Mark 7:18 (NIV) "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'?
Mark 7:19 (NIV) For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
This is one passage of scripture people use to say that Jesus declared all foods to be clean. But what is food? All meats? Or meat that has been set aside by God to be clean and therefore is food. People listening to Jesus would understand that clean meats are food, and unclean meats are not food. So the translation is right in saying that Jesus declared all foods clean. But Jesus was not referring to all meats.
These scripture passages are taken at a time when the pharisees were complaining about Jesus disciples not washing there hands before they ate. Jesus rebukes them saying they changed the law of Moses and made the traditions of men more important. If Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for changing the Law of Moses, then how could Jesus be changing the Law of Moses by saying it is okay to eat all meats, which would be contrary to the Law. Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not change it. The pharisees would have been outraged if Jesus was changing the Law and repealing the dietary laws. The people and the Pharisees understood that food referred to clean meats, and not to unclean meats.
Noah knew what clean and unclean meats were. God told him what to bring onto the ark, seven each of clean animals and 2 each of unclean animals. Since Noah was all of mankinds ancestor, that would mean clean and unclean meats were established long before the Law of Moses was given to the chosen people. I would say that clean and unclean meats were established by the Law so the the chosen people would be prime examples of great health. The people of God would be more healthy than the people of the nations around them.
Maybe this is one of the reasons christians today are just as sick as non-christians.
Mark 7:19 (NIV) For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
This is one passage of scripture people use to say that Jesus declared all foods to be clean. But what is food? All meats? Or meat that has been set aside by God to be clean and therefore is food. People listening to Jesus would understand that clean meats are food, and unclean meats are not food. So the translation is right in saying that Jesus declared all foods clean. But Jesus was not referring to all meats.
These scripture passages are taken at a time when the pharisees were complaining about Jesus disciples not washing there hands before they ate. Jesus rebukes them saying they changed the law of Moses and made the traditions of men more important. If Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for changing the Law of Moses, then how could Jesus be changing the Law of Moses by saying it is okay to eat all meats, which would be contrary to the Law. Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not change it. The pharisees would have been outraged if Jesus was changing the Law and repealing the dietary laws. The people and the Pharisees understood that food referred to clean meats, and not to unclean meats.
Noah knew what clean and unclean meats were. God told him what to bring onto the ark, seven each of clean animals and 2 each of unclean animals. Since Noah was all of mankinds ancestor, that would mean clean and unclean meats were established long before the Law of Moses was given to the chosen people. I would say that clean and unclean meats were established by the Law so the the chosen people would be prime examples of great health. The people of God would be more healthy than the people of the nations around them.
Maybe this is one of the reasons christians today are just as sick as non-christians.
