What about Clean and Unclean Meats
-by Tony Warren


Is it biblical for Christians to eat meats like Crab, Pork, Shrimp or Lobster, which are described in the Old testament as unclean? This is a question that often weighs heavily on the minds of some people because of the prohibitions that are found in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. But the first reference that God made concerning clean and unclean animals was not in the law that God gave Moses on the mount, but was when God instructed Noah on their separation in Genesis.

Genesis 7:1-2

God commanded Noah to make a distinction between clean animals and unclean animals. But why did God in the law prohibit the eating of the unclean animals. I believe that the reason was revealed to us in His declaration that the clean animals were to be used by Noah to make sacrifice unto God. The unclean animals were thus by their exclusion, deemed unworthy to be a representative of the atonement offering unto God.

Genesis 8:20

Every animal sacrifice unto the Lord by His people was a representation prefiguring the sacrifice of Christ. So the distinction that God appointed was that the clean animals were to be used to "foreshadow" Christ in their sacrifice. They represented the Holiness of the atonement, contrasting the unclean animals that represented unholiness. One group of animals appointed sanctified unto service for God, and the other group separated from them and deemed unholy or unclean. In the Lord making these distinctions in Noah's day, we get an better-illustrated picture of the true purpose of this separation. It was never for dietary reasons, it was for instituted for holiness reasons.

This truth was underscored more plainly when God gave Moses the ceremonial law. In Leviticus chapter 11 and Deuteronomy chapter 14, God inspires written these very same separation principles, which He had "already" established. Indeed, in the harmonious arrangement of the scriptures, the agreement on all points reveal what is commonly called, "the continuity of the Covenant" relationship. The ceremonial law of meats that was given to Moses was meant as an example of the separation of Israel from the Gentile or unclean nations. By God requiring that His people make a distinction between clean and unclean meats, He is illustrating how God's people are to be Holy and set apart from the unclean people of the world. The very same separation principle that God illustrated to Noah in the figure of using the clean animals for the atonement sacrifice. And in Leviticus, following the list of meats that "His people" could and could not eat, verse 44 concludes that it was because He was LORD God, that they shall therefore sanctify themselves.

Leviticus 11:44-47

It was to consecrate them. The clean and unclean animals were separated because God wants these people separated, sanctified or set apart from the unholy nations around them. Note that God never makes any claims regarding reasons of health. So we cannot arbitrarily make suppositions about the reasons for separation. The Bible is it's own interpreter, and the text itself provides us the reason for these laws. They were instituted to signify that there was a difference between God's Covenant people and the rest of the world.

Leviticus 20:24-26

Again, we see that there is no question but that the reason was because God had separated them from the unholy nations, that they were to separate animals into clean and unclean. It was not because God said some meat was bad for our health, because God never said, nor implied this.

Deuteronomy 14:21

In other words, the meat is unclean to God's people, but they could sell it to the Gentiles. Obviously, God being righteous is not telling them to sell something deadly or hurtful to the Gentiles. Our God is a perfect Righteous God and does not make laws to harm the Gentiles. And so it is plain that the belief that these laws were designed for health reasons, is without sound "Biblical" validation. On the contrary, by God telling them to give these meats to the Gentiles, He is illustrating that these meats are not necessarily physically harmful. And that they were designated clean and unclean only to be a token or sign of their distinctiveness as a Covenant people set apart for the service of God.

So we can begin to understand that these rules and regulations concerning clean and unclean meats were imposed in order to present the "figure" of distinction, until the time of the later dispensation (Galatians 3:23-26), when the fulfillment in Christ established the reality of what these separation regulations foreshadowed.

There are those who claim that it is their Biblical responsibility to keep these ceremonial laws concerning meats just as the Old Testament saints did. But is there any Biblical basis for observing Old Testament ceremonial laws and making the same separations between meats today? The question is answered as we carefully examine the New Testament revelation of the mystery that we come to understand the example it foreshadowed. There was a spiritual typology of clean and unclean meats as types of people, but this was never a law that God instituted designed to keep our bodies in good health. There is nothing within the scriptures that declare or imply that the laws were instituted because of God's concern with hygiene or bodily cleanliness. They were ritual or ceremonial in nature. A set form of conduct that illustrated sanctification.

You will note that you don't hear these same people who insist on our following this law, decrying the Lord's people planting two different kinds of seeds in a field. Or breeding two different types of cattle, or God's law that we cannot mix two types of thread in a cloth (Leviticus 19:19). These were the same "separation principle" ceremonial laws as the separation of meats. And they are fulfilled in the Lord reconciling the "whole world" to Himself in the death and resurrection of Christ. From the New Testament perspective on eating clean and unclean meats, it should be evident that the laws were a figure representing separation of God's people from the Gentiles. But with the reconciliation of all in Christ, that ceremonial ordinance has been fulfilled.

The fact is, the Apostle Peter was very "literally commanded to eat unclean meats" by God Himself! So those who continue to protest the eating of these very same meats, do not understand their significance. As indeed Peter himself at first did not understand. He himself protested the command saying he had never done so, because did not yet understand the true significance of the ceremonial laws concerning them, nor the vision of God wherein it is made manifest they were an example or figure of separation.

Acts 10:9-16

And though the proponents of Old Covenant law observances joy in splitting hairs and rationalizing away God's Word of acceptance, quite clearly God commands Peter to eat what Israel understands are unclean meats, and warns him not to call these meats which God has cleansed, uncommon or unclean. We know that God doesn't violate His law nor command men to transgress it. Therefore, His command for Peter to eat what he thought were unclean animals, means that these were not unclean in God's eyes, and that now with the inclusion of the Gentiles, they could be eaten.

Acts 10:28

Peter has been shown of God in this revelation that now the separation from the Gentiles is over (Ephesians 2:11-19). They have been reconciled together as one body in Christ, and these unclean meats which once signified the separation, by His now permitting them to be eaten of the Jews, now signify their reconciliation. They can now lawfully keep company with the Gentiles.

Acts 10:33-35

Again, God would not command Peter to eat unclean meats in direct violation of His own law, if it indeed were a violation of His law. It obviously was not. The law of commandments contained in ordinances such as those forbidding eating unclean meats, were abolished in the body of Christ (Ephesians 2:15), making the clean and the unclean, one body in Him. And that is why Peter could now say what He did about the Gentiles. The Lord had cleansed the Gentiles and made clean, that which was common or unclean.

Acts 10:45

By the gospel now being proclaimed to the Gentiles nations, the wall between Jew and Gentile has been broken down, thus all unclean meats are made clean as long as they are received with thanksgiving. And think about it. Would the Apostle Peter understand that the Gentiles were now clean if Christ did not declare unclean animals clean in this vision? This is the whole point God is illustrating by these meats. He is explaining the significance of the Old Testament ordinances. If the four-footed beasts all remained unclean, the Gentiles, which "they signified," would also remain unclean. That's how Peter understood the revelation in understanding these meats signified the separation principles. He discerned that God would no longer separate Jews from Gentiles, but that they would now be one people. The ceremonial laws of separation were abolished in the flesh of Christ in the New Testament dispensation. There is no respect of persons with God, for he has made clean what was called common (unclean), revealing that those laws of unclean beasts were indeed a figure of separation.

All through scripture there is the emphasis upon the division between the holy and the unholy people as the reason God instituted these laws. God in making these Gentiles clean who were unclean, is making known the mystery kept secret (Romans 16:25) since the world began. That the Gentiles would be included, grafted into the New Covenant with Israel. And to place emphasis upon this, God has Peter witness to these people. And as he spoke, the Spirit came upon them and they spoke in other languages. Again, a "sign" signifying that all tongues (languages) have been brought into God's covenant, and made clean. Call it not common, which the Lord has cleansed. We are not to make commandments that anyone abstain from unclean meats.

1st Timothy 4:1-5

So the purpose of these Old Testament ordinances and regulations regarding meats need to be understood in the "light" of the whole bible. As is often said, "the Old Testament concealed, is the New Testament revealed." In the revelation of the New, the Old can be better understood and appreciated. God did not really destroy the law, He completed it in His death. In that sense, it is abolished.

Matthew 5:17

In the New Testament dispensation the outward form or figure of the law has been fulfilled in the sacrifice of Christ. By His death, the system of ordinances, which were a figure of the separation of Jewish nation from the heathen nations, was brought to completion. Just as the animal sacrifices, temple furniture, and other sundry ordinances were completed and are no longer physically observed.

Hebrews 9:9-11

The coming of Christ fulfilled these ordinances which were imposed on the Old Testament saints until the time of reformation. The Greek word translated reformation is [diorthosis], meaning to set straight, or by extension to set things right. Much like John the Baptist came to make the crooked paths straight. These animal separation ordinances were imposed on Israel until the time that Christ came to replace the figure with the true. These were ordinances that were but a "shadow" of their true significance. In Christ the basic requirement of holy separation from the unclean world is still validated, but in the true spiritual realities, not in these natural observances. The spiritual reality of God's people being separated from the unclean world remains, but the ceremonial ordinances prefiguring the separation of Israel from the Gentiles do not. In the New Testament reformation, believers are now coming in from the Gentiles. Thus the children of God are to be separated and not bound together with unbelievers, rather than Gentiles.

2nd Corinthians 6:14-18

God's people are still not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, but the Gentile nations are no longer the representation of the unholy. And in the reformation, the separation principle is revealed in it's true form to be Covenanted, rather than ethnic or a physical genealogy. In the revelation of the Covenant promise to Gentiles the children of God are cleansed, and the unclean made holy.

2nd Corinthians 7:1

The cleansing from all uncleanness is in the Spirit, not in meats. All things are lawful to the believer, so the separation principle is therefore a law confirmed forever in Christ. In the New Testament dispensation it is no longer kept in the figure of ordinances, as Israel kept them. The true intent and purpose of these laws are revealed in the scriptures.

1st Corinthians 10:23-31

We need not have our conscience bother us because we eat Pork or shellfish. All things are lawful for us to eat, but all things are not necessarily expedient. In other words, if it offends my brother to see me eat pork, maybe I should not eat pork around him, for his sake. We should always take into consideration the good of our brothers and sisters.

Others will say, this may be true, but what about doing it for good health reasons? If a Christian feels that eating certain meats are a health risk to them, there is nothing in scripture that forces them to eat such means. Remember, whatsoever is not of faith, is sin.

Romans 14:23

But as previously stated, there is nothing in the scripture that declares that the intent for these laws concerning meats were salutary. For one thing, the prohibited meats are not "necessarily" injurious to our health. Moreover, if that were indeed the intent of these laws, would there not also be sanctions against the consumption of other injurious meats, or injurious vegetables and plants? Obviously many of them are noxious and not salutary as well. Moreover, such an understanding would make nonsensical Paul's epistle stating that no meat was unclean of itself. i.e., it's not the meat that is unclean so that it will defile the one who eats it, it's what the person eating it esteems, or regards it to represent. If your conscience bothers you, then don't eat these meats, that your conscience will be clear. But likewise, do not condemn those who understand that they may lawfully eat these meats.

Romans 14:13-18

We are not under the Old Testament regulations concerning meats, but are under Grace that there is nothing unclean of itself. If I eat Ham or Pork, I am not unclean for seven days, nor am I cut off from my people, or from God. The Gospel is not law about unhealthy eating, it's laws about spiritual health. Christ addressed this topic of eating things that might be unhealthy for us when the Scribes and Pharisees protested the eating without washing one's hands. Christ showed that unclean hands were not the important things, it was an unclean heart that was important. The distinction between clean and unclean meats represented that separation between those with unclean hearts, and those made clean in the atonement sacrifice of Christ. It was a token of the division between believer and unbeliever, the defiled and the undefiled.

Matthew 15:1-2

Matthew 15:10-11

Mark 7:18-19

First of all, Christ wouldn't say that anything that someone puts into their mouth "cannot" defile them, if what someone put into their mouth could defile them. Christ would not say something that wasn't true. Thus, it is true. That's the starting point. Now if we knew something was poisonous and going to harm us, and we deliberately ate it, that would be a different matter. Because then we'd be in violation of other rules and laws.

Second, Christ says the foods don't enter into a man's heart (again signifying laws concerning eating were ceremonial), they enter into a man's belly and goeth out into the draught (toilet). That is the way the body purges meats. And this word translated purging is [katharizo], meaning to make clean, or to purify.

Clearly Christ is teaching that it is not injurious products (germs from eating without washing, bad meat, ham, Lobster) that we might put into our mouths that will ultimately defile us, it is false doctrines coming out of our mouth that will make us unclean. The laws concerning unclean animals were never instituted unto good physical heath, but to good Spiritual health. They were to teach that there is a difference between the people of God who are clean before Him, and unbelievers who are unclean. That this separation is necessary for keeping God's people a Holy people. The words clean and unclean are to be understood as purity and defilement in a spiritual, rather than physical sense. Peter hav8ing been raised in the Judaic traditions himself did not understand this, but Christ further explained to him exactly what He was speaking about.

Matthew 15:15-20

Whatever they ate, entering in through the mouth, went into their stomach, and ultimately it is cast out into the toilet. This is not what was really at the heart of the law against eating unclean meats anymore than eating dirt on your hands. It was a man's spiritual condition that God was protecting. The uncleanness within a man defiles him, not that type of meat that he eats.

So by understanding this, we can see that it is lawful to eat meats like Pork and ShellFish. But it's not mandatory, and whosoever doesn't want to eat such meats, is free not to eat. Just as those who do eat are free to eat them. This is also addressed in Romans illustrating how we should not force our liberty to eat Pork on others who may not choose to eat it, thinking it's harmful.

Romans 14:1-6

So, the conclusion of the matter is this. There are no meats that are unto themselves unclean to us today. The Old Testament ceremonial laws concerning meats were a figure that ended with the coming of Christ who broke down the wall of partition. Clearly, the separation principles in the law of Mosses, as separating clean and unclean meats, the prohibitions against mixing diverse seeds in a field, the precept against the unequal yoking of animals together, or the law against mixing different types of thread in a cloth, were "all" for the purpose of illustrating that God has separated a people Holy unto Himself. The scriptures have never declared that those meat regulations were established for health reasons, anymore than the regulations against mixing threads were established for dress code reasons. They were established to "signify" separation. And note, you don't see those insisting on the law of meats also insisting that our clothing not have two different types of thread. But that's just as much an Old Testament ceremonial law as the one concerning diverse meats. They were "all" ritual and ceremonial and we cannot righteously preach that they were not, or that they should still be observed. It is in the continuity of God's New Covenant law that the separation continues today in Christ. Not in Old Testament ceremonial laws, but in the true separation of the Holy from the unholy.

Unfortunately, there are those professing Christians today who seem to be hell bent on compromising these principles, and mixing the unclean with the clean, seemingly oblivious to the consequences. Not unclean meats, but unclean people. Believers are not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, but in our day this seems to be the norm. Believers marrying unbelievers, Churches compromising with other religions, all the things that the law concerning meats really signified concerning God's people are being abrogated. And this is the true travesty. Not that Christians eat unclean meats, but that Christians were to be a People set apart from the unbelievers. These laws of Christ should be revealed through His dwelling within us, that we will and do of His good pleasure. The separation principle we must keep in Christ, that we forever remain a people consecrated, sanctified, made holy, set apart from the world, in service to God.

    May the Lord who is gracious above all give us the wisdom to receive His truths concerning our separation, because greater is He that is in us (1st John 4:4), than he that is in the world.