Unclean Meats and the Cross

A Seventh-day Adventist minis­ter spoke to a congregation of several hun­dred in one of the churches of the South some years ago, making the following statements : "The laws of clean and unclean meats, being part of the laws of Moses, were nailed to the cross. The division of meats has become a mere matter of health principle." On further ques­tioning he stated that the laws of Leviticus were nailed to the cross, and that the argument against unclean meats actually had no Biblical background.

Since that time this question has been dis­cussed not only in the United States by stanch Seventh-day Adventists, ministers and congre­gations alike, but out in the furthermost corners of the world. It is obviously time that this mat­ter be given attention. In this article we shall seek to give direct answers to these questions :

1. Has the law of Leviticus ii on clean and unclean meats been nailed to the cross?

2. Do Seventh-day Adventists have Biblical background from which to preach this subject, making a division between the clean and un­clean as set forth in Leviticus II?

3. Would an evangelist, before it was wise to present the works of Mrs. E. G. White to his audience, be inconsistent in reading the law of Leviticus ii of clean and unclean meats, ex­pecting his listeners to observe it, while a few evenings later he tells them that all these laws have been nailed to the cross?

Every Seventh-day Adventist knows that al­though he is no longer bound by the ceremonial law of Moses, he is in subjection to numerous laws other than the ten-commandment law. He obeys Federal, State, county, and city laws. He cannot jump from a high cliff or drink poison without admitting that the law of gravity and the laws of nature still govern his body. There­fore we can readily see that although the Israel­ites were subject to the ceremonial law and the ten-commandment law, they were also subject to a national law and the laws of nature and of sanitation as well.

Let us examine each of the four types of law and their boundaries found in connection with the Hebrew people : (I) the moral law, or Ten Commandments; (2) the ceremonial law; (3) the national, law of Israel; (4) the laws of nature. 

1.  MORAL LAW.—Seventh-day Advent­ists separate the moral law from the ceremonial law, and acknowledge the Ten Commandments to be binding on Christians today.

2. CEREMONIAL LAW.—We should have a clear understanding of the term ceremonial law. This expression includes all laws and customs (A sacrificial service used by the Israelites per­taining and pointing forward to the Saviour to come. The basic ceremony of sacrifice was prac­ticed from the time of entrance of sin into this world. A more complex ceremony was insti­tuted during the period of the Israelitish nation in the sanctuary service until the time when Jesus Himself, the true Lamb of God, was sac­rificed.

It was this law of ceremonies to which the apostle referred primarily as having been nailed to the cross. Nothing should be included in the ceremonial lav but that which pointed forward to the cross. It is unreasonable to try to include laws which had nothing to do with the cross, expecting that they too should be nailed to the cross when the Saviour was offered. If any wish to know whether a certain command was part of the ceremonial law, the true test is: Did it point forward to Christ?

3. ADMINISTRATIVE LAW .—No nation can exist without administrative law and, provision for its enforcement. The ancient nation of Israel was no exception. Israel had three branches of government—executive, legislative, and judi­cial. However, being a holy, nation, and con­stituting a theocracy, God Himself directed the activity of all three departments. Moses, stand­ing as the representative of God, was not only the head of the government but also the reli­gious leader. It is therefore easy to understand how the ceremonial law and the national law, both dictated by God and both recorded by the same man, are often interlaced in reading, just as the Ten Commandments are nestled in among other laws in the same chapter or book, and yet they are each distinctly separate.

Whereas the ceremonial law was nailed to the cross, the national law died a natural death when the nation collapsed. The national law in­cluded provision for the retribution of crime, protection to the innocent, restoration of stolen goods, and ordinances of sanitation for the pre­vention of disease and the well-being of the people similar to the national laws of our day. But one fact unquestionably remains : The na­tional law was not nailed to the cross.

4. LAWS OF NATURE.—"Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?" Job 38:33. God in­quired of Job (also recorded by Moses), "Do you know the laws of the heavens (such as the law of gravity and centrifugal force), which hold the stars in their course?" God continued to ask him if he understood the laws which set apart the mating season, which caused the mi­gration of the birds, and the innumerable habits of the living creatures. (Job 38.)

"The harmony of creation depends upon the perfect conformity of all beings, of everything animate and in­animate, to the law of the Creator. God has ordained laws for the government, not only of living beings, but of all the operations of nature. Everything is under _fixed laws, which cannot be disregarded. But while everything in nature is governed by natural laws, man alone, of all that inhabits the earth, is amenable to moral law."—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 52.

Man alone is amenable to moral law. Man alone has the sovereign choice of will. He is not governed directly by a mating season or the call of migration. He moves where he will, sleeps when he pleases, and follows no rule of hiberna­tion. Man is not as the dog that feeds on a diet of meat, or as the cow on a diet of grass, or as the birds that live on seeds and fruit. He wanders to and fro, and whatsoever pleases his eye he often puts into his mouth, whether it is con­ducive to the welfare of his being or not. There­fore God formulated a set of laws for man in order that, by the use of his reason and will, he might live in health, that his body might be a structure of beauty, strength, and order.

The laws of clean and unclean meats of Le­viticus are an example. Here God states, "This is the law . . . to make a difference between the unclean and clean, and between the beasts that may be eaten and the beasts that may not be eaten." Lev. II :46, 47. Here God has stated plainly the reason for the law. It does not point forward to the cross, but was given rather as a law that a distinction might be made between animals that might be eaten and those that must not.

It is evident that this law had nothing to do with the cross of Christ. Rather it was a law of nature given to man that his physical body might be maintained in cleanliness, with the best possible fuel for sustenance and energy, and that his body as part of God's great crea­tion might exist in order and beauty as fully as the inanimate objects of the universe.

Moreover, the Lord did not allow the man who defiled his body or partook of unclean food to offer sacrifices, or take part in the cere­monies of the ceremonial law. The reason was this. The man who offered a ceremonial sacri­fice looked forward to a Saviour who would redeem him from sin and death, and give him eternal life. On the other hand, a man who de­filed his body with unclean and poisonous sub­stances caused the deterioration of body tissues which eventually brought death. It is impos­sible for God to bestow eternal life on one who courts death and willfully chooses by his actions to bring death upon himself.