One area where the world has certainly abolished God`s law is that of pure and impure flesh. Those who believe this cite passages from the Bible that seem to say that all food, even unclean food, has somehow been made suitable for us to eat today. A common argument is that pure and impure laws were part of the Old Covenant, and this is „obsolete and. ready to disappear” (Hebrews 8:13). The translators „changed” God`s Word by distorting the context of the verse and redefining the apostle Paul`s doctrinal position to conform to their preconceived confessional dogma. Changing a word three times in the same sentence of the original text of God`s Word to distort the context to „change” God`s teaching is blasphemy! This is exactly the same kind of deception that I exposed in the first part of this series: „(So he declared all foods pure) Part 1| Mark 7:19. In this study, I showed how the majority of modern translators „added to the Word of God” to change the context of Scripture. Whether it was done intentionally or in ignorance doesn`t matter, it`s always deception. Paul`s First Epistle to Timothy suggests that people should not limit the type of food they eat, because all food is created by God and is good: „For all that was created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected unless it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim 4:4-5). This New Testament teaching holds that since God created everything around us, including the things we eat, nothing should be gastronomically taboo.
In the Torah, however, God also expressly forbids Israel to eat certain animals (cf. Lev 11; Deuteronomy 14). So how should we understand First Timothy in light of what God said in the Torah? 1. Timothy 4:5 adds important and modifying elements of what this means: „. for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Sanctify means „separated for a particular use or purpose”. Thus, the apostle says that certain „creatures” are sanctified or set apart as human food – by what means? – by the Word of God, the Bible! God reveals this „sanctified” flesh to us in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. In first-century Judaism, there was a deep concern for food sacrificed to idols.
Food or drink offered to a pagan god was expressly prohibited. Even among the faithful, this has never been punished. Acts 15:20 forbids even pagan believers to eat things contaminated with idols. In the book of Revelation, Jesus rebukes two churches for compromising and eating food sacrificed to idols. While the context of this law was clearly an injunction against the practice of idolatry, in first-century Judaism this verse was also understood as a prohibition on consuming anything, be it food or drink, offered to an idol or „polluted by idols.” Paul devotes much discussion to this subject in his letters. But the question is less simple than one can imagine. A closer look at the situation of the first century and a comparison with contemporary Jewish sources reveal layers of complexity that the modern reader could hardly guess. This issue is neither well understood nor often discussed, as it is largely a contentious issue. When we buy meat in the modern supermarket, we never care if it was sacrificed to an idol or not. But in the time of the apostles, it was a real concern. Meat bought at the market in Corinth or Ephesus or another diaspora city was probably the main cup of a temple sacrifice earlier in the morning or the remains of an idolatrous ritual festival enjoyed the night before.
The first drawing of each wine vat made by non-Jewish winemakers was almost certainly poured into the Greek god of wine. By conventional Jewish standards, this first libation made the rest of the wine in vats „offered to an idol” and unfit for consumption. There is a true biblical law that forbids us to eat food sacrificed to an idol. 2. Moses 34:15 says, „Otherwise, you could make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they would play with their gods and sacrifice them to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice.” Pure and unclean laws are mentioned especially early in God`s Word, in the account of the Noachian flood, when Noah was commanded to take „seven of every pure beast” (Genesis 7:2). When he and his family returned to the earth, Noah took „of every pure beast and pure bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Genesis 8:20). This suggests that these laws were known and practiced before the flood, even from the earliest days of mankind (compare Genesis 4:4, Abel`s acceptable sacrifice). Since there were no Jews or Israelites at that time, not even Hebrews, these laws obviously apply to all mankind.
So we see that Paul in these verses does not in any way abolish God`s laws on pure and unclean flesh. The subject is not even broached! He speaks of meat that has been desecrated or desecrated because of its association with a pagan idol. In fact, in Leviticus chapter 11, the word „unclean” is mentioned 32 times in reference to animals that are NOT considered food. Most critical is the fact that only 13 verses later, Paul told us that „the scriptures,” that is, the law, the prophets, and the scriptures, were written for our „instruction.” These instructions, which the apostle Paul said are for you and me, are how we should determine what is food and what is not; That was his conclusion on the question of what counts as food. The main objection Christians raise to this hygienic interpretation of Moses` dietary laws concerns something that happened to Jesus and the Pharisees. They asked Jesus, „Why don`t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with stained hands?” (Mark 7:5). Their tradition was that nothing, not just meat, could be eaten until their hands were washed, and they had to wash the food and utensils used to cook and eat. In Acts 10:14, Peter uses both „ordinary/koinos” and „unclean/akathartos” in the same sentence to describe food he had never eaten and still refused to eat (see „Part 2” of this series).
In the end, Paul`s attitude toward the flesh sacrificed to idols was one of caution. He forbade his parishioners to deliberately eat food sacrificed to idols, but he prevented them from being too suspicious, which would forbid them to eat meat in the market or in the homes of infidels. He reminds us that „food will not recommend us to God; we are neither worse if we do not eat, nor better if we eat” (1 Corinthians 8:8). However, there is not this knowledge in everyone; for some who know the idol, eat it hitherto as a thing offered to an idol; and their consciousness is weak, is polluted. But God does not recommend food to us; Because neither when we eat are we better, nor if we don`t eat, we are the worst. (verses 7-8) The chapter begins with Paul`s prophetic warning against false teachers and their teachings „in the last days.” Their teachings would be those of demons, and one of them commands their disciples to „abstain from food created by God to be received with thanksgiving.” (verse 3).