With apologies initially to those who are sensitive about biblical straightness or correctness, but, if you bear with me momentarily , you will see the Truth as it is in Jesus. I want to explore a sensitive issue this morning regarding faith and food.
The question I want to try to answer this morning is a common belief among most Christians. That it is OK to eat anything you want because God has given us dominion over the Earth, therefore it is OK to kill any animal and eat it. So, Is all food good to eat?
You have read where Paul has instructed us to bear long with one another, that we should be tolerant of each other, more than we are.
On the other hand, In Acts chapter 10, Peter was shown a vision of a large sheet coming down from heaven containing all manner of beasts, fowl and creeping things that creep upon the Earth. A voice told him to rise up and eat. He said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. But a voice from within, spoke and said, “What God has cleansed, that call not you common.” Verses 11-15. Common is the same Greek word as Unclean.
At first glance, it appears that Jesus is instructing Peter that it is acceptable to eat anything and that anything is good to eat.
Even Paul said in Romans 14 that, “I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteems any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. AKJV — Romans 14:14
At the end of Peters dream, even he wondered what the dream was about. V. 17. So, we could quickly come to the conclusion that all food is good to eat, at least the things that each one of us would consider clean and that which God has cleansed. A acknowledgment surface reading would lead to this obvious conclusion.
After all, Romans 14:2 says, One man hath faith to eat all things: but he that is weak eats herbs.
So, is all food is good to eat?
Think carefully about our texts before you answer. I will tell you that in my studies of scripture that all food is good to eat, just don’t offer it to idols, which we don’t do much anymore.
Some may be quick to point out to me that the Bible calls the eating of swine an abomination, my response would be, “is swine food?” I cannot find a single verse in scripture that would define swine as food. If you find one, please let me know, I have read this book many times and cannot find anywhere it tells us that swine is food or that it is no longer an abomination to eat.
The response might be, well what about Peter’s dream? Let’s go back to chapter 10 and read about Peter’s dream. We want to find out if God was telling Peter that it was OK to eat animals.
So then, it may behoove us to define more exactly, “what is food?” If we can find a Bible definition of what constitutes food, then we should be safe in accepting that idea, that all “food” is good to eat.
So, what is food as defined by the Bible?
Gen 1:29. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
In the beginning God defined food as herb bearing seeds and the fruits of trees that yield seed. In Gen 2:9, “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.“
He even designed what the animals would eat. In Gen 1:30 it says, “And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so”
After sin came in He added vegetables to the diet, Gen 3:18 “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;”
There is no other place in the Bible where God defines anything else as food. In Lev 19:26 it says, “Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.”
So food as defined by scripture has no blood and grows on trees or plants.
One of the biggest problems I have seen in studies with other Christians is the idea that man was given dominion over the animals.
In Gen 1:26-28 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
Dominion to them is defined as being the Lord over what was entrusted to us. The problem is that a Follower of our Lord Jesus Christ who has dominion over anything will have a benevolent leadership when they subdue it. There would be no exploitation of animals nor would they kill them. They would treat animals as Jesus would treat animals, with love and care. With dominion comes care not murder.
Some may answer, what about the Leviticus law? Does that not allow mankind to eat clean animals. Yes, you can find that in Lev 11 and Deut 14. The thing about it is that while God gave man permission to eat meat, He never called it food.
Further, some may argue that many Patriarchs of the OT ate meat, think of Isaac, who loved Esau’s savory venison.
Notwithstanding you may kill and eat flesh in all your gates, whatever your soul lusts after, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart. AKJV — Deuteronomy 12:15
The question is: Does this change what is considered food according to God?
The only other place in scripture where God calls flesh food meat for us, He does so on pain of death, a life for a life.
Gen 9:3-5 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
Ps 78:25 Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.
When sitting at the table of a king, Pr 23:3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
James, the Brother of Jesus, a Vegetarian
“James, the brother of the Lord, succeeded to the government of the
Church in conjunction with the apostles. He has been called the Just by all
from the time of our Savior to the present day; for there were many that
bore the name of James. He was holy from his mother’s womb; and he
drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh. No razor came upon
his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not use the bath. He
alone was permitted to enter into the holy place; for he wore not woolen
but linen garments. And he was in the habit of entering alone into the
temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for
the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel, in
consequence of his constantly bending them in his worship of God, and
asking forgiveness for the people”.
Eusebius, Pamphilus Constantines Eulogist and Friend, 320 AD Ecclesiastical History; The Church history of Eusebius b 2, chp 23 p 64