Bible (Archive 3)

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Subject: can I eat shellfish?

Bible Note: The Acts 15 council did not mention stealing, murder, loving your neighbor and a hundred other things.

Peter did not eat any of the animals after the vision, and in fact stood there and pondered, "What could the vision mean?" Because eating unclean animals wasn't a viable answer...after all, the law is quite clear on that...so what was the answer to the vision?

The answer arrives at the door at that moment. Gentiles wanted him to come to the home of a God fearing Gentile and eat with him. Jews did not do this, and they did not do it for Kosher reasons. The law did not say they couldn't eat with a Gentile, but the legalists had so ingrained this in their minds that it took a vision to convince Peter who walked with Jesus for 3 plus years that it was okay.

There is a lot of history here that I don't have time to go into that pertains to this passage, but you might look into it yourself. It is quite fascinating.

There are a number of thoughts on the food laws that people have:
1) Some say that the food laws are void and Jews or Gentiles can eat whatever. Matt 5 seems to disagree since it would change the law which is impossible.
2) Some say that Gentiles can eat anything because Noah was told this, but Israelites and any who convert to become an Israelite must follow the food laws still today.
3) Some say the same as two, but that the laws of Hospitality are greater than the laws of Unclean foods, so a Jew can eat unclean (or food not known to be cooked correctly) in order to not offend a host.
4) Others say that both Jews and Gentiles believers ought to follow the food laws and any other law that we can follow. With no temple most Mosaic laws are not possible for anyone to follow and without the court of elders (Sanhedrin in the first century), many more are not possible to follow.

Books have been written on each side.

I am not arguing one position over another in this post, but I don't like to see people use these passages to make point that the writer didn't originally intend.

"The text can never mean what it never meant."

MJH

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Bible (Archive 3)

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