FROM THE BEGINNING
"Commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,’" (Gen 2:16-17).
In the beginning, Adam and Eve’s food was derived from the "tree(s) of the garden." In the world to come, the creation will return to this pattern, partaking of fruit from the "tree of life," (Rev 2:7, 22:14). After Adam was driven from the Garden, the LORD God modified Adam’s diet saying,
"You will eat the plants of the field…You will eat bread," (Gen 3:18-19)
After the flood, God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them,
The broad standard for acceptable food given to Noah remained in effect for all mankind until the LORD commanded the Israelites through Moses, "These are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth," (Lev 11:2). The LORD then proceeded to define clean animals, which can be eaten, and unclean animals, which the Israelites were prohibited from eating. Since these prohibitions were given only to the Hebrew people, acceptable Gentile food continued to be governed by the standard established in Genesis chapter nine.
Depending on the interpretation of Acts chapter 15, some additional restrictions may have been placed on Gentile believers,
"For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well." (Acts 15:28-29)
Abstaining from blood and things strangled may, or may not, be considered an addition to the original covenant given in Genesis. What is an addition, "Abstain from things sacrificed to idols." The prohibition against idols appears a number of times in Paul’s letters and in two of the seven letters to the churches in the Book of Revelations. Foods sacrificed to idols were a major concern among the early church believers, the apostles, and Jesus.
"But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality." (Rev 2:14-15)
"But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols." (Rev 2:20-21)
Paul’s references to food in his epistles are sometimes confusing. At times, Paul appears to discount the prohibition against sacrificing to idols saying,
"Concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world…we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat…For if someone sees you, who have a knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?," (1 Cor 8:4, 8 &10)
By the end of his Corinthian letter, Paul takes a strong stand prohibiting a believer from knowingly eating any foods sacrificed to idols,
"The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons," (1 Cor 10:20)
Paul’s overriding principle remains,
"Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind, " (Rom 14:5). To the person who thinks it is sin to violate the dietary laws, it is sin because he violates his own consciences, (Rom 14:23).
However, to the one whose conscience does not condemn him for what he eats, his eating is acceptable.
The one who is convicted toward greater compliance to the dietary laws is not to judge the one who is not, (Rom 14:3), because judging could lead to eating with a guilty conscience which might result in sin.
Likewise, the one who eats in liberty, "is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat," (Rom 14:3).
(to be continued - Scott)
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