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Are any foods forbidden to Christians today?

Contested

Texts of equal or higher authority genuinely pull both ways — SAM names both sides.

The text is genuinely divided: a strong Tier 1 case exists that the food laws stand and were never explicitly revoked, while several New Testament passages (none at Tier 1 or 2) point toward freedom — making this an honestly contested question, especially when the audience (Israel vs. the nations) is taken into account.

Leviticus 11 (God speaking directly, Tier 1) forbids specific animals with no stated expiry date; Isaiah 66:17 (Tier 1) still condemns pig-eating in an end-times oracle. No Tier 1 or Tier 2 text explicitly revokes these commands. But the Jerusalem council (Acts 15), convened specifically to decide what Gentile believers must keep, lists only four requirements — not the Leviticus 11 animal list — and Paul's letters treat food as a conscience matter. Same-tier texts do not resolve which governs for all audiences.

The unresolved tension: The text does not resolve whether the Leviticus 11 animal distinctions bind those who were never under the Sinai covenant (the nations/Gentiles). The Jerusalem council's ruling for Gentile believers (Acts 15) does not include the animal list, but does not explicitly revoke it either. The grammatical subject of katharizōn in Mark 7:19 (a narrator aside, Tier 5) is also unresolved between manuscripts. Isaiah 66:17's eschatological condemnation of pig-eating does not specify its audience scope.

Key texts:
Leviticus 11:1Tier 1 · God
“Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them,”
Leviticus 11:2Tier 1 · God
““Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.”
Leviticus 11:7Tier 1 · God
“The pig, because it has a split hoof, and is cloven-footed, but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you.”

…and 37 more verses weighed in the full analysis.

This is a summary.

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