Should Christians Eat Pork? | Unbiased Truth
Should Christians eat pork? There are people on both sides of the fence.
On one hand, you have those who say, “Of course, pork is delicious and nutritious!” They picture pigs playing on a farm with no greater ambition in life than to end up on your breakfast plate.
But on the other hand, you have those who say, “God clearly forbids eating pork in the Bible. They are disgusting, dirty animals that eat trash and will make you sick.”
Which side is right? Obviously, both can’t be right. This article will take an unbiased look at what the Bible actually teaches about eating pork by going through the history of God’s commands to humanity.
God’s Original Design
In the very beginning, God made humans to be vegetarians!
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food…’” (Genesis 1:28–29 | ESV)
Adam and Eve were allowed to eat from any tree except from one.
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” (Genesis 2:15–17 | ESV)
Unfortunately, they disobeyed God and were kicked out of the perfect Garden of Eden, and Adam’s punishment was that he would have to work hard to farm his food.
“And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field…’” (Genesis 3:17–18 | ESV)
About 1600 Years Later, God Allowed Humans to Eat Meat
As humanity grew, it became very evil. So evil that God decided to flood the earth, starting over with just a man named Noah and his family. After the flood, God said this to Noah:
“And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood…’” (Genesis 9:1–4 | ESV)
For the first time in history, God provided meat as food for humankind. Not only were humans no longer vegetarians, but they could eat any kind of meat that they wanted.
850 Years Later, God Made a Covenant with Israel
“And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today…’” (Deuteronomy 5:1–3 | ESV)
The most famous part of God’s covenant with Israel is the 10 Commandants (Exodus 20):
You shall have no other Gods before me.
You shall make for yourself a carved image (idols)
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
Honor your father and your mother
You shall not murder
You shall not commit adultery
You shall not steal
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
You shall not covet
But another aspect of God’s Law was the dietary laws that He gave to the Jews through Moses. These are found in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. For example:
“And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.” (Leviticus 11:7–8 | ESV)
So there you have it. Clear as day, right? Not quite. Let’s go back to Deuteronomy 5:
“And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.” (Deuteronomy 5:1–3 | ESV)
Did you catch who God made this covenant with?
“The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.” (Deuteronomy 5:2–3 | ESV)
This was not a covenant with the Chinese, Europeans, Africans, or Arabs. This was a special covenant that God made with the Jews.
So far then, we have seen that:
Humans originally only ate plants.
After the flood, they were allowed to eat any kind of meat.
But once God gave His written law to the Jews, the Jews were no longer allowed to eat pork.
The Question Remains: Is Pork Prohibited in Christianity?
If we follow the history of the Jews, we will see that they struggled to be faithful to God’s covenant. They strayed so far that eventually they were punished by God and taken into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity.
At that time God said,
“‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord…’” (Jeremiah 31:31–32 | ESV)
Around 1500 years after Moses, Jesus the Christ was born. Jesus was a Jew and lived his entire life under the covenant that God made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah when He took them by the hand out of the land of Egypt.
I can 100% guarantee Jesus did not eat pork! Why not? Because it was against God’s Law.
However, what did Jesus say about that Law?
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17 | NKJV)
How did Jesus Fulfill the Law?
Jesus Christ fulfilled the Prophets by fulfilling hundreds of prophecies concerning Himself (e.g., Matthew 1:22; 13:35; John 19:36; Luke 24:44).
Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law by obeying the Law perfectly (John 8:46; 1 Peter 2:22) and by becoming the perfect sacrifice for sins.
“Therefore he [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:16–17 | ESV)
”For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14 | ESV)
Christ’s Death and Resurrection Brought the New Covenant into Effect
That is why the Hebrew writer quotes Jeremiah, saying:
“But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt…In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:6–9, 13 | ESV)
With Jesus’ death on the cross, the Law of Moses was fulfilled and became obsolete. The New Covenant God has made applies to everyone, not just the Jews. Jesus said,
“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15–16 | ESV)
So, can Christians eat swine? Do Christians need to follow the dietary laws of the Law of Moses?
That was a question that the early church struggled with. Thankfully, God cleared it up.
In Acts 15:1-5, some Jews were trying to force the Gentile Christians to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses (which would include dietary laws). But listen to what God through the apostles said about the situation:
“For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” (Acts 15:28–29 | ESV)
Nothing was mentioned about not eating pork. Ever since the flood, Gentiles have been allowed to eat pork. According to Scripture, they can continue to do so. In fact, with the Law of Moses fulfilled and obsolete, Jews can eat pork too!
Listen to what God warned,
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:1–5 | ESV)
Not only can people eat whatever food they want, but those who require abstinence from certain foods are devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.
So, can can Christians eat pork? According to the Bible, anyone is free to do so if they so choose.
Thank you for reading this article! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic in the comments.
