Tracing the Clean and Unclean Meats issue through the times of Adam, Noah, Moses and Paul reveals the facts about kosher meats.

 

So what is the true story about clean and unclean meats?  We need to get the whole picture to see that Armstrongism is incorrect that new testament Christians are forbidden from eating "all moving things"  as given to Noah by Jehovah in the Nohide covenant. Here is the comment and my answer that may shed light on this touchy issue for many still in the Churches of God that came from the Worldwide Church of God founded by Herbert W. Armstrong. 

 

 

 

Anonymous October 26, 2013 at 7:43 AM

I agree with most of your perceptions. However, I would like to raise a question about clean and unclean meats. If they were instituted as part of the old covenant why did God tell Noah to put seven pair of clean animals on the ark and one pair of unclean? It would seem to me that clean and unclean would be preexistant to the old covenant. I've never heard anyone explain this.

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Michael D. MaynardNovember 24, 2013 at 9:15 PM
Hi Anon,

Thanks for visiting my blog. To answer your specific question about clean and unclean meats being existent prior to the old covenant, we see the beginning of this in Genesis. When Able choose an animal from his flock (a goat or sheep) to sacrifice to God. God found it pleasing. But the produce from the ground Cain offered was not accepted. Why? We must conclude God was a carnivore and had designated clean animals for Himself. We know man was given the fruit of the trees for his food. Man did not eat meat at that time, only God did. Later in Genesis 9 we see that Noah took some of all the clean animals from the Ark and sacrificed them on the altar he had built and it pleased God. Lamech, Noah's father, had prophesied that the curse of the ground would be lifted by Noah, and it was here. ( Gen 5:28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29 He named him Noah[c] and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed:) All mankind was cursed to eat the green herb of the ground, just like the animals, from among the thorns and thistles after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. After Noah's sacrifice at the end of the flood the Nohide covenant God made was not just about rainbows and a promise of no more floods. It was a promise that ALL that crept or moved was made good for mans food as the green herb was. The curse was lifted. Now not only the clean animals that God reserved for His food was made available to mankind but ALL creatures were, including those that were considered unclean and came two by two onto the ark. (Gen. 9:3)

Only the Israelites who were part of the covenant God made with Israel were bound to the clean animal laws. God made them eat the same meats He enjoyed and demanded for His sacrifices. They were referred to as a priestly nation. All other peoples were under only the Nohide covenant. Even the Jews recognize this today and teach that those who abide by the Nohide Laws will be in Paradise with the Jews. In the final analysis Jesus was the culmination of the old covenant, He said in Matthew 11:13 that, "All the law and prophets prophesied until John," John the baptist, who introduced Jesus, our savior, who was the end of the law. The gentiles were never bound to keep these kosher laws. Acts 15 & 21 Paul, Barnabas, James and Peter taught the same things pertaining to the Gentiles. They were not bound by the Kosher laws under the new covenant.