Let’s examine both sides biblically and historically.
🍽️ 1. Old Testament Law Prohibited Pork
In the Old Testament, the Law of Moses forbade eating pork:
Leviticus 11:7 – “And the pig... is unclean for you; you must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses.”
This was part of the ceremonial purity laws given to Israel to distinguish them from pagan nations and to live in ritual holiness before God.
👉 SDAs and some other Christians (like Hebrew Roots Movement) believe that these dietary laws still apply today.
✝️ 2. Jesus Fulfilled the Law — Including Dietary Laws
However, most Christians believe that Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant and established a New Covenant that is no longer bound to the ceremonial or dietary laws of Moses.
📖 Key Bible Verses:
✅ Mark 7:18–19
“Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him... Thus He declared all foods clean.”
— Jesus taught that moral defilement comes from the heart, not from food.
✅ Acts 10:9–16 — Vision of Peter
Peter saw a vision of unclean animals (including pork), and God said:
“Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
This passage clearly shows that the Old Testament food restrictions were lifted, and this became part of the early Church's teaching to the Gentiles.
✅ Colossians 2:16–17
“Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink... These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”
Paul explicitly teaches that Christians are not bound by Old Testament food laws.
🕊️ 3. Why Do Some Christians Still Avoid Pork?
Groups like Seventh-day Adventists:
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Emphasize healthy living and often follow Old Testament dietary laws for health and discipline, not salvation.
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They interpret these food laws as part of God's original design, and they connect it with holistic wellness.
💡 They do not eat pork, shellfish, or unclean meats — not because they believe it affects salvation directly, but because they believe it's God's ideal.
✝️ 4. Catholic and Mainstream Christian View
| Teaching | View |
|---|---|
| Old Testament Food Laws | Fulfilled and no longer binding |
| Eating pork | Permitted (Mark 7:19, Acts 10) |
| Moral law (10 Commandments) | Still valid |
| Ceremonial/Dietary laws | Fulfilled in Christ, no longer required |
✅ Conclusion: Is It a Sin to Eat Pork?
| Group | View on Pork |
|---|---|
| Catholics, Orthodox, Evangelicals | ✅ Allowed — not sinful |
| Seventh-day Adventists | ❌ Not allowed — for health and biblical reasons |
| Biblical Basis for Eating Pork | Mark 7, Acts 10, Colossians 2 |
| Biblical Basis for Avoiding | Leviticus 11 (Old Covenant Law) |
So in short:
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Most Christians eat pork because Jesus fulfilled the Old Law and the early Church taught that those food laws are no longer binding.
-
Some Christians abstain out of personal conviction, health, or Old Testament adherence.
🙌 Here's a collection of Early Church Father quotes addressing the Jewish dietary laws, especially the prohibition of pork, and how these were understood and fulfilled in Christ.
These quotes support the mainstream Christian (especially Catholic) view that Christians are not bound by Old Testament food laws, including the ban on pork.
📜 Early Church Fathers on Food Laws (Pork, etc.)
🧔♂️ St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 AD)
Letter to the Magnesians, Ch. 8:
“If we still live according to the Jewish law, we acknowledge that we have not received grace...
Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner... but let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner... rejoicing in the meditation on the law, not in observing carnal ordinances.”
🔎 Context: He’s not directly addressing pork, but is rejecting carnal ordinances, which include dietary restrictions under the Mosaic law.
🧔♂️ St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD)
Against Heresies, Book IV, Chapter 16, §5
“The laws of bondage, that is, those relating to sacrifices and the service of the tabernacle, He has taken away. For He did not abrogate the natural precepts of the law... but the legal enactments were abolished by the new covenant.”
🔎 Interpretation: He distinguishes between moral laws (which remain) and ritual/dietary laws (like pork prohibitions), which were removed.
🧔♂️ Tertullian (c. 200 AD)
Against Marcion, Book V, Chapter 7:
“All foods are clean to us now, since God has cleansed them...
We are not under the law of Moses, but under the grace of Christ.”
🔎 Tertullian is clear: Christ fulfilled the dietary laws, and Christians are no longer bound by them.
🧔♂️ Origen (c. 250 AD)
Against Celsus, Book V, Chapter 49:
“We do not any longer observe the Jewish laws about meats and drinks, nor do we practice circumcision, for we know that such observances were symbolic and were fulfilled in Christ.”
🧔♂️ St. John Chrysostom (c. 390 AD)
Homily on 1 Timothy 4:3
“The heretics say, ‘Abstain from meats.’ But the Apostle says, ‘Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected.’ What then? Shall we eat the flesh of swine? Yes, if you will. The Law forbade it then, to exercise their obedience... But now that the time has come for the Law to cease, it is permitted.”
🔎 Very direct! Chrysostom affirms that eating pork is no longer forbidden.
📘 Summary Chart
| Church Father | Date | Position on Food Laws |
|---|---|---|
| St. Ignatius of Antioch | c. 110 AD | Christians should not follow Jewish carnal ordinances |
| St. Irenaeus of Lyons | c. 180 AD | Ceremonial laws abolished, moral laws remain |
| Tertullian | c. 200 AD | All foods clean; Mosaic Law fulfilled |
| Origen | c. 250 AD | Jewish food laws are symbolic, now fulfilled |
| St. John Chrysostom | c. 390 AD | Christians may eat pork; the Law has ceased |
✅ Conclusion
The early Church Fathers unanimously taught that Christians are not required to follow Jewish dietary laws, including the prohibition on pork. Their teaching affirms what the New Testament already made clear — that Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant, and Christians live under a New Covenant of grace.
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