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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Tuesday, 25 February 2025:
Listen to this message on Leviticus 11 by Jon Courson: https://www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/popPlayer.cfm?id=2325&rel=courson_jon/Lev
Leviticus 11:1-2 — And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.”
The Bible doesn’t explain why God gave His people these specific dietary laws other than stating, “’For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.’ This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.” (Leviticus 11:45-47) Many have speculated about the reasons for these laws, but we are called to live by God’s word, not man’s speculation concerning God’s word, so we must be very careful obey even what we don’t completely understand. So, what do we know?
We know that before the Flood, God prescribed for people a vegetarian diet: “And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.’” (Genesis 1:29) However, after the flood, God told people to eat animals too; no more vegetarianism – “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.” (Genesis 9:3) Note that this verse implies all animals could be eaten. However, Noah was commanded by God to, “Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth” (Genesis 7:2–3). However, the larger number of clean animals could have been instructed only to provide for sacrifices since only clean animals were sacrificed to the LORD such as in Genesis 8:20.
What distinguishes clean from unclean animals is found here in Leviticus 11, but specific explanations as to what makes certain animals unclean are not provided. We do see, however, that food for God’s people was what was worthy for sacrifice to God. In the New Testament, Paul explains that “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own…. So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Corinthians 10:31) God’s people were to allow nothing unclean into the temple.
Many have speculated as to why God established these specific dietary laws. Some have suggested they are purely symbolic; others have suggested that God used these laws to help keep his people from integrating with the foreign cultures around them. Many have suggested these laws were intended by God to protect His people from diseases commonly spread by unclean animals. However, all suggested explanations are merely speculation since God doesn’t tell us. He just says obey, and that should be enough.
Does God need to explain Himself to you for you to obey, or is a command from the Sovereign LORD enough? God says forgive continually and unconditionally, regardless the cost to you. Is His command good enough? God says love your enemies. Do you need an explanation for that command? God says sex outside the marriage between one man and one woman is forbidden. Is that good enough for you?
Though we are saved by grace through faith, and not by works or the law, there is debate as to whether or not we should still follow the dietary laws of the Old Testament. The vast majority of Christians believe these laws are “Old Covenant” only. However, some believe they are intended for all generations as is the prohibition against eating blood – “It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.” (Leviticus 3:17)
Jesus did say, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” (Matthew 15:11) However, Jesus was specifically addressing the tradition (not a command) of hand washing and wasn’t abolishing the dietary laws but rather saying sinful behavior isn’t our problem but rather sinful hearts which produce sinful behavior. You can eat clean with an unclean heart. Mark adds the following to Jesus’ words: “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled? (Thus he declared all foods clean.)” (Mark 7:18, 19) However, the parenthetical statement doesn’t appear in the original Greek text or the King James Version of the Bible. It seems to have been added later by commentators.
Many point to Peter’s vision in Acts 10 as another example of God declaring all food clean: “And there came a voice to him: ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.’ And the voice came to him again a second time, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’” (Acts 10:13-15) However, one must consider that Peter, having been discipled by Jesus personally, had never eaten anything unclean when He had this vision. Also, after the vision, Peter, “was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean (v 17),” clearly not thinking it was about food but rather symbolic in nature. Later Peter explains the symbolism of the vision, “God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.” (Acts 10:28) This was not about God making all food clean; it was about God making saved gentiles clean through Christ.
In debatable matters such as this, the key is to prayerfully follow God’s word to the best of your understanding with a clear conscience and with to goal of honoring God at all cost, while showing grace to others who might disagree. God knows your heart and the hearts of others, while you don’t.
Leviticus 11:45 — For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
“God’s law calls us to be exactly what we were made to be: people who reflect the holy character of our Creator. When God gathered the nation at Sinai and gave to them His law and constituted them as a unique commonwealth among all of the nations of the world, He said to His people, ‘You shall be holy, even as I am holy.’ This was not a new calling. That responsibility of being holy because God is holy was rooted and grounded in creation itself. When God made us and fashioned us, He said, ‘Let us make man in our own image.’ An image is a likeness of something. Being created in the image of God among other things means that we, as God’s creatures who bear His image, are called to mirror and to reflect His character. We are to mirror and reflect His holiness.” (R.C. Sproul)
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 25 February 2025: As one called to by Holy to God’s glory, seek purity in your life and allow nothing unworthy of God into your mind, heart, or body. While you might consider changing your diet in a way which would be more God honoring, even more important would be to change your mental and spiritual diet, guarding what goes into your mind and spirit by removing wicked messaging from your life. Turn off the TV and social media, and stay away from environments and people which promote sinfulness.
- 1 Corinthians 15:33 — Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
- 1 Timothy 4:6-9 — +…be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
- 2 Timothy 2:22-26 — So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
- Titus 3:8-11 — The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
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