“He May Eat All Things”

I’m still reading in Romans. This is my present location:

1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.

4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.” Romans 14:1-9

Thankfully, along the way in my Christian journey, I encountered Evangelist Lester Roloff. My family and I have benefited greatly over the years because of this man of God. His influence in my life has morphed its way into the warp and woof of our family fabric.

Early on in my walk of faith I was at a meeting where Lester was preaching. This was down South, mind you. He was preaching away on one of his favorite sub-topics: eating healthy.

In his youth he had been a sickly child. The doctors had “whacked” out about all they could without killing him and still he did not get any better. In the plan of God he met a woman that had been seriously ill but had brought about healing in her body by eating natural foods and herbs.

Evidently this got him to searching the Scriptures to see what God had to say about foods for consumption. That’s one of the aspects of Lester that drew me to him: his desire to search the Scriptures concerning all things.

That night in his preaching he shared with us what he discovered …

He discovered the Bible said not to eat pork. (Remember, he’s preaching this in the South.) He then proceeded to wail on eating hog meat. He said: “You wouldn’t eat a buzzard would you? Well, a hog’s in the same category as a buzzard in God’s Word!”

That made my head spin. I was so taken back by the simplicity of what he had said and the fact that I never “saw” it that way until that moment: no BUZZARD; no HOG. That made sense to me.

What was even more impactful was the fact that he didn’t use the same innate argument that most Christians use that God did away with all the dietary restrictions under the Old Testament.

I could accept Lester’s logic then (over 40 years ago); and, I can live it out now — with the personal assurance that God IS the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change.

So, what is this section of Scripture in Romans about? {Mark 7:18-19 is also considered in reference to eating all things.}

Here’s the common supposition:

Now that we are out from “under” the Law (Old Testament) and “free” in Grace (New Testament), we can chow down on all those goodies in Peter’s sheet which came down from Heaven. {Acts 10:11-17}

Such as ??? …

Lobster, catfish, crawfish, squid, eel, crab, clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, bats, crows, cats, dogs, skunks, donkeys, horses, camels, rock badgers, monkeys, muskrats, armadillos, roadrunners, rats, skunks, buzzards … hogs? All of which God’s Word categorizes as NON-FOOD.

But, instead …

Let’s PARTAY!

Many years ago I got the Life Application Bible. I want to share a couple of notes from it which I think give a balanced perspective. I’d like to point out that the LAB is not Messianic/Hebraic.

14:2 — “Eating ‘all things refers to meat offered to idols; ‘another eateth herbs’ refers to one weaker in the faith who eats only vegetables and refuses to eat meat that has been offered to idols. But how would Christians end up eating meat that had been offered to idols?

“The ancient system of sacrifice was at the center of the religious, social, and domestic life of the Roman world. After a sacrifice was presented to a god in a heathen temple, only part of it was burned. The remainder was often sent to the market to be sold.

“Thus a Christian might easily - even unknowingly - buy such meat in the marketplace or eat it at the home of a friend. Should a Christian question the source of his meat?

“Some thought there was nothing wrong with eating meat that had been offered to idols, since idols were not real gods. Others carefully checked the source of their meat, or else gave up meat altogether, in order to avoid a guilty conscience.

“The problem was especially acute for Christians who had once been idol worshipers. For them, such a strong reminder of the pagan days might weaken their newfound faith. Paul also deals with this problem in 1 Corinthians 8.”

14:14 — “At the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), the Jewish church in Jerusalem asked the Gentile church in Antioch not to eat meat offered to idols. Paul was at the Jerusalem Council, and he accepted this request not because he felt this practice was wrong in itself, but because this practice would deeply offend many Jewish believers. Paul did not think the issue was worth dividing the church; his desire was to promote unity.”

My desire has always been, by the grace of God, to search the Scriptures to see if what I was taught (or thought) was really what the Bible did in fact teach. I want, by God’s grace, to follow the truth no matter where it may take me and no matter the cost.

With that thought in mind …

I am hoping/anticipating that believers in Christ will, at some point in their walk of faith, choose to consider the logical conclusions and implications of what the notes DID NOT say.

They did not say this passage cleared the way for all of God’s people to eat whatever they want because Christ did away with the Old Testament dietary instructions.

I think sometimes God’s people have, to no fault of their own necessarily, been unable (perhaps out of fear) to ingest the Scriptures with their preconceived biases shoved off to the side — as much as that is possible.

If nothing else, we as God’s people need to free ourselves from being locked into any Theological perspective. Theology is just a framework from which to proceed. It can help us in our search to understand what the Scriptures are actually saying, regardless of where it may take us.

In essence, what I’m saying is this …

Perhaps, just perhaps, we should consider the possibility that we might not have it all figured out.

Perhaps, just perhaps, our own group, church, assembly, Hebraic/Messianic congregation, denomination, organization is … dare I say it? … not the final arbitrator on What Thus Saith The Lord.

At least let us have the perspective, and courage, of Lester Roloff who was willing to search the Scriptures for himself and then preach against eating hogs … in a deeply Southern church.

That takes guts.

Got any??