Christians are perfectly free to adhere to the dietary laws, be they Jewish or Gentile believers, but believers today, be they Jewish or Gentile, are not required to keep the dietary laws, and it is wrong for anyone to try to bring God’s people into a sense of bondage to the dietary laws.
Some Christians choose to adhere to the dietary laws for health purposes, believing that hygiene was a major reason for the dietary laws in the first place. This is certainly a commendable practice, but there is some dispute as to whether health concerns were the primary divine motivation behind the dietary laws (see #12). Some Messianic Jews choose to adhere to the dietary laws in covenantal solidarity with the Jewish people, which is also commendable, as long as they do not force their convictions on others (see #48, #49 and #51).
It is also important for all those who choose to follow the dietary laws to remember a number of important New Testament principles, some of which are touched on in #46, point 4.
1. Jesus taught plainly that nothing that we eat can make us spiritually unclean, since food doesn’t go into our hearts but into our stomachs, from which it leaves our bodies. So what we eat does not make us unclean. Rather,
What comes out of a man is what makes him “unclean.” For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man “unclean.”
Mark 7:20–23
2. Nothing is unclean in and of itself. As Paul expressed to the Romans, “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean” (Romans 14:14, esv). Therefore, we must be sensitive to the fact that one believer can freely eat all foods with a “clean” conscience before God, while another believer cannot.
3. Food does not possess spiritual qualities. To quote Paul again, “Food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do” (1 Corinthians 8:8). Certainly, it is important that we are good stewards over our bodies, and in that context, what we eat is important. But eating chicken, in and of itself, doesn’t produce greater spirituality, and eating lobster, in and of itself, does not produce greater carnality.
4. The dietary laws were symbolic of the separation of the Gentiles from the Jews, a separation removed by the cross. It is important, then, that dietary laws are not used to breed separation between believers or to feed into attitudes of supposed spiritual superiority. And it is important that individual convictions be honored and that those who choose to follow the dietary laws be free to do so. But it is equally important that those who are not convicted to adhere to these laws not be judged. We do well to remember that Paul made the following statement in the context of dietary habits: “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:4).
5. Adherence to the dietary laws must take second place to evangelism and, at times, fellowship. Although the exact import of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:20–22 has been disputed, the overall message is quite clear: He became “all things to all men so that by all possible means [he] might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). If it is necessary to eat pork to reach someone with the Gospel, then we should eat pork, and if for the sake of preserving fellowship it is necessary to eat a ritually unclean bird, we should do it. Many missionaries can attest to this, especially among people who have been rejected by the general society. To refuse their food, even if they are believers, is to reject them as people and to tell them that their best is not good enough for you, and there is no scriptural justification for this. The New Testament principles just articulated add further weight to this practical truth.