Did Jesus declare all foods clean?

Last updated on: July 13, 2016 at 9:15 am by Gerald McDermott

Did Jesus declare all foods clean? 2016-07-13T09:15:56-04:00 Gerald McDermott

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

That’s what Mark 7.19b says in most translations: “Thus he declared all foods clean” (ESV & NASB). The New Living Translation renders it as follows: “By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.”

Just before this Jesus had asked, “Don’t you know that everything from the outside which goes into a man is not able to make him unclean? Because it does not go into his heart but into his stomach. Then it goes out of him into the sewer.” (my trans. from the Greek)

This has enormous implications for our understanding of Jesus. Most interpreters have said that Jesus was saying here that he dispensed with the laws of kashrut or kosher. Which means he said the Law of Moses was no longer binding. Which means he was departing from the Judaism of his day. Which means that he was starting a new religion, essentially different from first-century Judaism.

This has been the majority view of most interpreters from the mid-second century to the present. It has started to break down only since the Holocaust, and only in part.

Today I am starting a series that will look carefully at this whole passage in Mark 7, because it has been the linchpin for mountains of books and thousands of sermons over the millennia that claim Jesus rejected the law of Moses, and therefore was starting all over with a new religion that broke from Judaism.

I will argue that Jesus was NOT dispensing with kosher here, he was NOT signalling a break from first-century Judaism or the Law of Moses, and he was NOT starting a new religion that was fundamentally different from Judaism.

Let’s start with a few hermeneutical observations. Hermeneutics means interpretation, so in the next few days we will look more broadly at other parts of the NT and OT that will help us interpret this passage in Mark 7. More specifically, we will see that other parts of the NT pose problems for the traditional interpretation. Let me pose a few of these problems, and the first one today.

Jesus says in Matthew 5 that he would never depart from the least stroke of Moses’ pen in Moses’ law (Torah): Don’t think that I have come to abolish the law (of Moses) or the prophets. I have not come to abolish but to fulfill (the Greek word here renders a Hebrew word that means to “properly interpret”) which is probably what Paul meant by the law of Christ (1 Cor 9.21)–the law of Moses put into its messianic light by the messiah (Christ), thus Christ properly interpreting the law. Truly I say to you, until the heaven and the earth pass away, not one iota (the smallest letter in Greek) or one horn (the smallest stroke of the pen in Hebrew) will pass away from the (Mosaic) Law until all things (in it) take place. Whoever looses one of the least of these commandments and teaches men to do the same, he will be called least in the kingdom of the heavens. But whoever practices and teaches (the commandments of the Law), he will be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.
It was fundamental for all Jews in Jesus’ day that the laws of kosher in Lev 11 and Dt 14 were commands from God for Jews (not for Gentiles). The clear implication of Jesus’ words in Matt 5 is that even these kosher commandments are from God, and are not to be broken. They might be among the least of the commandments, but they are to be practiced and taught nonetheless.
If Jesus meant in Mk 7.19b that he was dispensing with the kosher commandments in Moses’ law, then he was contradicting what he had said in Matt. 5.
This is a hermeneutical problem.
1. If Scripture is inspired and Jesus always told the truth, then either my interpretation of Matt 5 is wrong, or the traditional interpretation of Mk 7.19b is flawed.
2. Most scholars agree with my interpretation of Matt 5. Some think Jesus didn’t say these words and the early church made them up, but they agree that this is the meaning of the words in Matt 5.
3. I trust that you can see that this suggests that, at the very least, the traditional interpretation of Mark 7.19b might need further scrutiny.
4. We will continue this tomorrow.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 11, 2016

Real same-sex-attracted men who chose to remain . . .

Next Post

July 13, 2016 By the usual reading, the early church ignored Jesus' supposed abandonment of Mosaic law

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2023 November 2022 October 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 November 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 August 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz