every culture has some good traditions.  In Jn.10:22-23 e.g., Jesus is seen in Jerusalem at the temple during the man-made festival of Hánukkah.  This “Feast of Dedication” or ‘Festival of Lights’ was ordained by the Jews in the 160s BC to commemorate the re-dedication of the temple.  Hanukkah is a tradition which doesn’t contradict God’s written word.  So Jesus the “Light of the World” (Jn.8:12) was at the ‘Festival of Lights’.

To conclude…I find nothing in the Bible that clearly indicates Jesus ever sinned by violating God’s written word or torah/Law.  And Jesus Himself said in Jn.15:10, “I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love”.

Previously I quoted Jewish NT writers who said Jesus never sinned.  Also Paul wrote in 2Co.5:21 that God…“Made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us”.  Jesus knew no sin.  So Christ became that which He did not know…sin!  He became a sin offering.  Jesus became sin and the offering for sin…both.  For our sake.  In the OT type, the substitute animal sacrifice was regarded as sin-bearing.

OT sacrifices have ended (He.10:5).  They, and ceremonial rituals of the Mosaic law, are unnecessary for Christians!  Without a physical temple, it’s no longer possible to perform most rituals correctly.

The Bible indicates Jesus didn’t break any of God’s written laws!  Jesus affirmed them.  Jesus didn’t disobey God’s written torah or Father God.  The fact that Jesus never sinned is crucial to our salvation!  If Jesus had transgressed God’s law and sinned, we’d have no Savior.  But we have a legitimate Savior!  The sinless Christ died for the sins of the Israelites, and for the sins of all mankind.  Thanks be to God for His Son!