And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.”
Luke 11:39-40
…7Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd, selected a tender and choice calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8Then Abraham brought curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and he set them before the men and stood by them under the tree as they ate.
In the pages of the Old Testament, we see God declare pork (and several other foods) as unclean. Any person that ate these foods would be labeled “unclean” meaning that he/she would be unfit for worship. But when we fast forward to the New Testament, we see God declare pork clean. Why?
Can Christians eat meat? Yes. Christians can eat meat because the Lord says all meat is clean and consuming it will not be a sin.
Can Christians eat pork and bacon? Yes. The reason why Christians can eat pork and bacon is that God declared all meat clean in the book of Mark.
Because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)
Mark 7:19
The Bible’s stance on eating meat may surprise you
Q: I have an ongoing problem because I’m living as a hypocrite. I’m an animal lover but I eat meat. I don’t eat veal or lamb because they are from young animals, but I eat meat, fish, fowl and eggs. Is there anything in the Bible that refers to this or to Christ’s personal practice? Did Jesus eat meat? I’m aware that I’m looking for absolution for eating meat, but I can’t get rid of this conflict in my mind. As I say, it is hypocritical. I would never hunt or fish, but I eat what someone else kills to put meat on my table. Is killing and eating animals a sin in the eyes of God or Jesus? What would Jesus have said? — From L
Marc Gellman
P.S. I contribute to many animal groups, especially to help farm animals and to ban dog racing, etc., but it doesn’t erase the guilt.
A: In Genesis 1:29 God speaks to Adam,
“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb-bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.”
In the second chapter of Genesis (2:16-17) vegetarianism is re-affirmed as people’s spiritually proper diet. However, one tree in the Garden of Eden bore forbidden fruit,
“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Nothing could be clearer. God does not want us to eat meat. People are made in God’s image and animals are not, but this spiritual difference is not sufficiently morally significant to allow killing animals for food. Killing another person is a capital crime and a sin. Killing an animal is just a sin.
The moral and spiritual ambiguity about eating meat is made more explicit in the ninth chapter of Genesis (Genesis 9:3-6) when God tells Noah in the covenant made with him after the Great Flood,
“Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”
So God has a change of heart and strikes what I consider to be a perfect spiritual balance. God is saying that being a vegetarian is clearly the higher way, but it is not the only way. Meat is not murder, but it is not the highest moral level to which we can elevate our diet. Eating meat also makes us comfortable around blood, and blood is life. Spilling the blood of animals makes us less revolted by spilling the blood of people.
This nuanced position that eating meat is a concession to human carnivorous urges but not our highest level helps us to learn that the Bible offers us many levels of spiritual practice. We can live a life on as high a level as we want.
The question of whether or not Jesus was a vegetarian is complicated. There is no direct statement on the subject by Jesus in the New Testament. The story of Jesus feeding fish to people would support the view that Jesus may have been a pescatarian. Paul seems to have been more open to meat eating, but even Paul was open to vegetarianism. In 1 Corinthians 8:13 Paul said, “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.” So for Paul vegetarianism was a way of not offending vegetarian hosts, but was not an explicit command of God.
Did Jesus eat meat?
Yes, Jesus ate meat. Several passages lead to this clear conclusion.
Genesis 9:3 is the first mention of eating meat. After the Flood, God told Noah, “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”
Throughout the Old Testament, meat eating was the norm, from the Passover lamb (Exodus 12) to the quail that God provided in the wilderness (Exodus 16) to the portions of the animal sacrifices that the priests and Levites ate (Deuteronomy 18). Daniel and his three friends refused to eat the king’s food in Babylon, choosing only vegetables (Daniel 1), but this was probably because there was no guarantee that the meat would have been considered clean according to the Mosaic law. Vegetarianism was not the issue.
Jesus says nothing that would change or challenge the dominant meat-eating practices of the Old Testament. In Luke 24:41–43, Jesus ate fish. Jesus also served fish to His followers (Matthew 14), and He caused the fishermen’s nets to be filled on two different occasions (Luke 5 and John 21). The purpose of catching the fish was to sell them so they could be eaten. Jesus also cooked fish for His disciples (John 21:9).
The best biblical evidence that Jesus ate meat is that He observed the annual Feast of Passover. The lamb sacrificed at Passover time was roasted and eaten as part of the requirements of the law (Exodus 12:8). Jesus took part in the feast every year as a child (Luke 2:41), and as an adult He continued the observance of the law. The Lord attended Passover in John 2:13, John 5:1, and Matthew 26:17–30. Jesus would have been in disobedience of the Law if He had not eaten the Passover meal—a meal that included meat.
Mark tells us that Jesus declared all foods to be clean (Mark 7:19). The distinction between clean and unclean foods was among animals, not plants. Declaring all foods to be clean meant that more animals were being allowed. We also have some direct teaching from Paul the apostle. Romans 14:2–3 says, “One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.” Later, we have this statement: “As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself” (verse 14).
In the last couple of decades, some animal rights enthusiasts have claimed that Jesus was a vegetarian. Some groups have tried to apply Jesus’ teaching about kindness and compassion to animals. Some reason that modern methods of raising and slaughtering animals are inherently cruel, and, therefore, eating meat should be avoided. The humane treatment of animals, however, is a different issue. The answer to the question, “Did Jesus eat meat?” is a clear “yes.”
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