Expert: Sal - 10/3/2006

Question
Hi sal,

I have a question referring to Deuteronomy 14:1-21  That is talking about unclean foods and clean foods. like the clean foos are ox,thesheep,,gazelle,the wild goat,the mountain goat,the antelope, and the mountain sheep.an God our father said that we may eat an animal that has clven hooves but he said that having the hoof slit in two parts that chews the cud among the animals Nevertheless; of those that chew the cud or have cleven hooves you shall not eat. they are unclean for you. These of the sea you shall eat scales and fins you can eat what ever does not have scales and fins are unclean the the lord.all clean birds you may eat but birds of pray you shall not eat like vultures, eagle, buzzard, the redkite, the falcon, and the kite after its kind. every raven of its kind and ostrich, short eared owl  the seagull and the hawk after there kind and the little owl, the screech owl, the white owl, the stork, and the heron after its kind and the hoopoe an the bat. also every crepping thing that creeps on the earth that flies is unclean for you. you may eat all clean birds. you shall not eat anything that dies for its self. What does this mean? can you explain? I am clueless on this verse. Help.  I got the anwser from this expert Gaddy in Hebrew language and it was interesting to me he told me that yes I said it bacwards but he also told me that I am speaking in hebrew from the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen


Thanks God bless you.

Answer
Dear Jacqueline:

There are no special foods to eat in the New Covenant. All such restrictions were in the Old Covenant and belong there not in the New.

While there were thousands of Gentiles coming into the early Church we do not see one word written telling them that they must change their eating habits which included eating “unclean” animals. This is because the restriction imposed by the Mosaic Covenant (see Deuteronomy 14:3-21; Leviticus 11) were nailed to the cross. “He canceled the bond that stood against us with all its claims, snatching it up and nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). The idea of food restrictions, a not small aspect of the Mosaic Covenant, has no place in the New Covenant. “Now we have been released from the law-for we have died to what bound us-and we serve in the new spirit, not the antiquated letter” (Romans 7:6).

Our Lord’s own statement concerning dietary restrictions is very clear. “And Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.’ After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ‘Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body’ ” (Mark 7:14-19).

Anyone open to accepting whatever the word of God says will be able to understand these plain words of our Lord. St. Mark’s commentary on these words is absolutely devastating to those that want to put diet restriction on Christians. “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean” (vs. 19). Only by completely ignoring the text could one fail to understand that our Lord has made all foods clean for Christians.


“I know with certainty on the authority of the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; it is only when a man thinks something unclean that it becomes so for him” (Romans 14:14).

Again, Scripture is clear that all food is clean. St. Paul adds, echoing our Lord, “All food is clean” (Romans 14:20). Further, St. Paul gets to the heart of the matter when he states, “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but of justice, peace, and the joy that is given by the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves Christ in this way pleases God and wins the esteem of men” (Romans 14:17-18; see also Acts 10:9-15, 15:28-29; I Corinthians 10:25-30; I Timothy 4:1-5). So don't worry about what foods to eat or avoid. God is not concerned with that any longer.

Thanks and God Bless,
Sal