29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
After the flood, Noah was allowed to eat meat, Genesis 9:
3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
But there was a catch:
4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
Don't eat blood.
For the Israelites, there was a refinement between clean and unclean Food, Leviticus 11:
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2“Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: 3You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.
Targeting the Gentiles, the Lord told Peter in Acts 10:
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
James arrived at a compromise between the influences of Jews and Gentiles, Acts 15:
19 “It is my judgment,
i.e., James'
therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 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 repeated this compromise between the Judaizers and Gentile Christians in Act 21:
17 When we [Paul and Luke] arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
Paul and James exchanged information on God's recent works with their ministries.
20 When they [James' people] heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.
These were Judaisers.
21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come,
How could we calm these Judaisers down?
23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.
Here came the compromise:
25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”
This was before NT scriptures were written. In the final analysis, for us today, Mark 7:
19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
Paul was emphatic, Romans 14:
14 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.
20a Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean
It is reiterated in 1 Timothy 4:
3 They [demons] will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods
In fact, demons will make dietary requirements.
that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected, 5 because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
In Hong Kong, people eat pig blood curd (豬紅), Is this a sin?