Q: Does the Church of God have any dietary restrictions?
A: Throughout history, food restrictions have changed multiple times in the Bible.
1. In the Garden of Eden, God gave humans vegetables and fruits to eat.
“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.’”
2. After the flood, God allowed Noah to eat meat.
“‘Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.’”
3. After the Exodus, God gave the Israelites dietary laws to set them apart. They could only eat animals considered clean.
“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Say to the Israelites: “Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.’”
Before, God’s people were allowed to eat any kind of animal. But God changed the law during the time of Moses and only allowed clean animals to be eaten. God used these laws to distinguish Israel as His chosen people. So, from that time on, they had to follow strict food regulations.
Dietary Laws in the New Testament
4. In the New Testament times, God gives a different set of restrictions. What is important is to follow the law on food given in the time we’re living in. In the New Testament times, God forbids His children from eating food sacrificed to idols, from blood and from the meat of strangled animals.
“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 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.”
“Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.”
God calls us to follow the food laws given in our time. Today, that means obeying the New Testament guidelines. Avoiding food sacrificed to idols, blood and the meat of strangled animals shows obedience and helps us grow closer to God.
Since God has given us food regulations in the New Testament times, we don’t need to follow food restrictions from the past. Staying away from the foods mentioned in the book of Acts is considered obedience in God’s point of view and will bring us closer to Christ.
“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.”
God’s children should eat what God tells them to eat, and abstain from what God tells them not to eat. That is obedience that leads to blessings.
