… and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
Summary: Paul’s instruction about food provides a jumping-off place for understanding the frictions between Jew and Gentile and a warning against falling under false “religious laws.”
When I was about five years old, my parents moved to a small mill town on the Willamette River. Our house overlooked the river, and the street we lived on was named “River Street.” Most of the property around our house was undeveloped woods, but nearby was another house owned by the town dentist. He had two children about the same age as my brothers and me.
Because there were no other kids on our end of the street, we played together often, and occasionally I would spend the night at my friend’s house. This meant I would eat dinner there, and I also had to submit to their “house rules.”
Two memories come back immediately when I think of this part of my personal history. One was sitting at the dinner table staring at the stewed spinach I was supposed to eat (Yecch!), and the other was having to brush my teeth using a timer (Keep brushing for two full minutes!).
At the time, I didn’t think stewed spinach was “good,” and I certainly didn’t receive it with thanksgiving. So what does all this have to do with our meditation?
There are reasons to reject certain foods other than personal taste. One example that comes to mind is bacon.
Bacon, as everyone knows, comes from pigs, and pigs, because they do not ‘chew the cud,’ are forbidden for Jews to eat (Leviticus 11:7-8). (This is just one example of many food laws that the Jews lived under.)
Jesus, as you know, was a Jew.
Do you see the problem?
If Jesus were a Jew, then people who believe in Jesus should follow the Jewish laws about food. Right?
RIGHT?
What a lot of people missed were Jesus’ teachings about food (Mark 7:18-20) and the fact that the coming of the Messiah did not extend the Mosaic Covenant, but in reality ended it.*
This is one of the things that the Jews “stumbled” over: When the Mosaic Covenant was fulfilled, so were the food laws (Mark 7:18-20, Acts 10:9-23). This is not the same as God’s Moral Law (Exodus 20:1-17). They are two different things.
The world between Jewish tradition and Gentile freedom is a challenging one for believers. God does not forbid Jewish Christians from following the Mosaic food laws. At the same time, God does not require Christians to obey these same food laws.
What are we to do?
Paul gives us the answer. We are to receive food with thanksgiving because when we give thanks to God, the food is “consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
Application: Do not let someone put you under a religious law that does not come from God.
“Food” for Thought: How much of what Christians argue about today might fall under this category of “religious laws?”
*See the following: Mark 2:21-22, Luke 22:20, Matthew 5:17-18, Romans 10:4, Hebrews 8:13.
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