Did Christ declare all foods clean?

[Hobie]

Now there are many Christians who have a hard time to understand the truth about clean and unclean foods. In the Bible, God tells us not to eat things like Pork, crab, cuttlefish, shellfish, lobster, etc. God had to put these laws in the Bible so that we could know certain creatures are harmful to eat. We see it in Leviticus 11..
Leviticus 11:1-23
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.
3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.
4 Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
5 And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.
8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.
9 These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.
10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
11 They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.
12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.
13 And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,
14 And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;
15 Every raven after his kind;
16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,
17 And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
18 And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle,
19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
20 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.
21 Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth;
22 Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.
23 But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.

Now some Christians think that Mark 7:19 changes this and claim it says you can eat anything you want. Well lets look at it.
Mark 7:19
19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?

Doesnt really say there is any changes to the clean or unclean foods that are set out, so where did this idea come in. Well lets look through a couple of the new versions of the Bible, Interestingly other versions had this in brackets, that “Jesus declared all foods clean”.

New International Version “For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
English Standard Version “since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
New American Standard Bible “because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)

So why did all the old versions of the Bible not contain this portion, and why do the new versions carry it within brackets? The Original Greek Manuscripts do not carry “In saying this, Jesus declared” which is in Mark 7:19.

This had been a later addition by some of the translators, its not what the Bible had, just a decision by the translators of the modern versions to add “(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean)” was valid. Well lets look at the context of the chapter in Mark leading up to verse 19 and see if it is about eating any food, or eating food according to the traditions of man. We begin with Mark 7:1-4..
Mark 7:1-5
1 Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?

We see here that the story begins with the Pharisees accusing some of Jesus disciples of not washing their hands before eating bread according to the “tradition of the elders”. Now the Pharisees had their own laws they had made up and told others they had to follow in addition to God’s Law, and this is what Christ addresses in the verses that proceed.
Mark 7:6-9
6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

He starts by quoting Isaiah 29:13, showing their hypocrisy saying, that they honor God with their mouth but their hearts are far from Him as we see in 'honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.' And that in vain they worship Him, teaching commandments of men for 'doctrine'. Jesus goes further on their mistake showing that they are laying aside God’s Commandments and are holding onto the 'traditions of men', which include their ideas of 'washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.' He says that they reject 'reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.' And He tells them they make God’s Word of no effect by their traditions, 'Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.'

So what is the context, food or man made traditions? Lets go and give even more context starting at verse 13..
Mark 7:13-15
13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
14 And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

 

[Hobie]

So what is Christ talking about, well we clearly see what it is in verse 13, and then He makes sure they are listening in verse 14 to the lesson about to be given. In verse 15 He declares, 'There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.' Is He saying that we can now eat whatever we want? No, He says that nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It is what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean.

Then in verse 17, the disciples ask what He meant as even had questions..
Mark 7:17
17 And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

Now we come to the verses in question and Christ actually begins the answer in verse 18
Mark 7:18
18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;

He answers the disciples saying, whatever enters into man cannot make him unclean, but only through sin that proceed from the inside of man. It is clear that He says that man is defiled by the sin which is inside. And you can see how He finishes with the same..
Mark 7:19-23
19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Now is He saying that God’s direction on clean and unclean foods are of no use because whatever we eat is purged out of the stomach. Of course not, as we can see the whole context He was talking of was the 'tradition of man' the Pharisees had added, and declaring them hypocrites for making what God had given on clean and unclean, as they had the Law, Void. Putting in their own 'traditions'.

 

[CrowCross]

Did Christ declare all foods clean?​

I hope so...I love bacon wrapped shrimp.

 

[Fred]

1. New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (NIDNTT): Ascetic and ritual tendencies, which classed certain foods as taboo, are rejected by the NT as false teaching (Col. 2:16 f.; 1 Tim. 4:3 ff.; Heb. 13:9; cf. Heb. 9:10). No food is unclean as such (Mk. 7:18 f.; cf. Acts 10:14 f.), and no food therefore possesses any special significance for our relationship to God (1 Cor. 8:8; cf. 1 Cor. 6:13) (2:268, Hunger, H. Kropatschek).

2. Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words: God turns a food eating tradition on its head in Peter's threefold housetop vision (Acts 10). Three times a sheet filled with all kinds of things forbidden on the Jewish menu appears to Peter (cf. Lev. 11), and each time God tells him to "rise, kill, and eat" (10:13). God clearly communicates the lesson not only that nothing is off limits for the Jew, but also that Gentiles have equal access to the kingdom. Jesus taught a similar lesson earlier when he declared, "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' " (Mk. 7:14b-15). Jesus thereby declared all foods clean (7:19), and went on to say that human waste is better than what comes out of a person's heart (see 7:20-23) (Eat, page 206).

 

[Fred]

Now there are many Christians who have a hard time to understand the truth about clean and unclean foods. In the Bible, God tells us not to eat things like Pork, crab, cuttlefish, shellfish, lobster, etc. God had to put these laws in the Bible so that we could know certain creatures are harmful to eat. We see it in Leviticus 11.

No New Covenant command has been given in support of what the Old Covenant taught in regards to the above.
Therefore, it does not apply to the Christian.

Walk in the freedom of Christ.

 

[Eleanor]

Now there are many Christians who have a hard time to understand the truth about clean and unclean foods. In the Bible, God tells us not to eat things like Pork, crab, cuttlefish, shellfish, lobster, etc. God had to put these laws in the Bible so that we could know certain creatures are harmful to eat. We see it in Leviticus 11..

Clean and unclean foods have nothing to do with health.
1) God told Adam to eat everything that lives and moves (Ge 9:3).

2) Then God gave ceremonial laws to teach the meaning of defilement and purity. The defilement was ceremonial, not spiritual, and was to teach the nature of sin as spiritual defilement.
We see this in the NT where true defilement is shown to be a matter of the heart (Mk 7:20-23, Tit 1:15, Lk 11:41), not of ordinances regarding food (Mk 7:19, Lk 11:41, Ro 14:14, 20, 1 Co 8:8, 10:25, 1 Tim 4:3-5, Heb 9:9-10, Col 2:16-19, Eph 2:14-15).
Ceremonial laws were the barrier, or wall of partition (Eph 2:14) by which God both separated Israel from the sin of the pagan Gentiles and governed their daily lives.

3) And then in the NT all food is clean again (Ro 14:14).
The unclean food of the NT is sin (Mt 15:11, 18).

So food, being healthy from the beginning (Ge 9:3), did not become unhealthy under the Mosaic law (Lev 11), only to become healthy again in the NT (Ro 14:14). It was never unhealthy. It was about ceremonial defilement to teach the meaning of sin as spiritual defilement.