Original post here
Part 1 here
Part 2 here

This is the final post on this topic and I’m not going to go into much detail for a few reasons:

1. My curiosity has largely been satisied by the discoveries made in part 2;

2. I perceive that most of you, my readers, have lost interest (which I certainly can understand!); and

3. To do justice to the NT data would take a great deal of effort and to be honest is probably beyond my capabilities.

On the other hand this series has been getting hits every week from google suggesting it may be helpful to someone, and I don’t like to leave things unfinished…so here goes!

In the previous posts we have considered what part Jewish food regulations, particularly the prohibition on eating blood, played in the christian community from a historical perspective. We found that some Christians did refrain from eating blood even beyond the NT period but on a whole it seemed to become a non-issue quite quickly.

Looking at the OT data gave us a rationale for why the prohibition ceased to have a place amongst the Christian community. The situation for which God had given animal blood to mankind had ceased to exist. Jesus death put an end to further sacrifices for forgiveness of sins.

This still leaves us with the NT texts which seem to address this issue, particuarly Acts 15:28-29 and 1 Corinthians 10:25-30. These really are the texts that set us off on this enquiry in the first place so we come full-circle.

It appears that the Acts text endorses the ongoing prohibition against eating blood for Christians while 1 Corinthians proposes that the Christian is free to eat meat with blood provided it does not offend the conscience of another (v29). What I am going to conclude is that neither text addresses the OT food laws and therefore have nothing to do with eating blood or incorrectly prepared meat because it is not kosher etc. Instead both Acts are 1 Corinthians 10 are in agreement since they forbid participation in pagan idol worship.

This rests on the contention that the mention of ‘blood’ in Acts 15:29 is not a reference to the blood prohibition of Gen 9. The four things prohibited are not four separate things but put side by side point to one activity: Forbidding partaking in food sacrificed to idols, blood, strangled animals and sexual immorality should lead to the conclusion that what is being forbidden is participation in idolatrous pagan ritual feasts. Notice how each of these aspects appear in what is clearly a description of such a ritual activity in 1 Corinthians 10:7-22. Particuarly as regards blood notice v.21

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.

I have no doubt that the ‘cup of demons’ refers to drinking blood as part of the pagan ritual. It is not blood drinking in isolation, or breaking OT food regualtions, but drinking blood in the context of worship of demons.

Paul in 1 Corinthians then doesn’t backflip on the council’s letter in Acts 15 – he endorses it wholeheartedly! Both counsel Christians to flee from idol worship. If this is right, then it explains why he has no qualms about encouraging eating of meat brought at the roman market (1 cor 10:25). The gist is: Just because someone else sacrificed it to an idol is immaterial, as long as you don’t go participating in the activity yourseves.

Sounds like pretty good advice. Don’t participate in pagan idol worship. If you have a look again at the historical data in part 1 I think that this is the best explanation for the refusal of these early Christians to eat blood. It was not because they thought that the OT prohibitions were still in operation but becuase the blood they were being offered came to them along with a call to worship idols and prove their loyalty to Roman religion. A call commonly refused by Roman Christians which commonly cost them their lives. They will enjoy the resurrection life which dumb and lifeless idols can never give.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 7:51 pm and is filed under Reuben & Jodie's Blog, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.