Keeping Kosher?

“The man who eats everything must not look down upon him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does.”  Romans 14:3 (NIV)

The verse above actually deals with those who ate “only vegetables,” most likely a self-inflicted restriction based on Daniel chapter one, where Daniel does not eat of the kings food but only eats vegetables.  Of course, our reading of Daniel, in a Jewish context, tells us that Daniel most likely did not eat of the king’s food because it wasn’t kosher.  Even the meat obtained from kosher animals was most likely not kosher, as these animals were not slaughtered in a way that would have been considered kosher.  So we need to keep in mind that when Paul is talking about the weak in faith, he is referring to people who only eat vegetables, not to those who keep kosher.  

However, the spirit of the verse above remains the same, meaning, let’s not judge one another by the food we eat or chose not to eat.  As a believer in Yeshua living in Israel, I have friends who keep strict kosher diets per the rabbinut with separate utensils for meat and dairy, and friends who will eat bacon cheeseburgers.  Each is living according to what God has or has not put on their heart.

As I wrote last week in my post Why David Loved the Law, the law is meant to show justice, mercy and faithfulness. It is meant to make us holy, separating us from the ways of the other nations and to help us seek the Lord. It is not meant to be a burden to us. If God calls you to separate yourself by keeping kosher, then keep kosher.  If he doesn’t call you to keep kosher, and you see no compelling argument to do so, then don’t. It is between you and God and we must not condemn one another for our decisions.  What follows here is purely for intellectual discussion.

I mentioned last week that Noah knew the difference between clean and unclean animals, even before the law was given to Moses. If there is no difference, why would God make a distinction? Is the distinction for eating or just for making sacrifices? Of course, you may be asking why we are having this discussion?  Didn’t Yeshua declare all foods to be clean in Mark 7?  And if not, surely Peters dream in Acts 10 shows us that we are to eat everything, right?  

First, let’s read Mark 7. I suggest you read the full story from verse 1 to verse 23 to make your own decision.  Here, I’m just going to quote verse 5 (NIV):  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?” This story is talking about the Pharisees tradition of ritually cleaning their hands, not about the food they were eating. However, if you’ve read the whole story as I suggested, we cannot dismiss what is written in verses 14 to 22, which I will summarize by quoting the NIV translation of verse 15: “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.’”

Much like the story of Hezekiah’s Passover festival last week, Yeshua puts an emphasis on a man’s heart above being ceremonially clean. God healed the participants at the feast whom didn’t make themselves ceremonially clean beforehand, but had set their hearts on seeking God.

In verse 19 (NIV), Mark adds in parentheses; “in saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean.’” According to the commentary in my NIV Study Bible, Yeshua has declared all food clean at this point in time (just as Mark wrote with those exact words), and references Peter’s dream in Acts 10:9-16, but there are some issues with this “declaration.” I am not a Greek scholar, but David H. Steran writes in his Jewish New Testament Commentary, the original Greek does not include the word “declare” but instead uses a dangling participial clause, reading literally, “cleansing all the foods” (David H. Stern. Jewish New Testament Commentary. Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1999.) which gives a little more leeway in how it could be interpreted. Some messianic believers argue, if we look at this in a Jewish context, pork and shellfish would not have been considered food, since the Torah prohibited them. Therefore, in this statement Yeshua is only removing the responsibility of having to clean their hands and their food as opposed to making non-kosher food kosher. Additionally, if Yeshua had indeed declared all foods to be clean while with the disciples, why would Peter need a dream to tell him that all foods were clean?  After all, Peter says in Acts10:14, “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” I think Yeshua might have said something to Peter in the three years of his ministry about burdening himself if Yeshua thought there was a problem.

Let’s take a look at Peter’s vision.  Again, I would suggest that you read the entire chapter of Acts 10 so that you know the full context.  For the sake of space, I am only including verses 11-20 that tell us Peter’s dream:

He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.  It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds.  Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate.  They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you.  So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

Although many people believe this to be a clear indication that we are to eat everything, we see in verse 17, Peter himself is not so clear about the meaning. Then three men come to the door, and the Spirit says to him, do not hesitate to go with them. Why would Peter hesitate to go with them?  Because they wanted to take Peter to Cornelius’ house, an unclean gentile, which was prohibited by Jewish custom. But Peter goes. Why? This is what Peter says to the Gentile crowd gathered at Cornelius’ house in Acts 10:28:

He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.”

We see that Peter has determined the meaning of his dream is that he should not call gentiles impure or unclean, because God has called those gentiles clean. So, if Peter interprets his dream this way, why do we interpret it to mean something else?

We can argue that our bodies are Temples, and just as many of us use this argument against smoking, we could apply the same argument to the health benefits of keeping kosher. However, this is exactly what the Pharisees were doing in Mark when they required the washing of hands before eating. They were cleansing their hands just as a priest would cleanse himself before making a sacrifice, and Yeshua spoke against this practice.

Don’t worry if you are unclear as to my position on whether or not we should keep kosher. To be honest, I don’t have all the answers, just more questions. I do not agree with those that say the New Covenant scriptures clearly indicate we are not to keep kosher anymore, for the reasons I noted above. I also do not agree with those that say we all must keep kosher, because of Mark 7:15 and a number of other similar verses.

There are some dietary laws that I believe the New Covenant is clear about. In Acts 15 the Jewish believers write a letter to the non-Jewish believers. Verse 29 (NIV) reads; “You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”

Abstain from food sacrificed to idols. Not very popular these days.

Avoid blood. That one is pretty clear.

Abstain from the meat of strangled animals. This refers to Exodus 22:31 (NIV); “You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.”  Basically, only eat an animal that was killed for the purpose of eating it.

Other than that, you have to make the decision for yourself. Just make sure in deciding for yourself, you do not let your decision cause you to break the most important commands. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV)

Paul's perspective on the law

“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.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

- Matthew 5:17-20

Reading the scriptures can be confusing at times.  In the above verse, Yeshua himself says that he has not come to abolish the law and that those “who break one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be the least in the kingdom of heaven.” But we all know from reading the letters Paul wrote that we are saved by grace and therefore we are not under the law.  We can read this in several ways, and I am not here to debate the scriptures, but to give a different perspective.

Judith and I went to a party, not long before we got married, where we met a young Jewish girl who was having a hard time understanding exactly what Messianic Judaism was.  We tried to explain, that since Jesus was Jewish, it only made sense that we live a Jewish lifestyle.  To which she replied, “If you want to believe that Jesus was Jewish, that’s your problem.”  Judith and I were both speechless, but unfortunately, there are actually people out there that don’t know Yeshua was Jewish.  Perhaps this is because Christianity seems so different from Judaism.  Yet, early Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism, so how did the two religions become so different?

Many people read the book of Acts as a history of the early church.  The first non-Jewish believer, Cornelius, doesn’t enter the book until chapter 10, and the Jews weren’t exactly sure what to do with him.  After hearing Peter’s story of how these uncircumcised Gentiles were baptized in the Holy Spirit, the other Apostles and brothers from Judea praise God saying (Acts 11:18), “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

As more Gentiles came to faith, some brothers from Judea were teaching (Acts 15:1), “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”  In verse 5, we see this idea repeated from “some of the brothers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees,” who added that the Gentiles should also be required to obey the law of Moses. The decision was made that they should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God, and not to burden them with anything more than abstaining from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.

We read throughout the rest of the New Covenant how Paul took the Gospel message “first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” preaching first in the synagogues and then to others, in many of the provinces of the Roman Empire in the area of the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas.  It is believed that during Paul’s life, which ended a few years before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (Paul is believed to have been martyred around 67 AD while the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD) Christianity was still considered a sect of Judaism, although, as we read in Acts, many Jewish leaders strongly opposed this movement.  Some historians believe there was a power struggle between Pharisaic/Rabbinic Judaism and the followers of Yeshua which eventually lead to the formation of these two separate religions [source needed].

After the destruction of the Temple, and the end of the Jewish revolt, the Roman Emperor Vespasian placed a tax on Jews throughout Roman Empire in place of the “tithe” Jews used to pay for the upkeep of the Temple [source needed].  Domitian expanded the tax during his rule to also include anyone who observed Jewish customs [source needed].  Naturally, Christians petitioned the Emperor to recognize Christianity as a separate religion so they would not have to pay the tax [source needed].  Nerva, Domitian’s successor, limited the tax to those who openly practiced Judaism, allowing Christians to avoid the tax by disassociating themselves from Judaism [source needed].

In 303 AD Christians were again persecuted in the Roman Empire under the Emperor Diocletian [source needed]. Christians pushed themselves further from Judaism at the Synod of Elvira in 306 AD when they banned marriages, sexual relations and community contact between Christians and Jews [source needed].  In 313 AD Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan officially recognizing Christianity as a separate religion.  Finally at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, the complete separation was made official when the church declared; “we desire dearest brethren, to separate ourselves from the detestable company of the Jews.” 

Part 2

While Judith and I were dating, we attended a college and career group.  The teaching one night, perhaps for our benefit, was on the question of differentiating between the “law” and “sin.” A leader of the group explained the law could be separated into different categories; moral law (as in the ten commandments), ceremonial law (as in the sacrifices) and civil law (as in an eye for an eye).  He argued that Yeshua and others who uphold obedience to the law were referring to moral law, while Paul, in arguing against the law, was referring to the ceremonial and perhaps the civil law. Perhaps, but that really ignores who Paul was.

Who was Paul?  In Acts 22: 3, Paul says; “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city.  Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.”  Paul was a Pharisee.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, Judges, Pharisees and Rabbinut, during the first century, there were two types of law in Israel, the written Law, or the Mosaic Law, and the Oral Law, which would become the Rabbinic Law.  The Pharisees believed that their interpretation of the Mosaic Law, through the Oral Law which had been handed down to them, was to be held in higher regard than the scriptures themselves, for without the rabbinic interpretation, the meaning of the scriptures is unclear.  As Christians have separated themselves from Judaism over the centuries, they also separated themselves from the rabbinic law as we are told from the scriptures not to be under the law, which coming from a Pharisee would mean, not to be under the law of the Pharisees.

Take a look at what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:19-21: “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.”  Here, Paul specifies that he is outside of the law, “not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ."

Popular thinking is that Paul is referring to Jews when he refers to “those under the law.”  But if you read this as a Pharisee living in the first century (as Paul was), you read those under the law as those who live according to the interpretations of the Pharisees.  Remember, the Pharisees were not the only religious leaders at the time, there were also the Sadducees who believed the Law of Moses should be read literally, and does not need the interpretation of the oral law.

It is written in Matthew that Yeshua says “not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”  There are no pen strokes in the oral law, a point which surely wasn’t lost on the Jews listening to Yeshua.

Christians seem to like to call everything that is “Jewish” living “under the law.”  If you keep any type of kosher, keep Shabbat or celebrate Jewish holy days then you are living under the law.  Although Christians can back up decisions not to keep the above commands with other scripture, I would argue that we cannot just throw away everything Jewish by saying it is living under the law.  I would argue that we are taught not to be under the oral law and the rabbinic interpretation.  That when we read the scriptures, keeping kosher, keeping the Shabbat and celebrating the biblical feasts look very different from what Orthodox Judaism makes these commands look like.  Am I telling you that you need to start keeping kosher, keeping the Shabbat and the biblical feasts? Certainly not as the Orthodox Jews do today.  I would like to see what the scriptures say (Old and New Covenant) about these ideas, but we’ll deal with those scriptures another week.

A New Begining

A short while ago I began writing a book.  For years I have thought about writing a book on what it means to be “Messianic.” Of course, there are books already out there.  There’s Daniel Juster’s Jewish Roots[1], David Stern’s Messianic Jewish Manifesto[2] and Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospel[3], but all of these titles were written by Jews, about Messianic Jews.  As David Stern points out in his Messianic Jewish Manifesto, since I wasn’t born to a Jewish mother, nor have I ever converted to Judaism through the Jewish Rabbis, I’m not Jewish.  

So, what am I?  And what are the thousands of other non-Jewish believers who attend Messianic congregations throughout the world.  If we cannot call ourselves “Messianic Jews,” do we call ourselves “Messianic Believers,” even though our fellow congregants call themselves “Messianic Jews,” or are we still just simply Christians?  And even if we are only Christians, aren't our religious roots still in Judaism?  Why don't we still celebrate the Jewish holidays?  Why does Christianity look so different from Judaism? 

I started writing my ideas down in book form.  I wrote chapters on who I am, where the Rabbis came from, thoughts on keeping kosher, the Shabbat, the Jewish Holidays, traditions and how all of these things relate to one another.  You may be asking, "what happened to the book?"  Unfortunately, as I began writing, I got more thoughts and learned more information and had new insights into the subjects I was writing about.  I had to go back and rewrite entire chapters as I found information contradicting my original assumptions, or found a source that I had used to be inaccurate.  The information seemed to take on a life of it's own and became overwhelming.  

With this blog I am attempting to cut the information I've learned into small manageable chucks, which I will post each week.  It is my hope that as the weeks, months and even years pass, I will be able to reorganize all these chunks of information back in to book form, supported by reliable and accurate sources.  Until then, I'd love to hear your comments each week, your opinions and find out if what I have rings true to you or just sounds like a bunch of rubbish.  As we discuss each topic, I'd also love to hear what you have to say from your personal experiences, what you have found out in your own research and I'd love to know what sources of information you use to support your ideas.

Until next week, Shabbat Shalom and Shavuah Tov!

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[1]Daniel Juster, Jewish Roots (Pacific Palisades, California: Davar Publishing Co., 1986)

[2] David H. Stern, Messianic Jewish Manifesto (Baltimore, Jewish New Testament Pulications, 1988)

[3] David H. Stern, Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospel (Baltimore, Jewish New Testament Pulications, 1988)