The LORD spoke again to Moses and Aaron, telling them,
“Say to the Israelites, ‘Of all the beasts of the earth, these ones you may eat:
You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud.
But of those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, you are not to eat the following: The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.
The rock badger, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.
. . .
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions.
For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.
The one who eats everything must not belittle the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted him.
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
. . .
You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,
for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
You must not eat any detestable thing.
These are the animals that you may eat: The ox, the sheep, the goat,
the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
. . .
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment.
He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly.
One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God.
Now send men to Joppa to call for a man named Simon who is called Peter.
. . .
“Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him,
because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into the stomach and then is eliminated.” (Thus all foods are clean.)
I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.
Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus,
and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.
Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially.
And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions for them to observe, including the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and couches for dining.
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.”
. . .
When they heard this, their objections were put to rest, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
But the one who loves God is known by God.
So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords),
. . .
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.
They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
. . .
for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.
For by fire and by His sword, the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh, and many will be slain by the LORD.
“Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves—to follow one in the center of those who eat the flesh of swine and vermin and rats—will perish together,” declares the LORD.
For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
For I am the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt so that I would be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
For I am the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt so that I would be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
This is the law regarding animals, birds, all living creatures that move in the water, and all creatures that crawl along the ground.
You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.’”
You are therefore to distinguish between clean and unclean animals and birds. Do not become contaminated by any animal or bird, or by anything that crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.
And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.
Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.
They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.
I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,
You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
You are to take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate; a pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate;
and seven pairs of every kind of bird of the air, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of all the earth.
For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”
And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
. . .
“Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves—to follow one in the center of those who eat the flesh of swine and vermin and rats—will perish together,” declares the LORD.
all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place where the ashes are poured out, and there he must burn it on a wood fire on the ash heap.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
And the dragon was enraged at the woman, and went to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block.
It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.
Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,
for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience.
Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,
for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience.
But if someone tells you, “This food was offered to idols,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience—
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.
As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.
But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,
for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.
These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.
If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:
“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?
These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.
“Say to the Israelites, ‘Of all the beasts of the earth, these ones you may eat:
You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud.
But of those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, you are not to eat the following: The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.
The rock badger, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.
The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.
. . .
You are therefore to keep all My statutes and ordinances, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.
You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
But I have told you that you will inherit their land, since I will give it to you as an inheritance—a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the peoples.
You are therefore to distinguish between clean and unclean animals and birds. Do not become contaminated by any animal or bird, or by anything that crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.
You are to be holy to Me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.
‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”
down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,
If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.