THE LAWS OF CLEAN AND UNCLEAN
Some within the Christian community teach that we should obey the dietary laws established under the Old Covenant. Under that covenant,
Menstruation caused uncleanness for seven days, and whoever touched the woman's bed was unclean until evening. If a man slept with his wife during menstruation, he would also be unclean for seven days, and any bed he laid on would also be unclean (Leviticus 15).
Normal sexual intercourse rendered both husband and wife unclean (Leviticus 15:18). Childbirth made women unclean. For a boy baby, the mother was unclean for a week, and cleansed or purified 33 days later. For a girl baby, the mother was unclean for two weeks, and purified 66 days later. In both cases, her purification ceremony involved a burnt offering and a sin offering (Leviticus 12:1-8).
If a person touched a corpse, he would be unclean for seven days and be unable to participate in religious activities such as the Passover (Numbers 5 & 9). If a person died in a tent, all who were in the tent would be unclean for a week (Numbers 19:14).
If an unclean man touched anyone or spit on anyone, that person would be unclean until evening (Leviticus 15:7-8). If the unclean man touched a pot, the pot had to be broken (Leviticus 15:12). If a person touched an unclean bed, he would be unclean until evening (Leviticus 15:4-10). Even if a person accidentally touched anything that would make him unclean, he was "guilty." He had to confess his "sin" and make a sin offering (Leviticus 5:3-6).
Various skin diseases could cause a person to be considered unclean. If a sore was more than skin deep and the hair turned white, the person was unclean (Leviticus 13). If the skin problem spread, the priest pronounced the person unclean. Such persons had to live outside the camp and warn people that they were unclean.
When a person could be declared clean, the priest killed a bird, dipped another bird in the blood, sprinkled the person and released the live bird (Leviticus 14). The person then had to shave and wash twice before he was fully clean. Then he had to offer a guilt offering and a sin offering, and the priest was to anoint him on the right earlobe, the right thumb and the right big toe.
People who were unclean because of a dead person could be cleansed by the water of cleansing, which was made with the ashes of a specially sacrificed red heifer. Although the ashes could be used to purify people from sin, people who made the ashes were unclean, and those who touched the water were unclean until evening. Those who failed to be cleansed in this way were to be expelled (Numbers 19). The ashes had to be paced in a clean place outside the camp.
The laws of clean and unclean appear unusual, and the purification ceremonies even more unusual. Why would a red heifer be more effective than a black one? Why dump sacrificial ashes in a clean place rather than an unclean one?
Why was sexual intercourse defiling? Why were sin offerings required for circumstances beyond a person's control? Why were pots broken rather simply washed? Why did the water of cleansing make some people clean and others unclean? Why anoint the right big toe instead of the left little toe?
The system of clean and unclean given to
CLEAN AND UNCLEAN MEATS:
We see distinctions between clean and unclean animals being made before the Mosaic covenant. Noah was told to take more of the clean animals than the non-clean animals into the ark. After the flood, we are told in Genesis 8:20, “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds; he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.” Then we find in Genesis 9:1-3:
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
For Noah, the distinction between clean and unclean animals appears to relate to sacrifices, not food. Nothing is recorded as to God telling Noah that the animal distinctions He gave him had to do with eating. The Jewish Encyclopedia, under the heading "Clean and Unclean Animals," vol. 4, p. 110), says: "It seems that in the mind of this writer (The writer of Genesis) the distinction between clean and unclean animals was intended for sacrifices only: for in the following chapter he makes God say: `Everything that moves shall be food for you.'”
So why do we later find God disallowing the eating of certain animals which are classified as unclean. If the distinction between clean and unclean animals was for sacrifices only after the flood and possibly before the flood as well, why does God now make clean versus unclean a matter of what the Israelites could eat or not eat.
Leviticus 20; 24-26: But I said to you, "You will possess their land; 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 nations. "`You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground--those which I have set 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.
Deuteronomy 14:21: Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to an alien living in any of your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are a people holy to the LORD your God.
It is scriptures such as these that make it evident that distinctions as to what could be and not be eaten was part of the comprehensive system of ceremonial regulations that were designed to show separation of
Some teach that the Old Covenant foods laws are still binding upon Christians because they predated establishment of the Old Covenant and therefore would not have been abrogated by transition to the New Covenant. Those who teach this also point out that in the New Testament narrative we see evidence for the first century Jewish Christians observing the foods laws. In the vision given to Peter of the clean and unclean meats, as recorded in Acts 10, we find Peter recoiling at the very though of eating unclean animals. This vision occurred some ten years after the ascension of Christ. A careful reading of the New Testament narrative shows the entire Jewish Christian community continued to keep the Mosaic regulations in full or in part after the Christ event. This included the dietary laws. They had kept these regulations all their lives and even though they had come to recognize and accept Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah, they continued to observe the Mosaic regulations. Being weaned from obeying these regulations was a slow and arduous learning process that took many years to accomplish.
During His ministry, Jesus had introduced a variety of concepts that were seen as down right revolutionary to Jewish thought and custom. We see Jesus dealing with the issue of clean and unclean during His ministry in the following manner:
Mark 7:1-2: The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with `unclean' hands?"
Verse 14-20: "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him `unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him `unclean.' "After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him `unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
Now there has been a lot of controversy about the end of this verse in that English translations differ depending on what Greek manuscripts were used in the translation process. For example, translators of the KJV and NKJV used Greek texts that, because of their grammatical construction, led the translators to the following translation of these verses:
Mark 7:19: Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? (KJV)..
Mark 7:19: Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, Because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?'' (NKJ).
The Greek grammatical construction in manuscripts used to produce the KJV and NKJV requires Christ making the statement, “purging all meats” or “purifying all foods.” Other Greek manuscripts show a grammatical construction that requires Mark as the one that says these words, such as in the NIV. In those cases the translators put these words in brackets to indicate it is Mark commenting on what Christ was saying about this issue.
Those who teach that the Old Covenant food laws are still operative instruct that Christ was not talking about food but about dirt from eating with unwashed hands. It’s believed He was saying this dirt is purged from the stomach through the bowel. It’s maintained that Christ wasn’t talking about the food laws but simply addressing the issue the religious leaders of His day had brought up about eating with unwashed hands. It’s maintained that Christ was addressing rules the Jews had added and was not addressing God’s food laws at all.
What is unnoticed in this approach, however, is that whether it is Christ or whether it is Mark making these statements about what enters the stomach and leaves the body; it is food and not dirt that is being addressed.
Mark 7:19: Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? (KJV).
The scripture doesn’t say purging all dirt. It says purging all meats. It is food that is being addressed. Christ was not talking about dirt. The Greek here for meats is broma. This word appears seventeen times in the NT and over and over again can be seen by context to refer to food. Christ may have been responding to the Pharisees obsession about eating with clean hands but He now is talking about food.
Since Christ or Mark speaks of food being purged or eliminated, it must be food that enters the body if it is food that is being eliminated. Christ is saying that food or any
other physical thing entering the body does not defile it. We see Jesus Christ expanding his response to the Pharisees by including food in the overall context of things entering your body. He then goes on to explain to His disciples that it is not a matter of what goes into a man but what comes out of the heart of a man that makes a man unclean.
Mark 7:18-23: "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him `unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him `unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean'" (NIV).
The entire focus is on the spiritual, not the physical. Under the Old Covenant system, doing or not doing certain physical things could made a man clean or unclean. Christ was telling the religious leaders of His day and his disciples that this physical approach to righteousness was obsolete. Only one thing now mattered. That one thing was the condition of your heart. Notice that in His listing of what makes a man unclean there is no mention of such separatist regulations as the Sabbath, Holy Days, New Moon observances or any of the other separatist laws that were part of the physical approach found under the Old Covenant. Christ was showing that moral/ethical behavior was the determinant as to being clean versus unclean. The episode with Peter and Cornelius gives profound witness to this new approach.
THE CORNELIUS EVENT:
The Cornelius event is very instructive as to the question of what laws are applicable under the New Covenant and what laws are not. In Acts 10 we have the account of the Gentile Cornelius, the Roman centurion who became a Christian. Cornelius was a Gentile Roman Centurion. He would have had charge of 100 soldiers. He would be on duty 24/7. He would be responsible for maintaining peace and enforcing the laws of the
Acts 10:1-2: At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.
Despite this family being devout and God fearing they would be considered unclean by Old Covenant standards. After all they weren’t circumcised. They weren’t keeping the Mosaic covenant. On his own, Peter would never have associated with this family. God had to show Peter through the vision of clean and unclean meats that this gentile was not to be considered unclean.
In the vision Peter is told to eat unclean animals. That Peter was keeping the food laws some ten years after the ascension of Christ is clear from his reaction to the vision. When God told him to eat of the unclean animals Peter said:
Surely not, Lord!" "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
The purpose of the vision was to show Peter that he is not to consider any man common or unclean. Peter is seen as clearly understanding this when while at the house of Cornelius he said, “God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.” This statement by Peter clearly shows that Israelites (And Peter certainly was one) looked upon Gentiles as being unclean. They looked upon them in this way because they did not conduct their live in harmony with the Old Covenant system. Cornelius was considered unclean by Peter. It was only because of the vision that Peter was made to understand that Gentiles were not unclean even though they did not observe Old Covenant regulations. We then see God confirming what He had shown Peter in the vision by giving the Holy Spirit to these uncircumcised Gentiles.
Acts 10: 34-35: Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him (KJV). Verse 44-45; “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.”
Why were the circumcised believers astonished that God had accepted this Gentile and his family? They were astonished because they knew these Gentiles were uncircumcised and therefore unclean. These Gentiles were not converts to Judaism. They knew this Gentile family didn’t keep the Mosaic regulations. They knew this Roman centurion did not keep the Sabbath, Holy Days, dietary laws, do sacrifices or perform any of the other regulations that they believed made only Israel eligible to have a relationship with God. Yet here they see God confirming that these uncircumcised Gentiles were being accepted by God. This constituted a direct attack on their ingrained paradigm that only Israelites had access to God facilitated by the many regulations of the Old Covenant.
After his conversion to Christianity, was Cornelius required to be circumcised, start keeping the Sabbath, Holy Days, New Moons, dietary restrictions, and the host of other Mosaic regulations in order to maintain his new found relationship with God? No he was not. At the
Acts 15:8-11: God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
Acts 15:19-20: "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.
James clearly points out that God was no longer making distinctions between Jews and Gentiles. What were those distinctions? Those distinctions were the separatist laws of the Old Covenant system such as Sabbath keeping, Holy Day observance, dietary laws, and circumcision which was the foundation of these separatist regulations. James only admonition was that the Gentiles abstain from several things that first century history shows to be connected with pagan religious practices and particularly offensive to Israelites. The prohibition against eating foods offered to idols was later lifted by Apostle Paul (See 1 Corinthians 8 and 10).
As is plainly seen from reading through the letters of Paul, the statement about not making it difficult for the Gentiles included not having to be circumcised, not having to keep the Sabbath, Holy Days, New moons, foods laws and other Mosaic regulations.
Colossians 2:16-17: Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
There no longer was a need for the shadow. The reality had come in the person of Jesus Christ. Uncircumcised Gentiles, who did not keep the food laws, Sabbaths, or any other Mosaic separatist regulations, were no longer to be looked upon as unclean. If these physically uncircumcised Gentiles were no longer to be viewed as unclean, then it should be obvious that the keeping of the Mosaic separatist regulations was no longer necessary to be clean, that is, to have a relationship with God. So why did God implement these regulations in the first place?
Galatians 3:19: What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.
The Mosaic system was added because of the transgression of preexisting law. This pre-existing law was the moral law extant from creation. Some of this law included worship regulations as we see the Patriarchs offering sacrifices to God. These worship regulations included distinctions as to what animals could and could not be used for sacrifices as we see with Noah after the flood. But now that the promised seed had come, the Mosaic worship system was no longer necessary. It was no longer a matter of doing physical things to be clean. Circumcision of the flesh was no longer the focus. What now became necessary to be clean was circumcision of the heart.
Romans 2:29: No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.
Remember what Christ said: "What comes out of a man is what makes him `unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean.'"
Romans 14:17: For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Under the New Covenant, the whole matter of being clean relates to the condition of our heart. As can be seen in what Jesus said, the condition of our heart relates to ethical/moral behavior. Our acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and accepting Jesus as Lord of our life is where it all begins. Being clean no longer has anything to do with physical rituals. We are clean before God because of what Christ did on the cross, not because we avoid eating a ham sandwich. Accepting Christ as Lord of our life means we will endeavor to please Him by implementing the law of love which is a spiritual law of righteous behavior toward our fellow man. This is the law which facilitates spiritual cleanness. The New Covenant is all about spiritual cleanness. Spiritual cleanness is all about living the law of love.