Peter Barnes | Gen.1:29-30; 9:3-4; Lev.11; Acts 10
SERMON NOTES
GOD AND FOOD LAWS
Gen.1:29-30; 9:3-4; Lev.11; Acts 10
The Bible is not a flat text-book of systematic theology, but an unfolding of God’s revelation through history.
1. Herbs in Paradise.
– Gen.1:29-30. Dogs ate lettuce, and cats did not chase mice.
2. Meat after the Fall.
– Gen.9:3-4; anything could be eaten; man was no longer a herbivore.
3. Clean animals under the Law.
– Lev.11:1-3; pigs were unclean – Lev.11:7; fish could be eaten if they had fins and scales – Lev.11:9-12. In short, read Lev.11:46-47.
– some of this could be associated with health and hygiene. But the main purpose seems to have been that it kept Jews from Gentiles.
4. All foods become clean under grace.
– Mark 7:14-23. Jesus declared all foods clean, i.e. able to be eaten.
– Jesus was no vegetarian when He fed the five thousand – Mark 6:38-42. But in Acts 10 the abolition of the food laws is linked to the calling in of the Gentiles – Acts 10:9-16.
– 1 Cor.8:8-9, 13; 10:25, 31-33; Rom.14:2-3, 20-23; 1 Tim.4:1-5.
5. Herbs in the new heaven and new earth.
– physical but not sexual – Matt.22:30. For food, see Rev.19:9.