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Are any foods forbidden to Christians today?

Contested

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

The text is genuinely contested on this question: the Leviticus 11 dietary laws are Tier 1 commands with no explicit same-or-higher-tier revocation, and Isaiah 66:17 still condemns pig-eating in an eschatological oracle, but several New Testament texts point toward food freedom, and the Jerusalem council's ruling for Gentile believers lists only four abstentions without the full Leviticus 11 animal categories.

A Tier 1 command (Leviticus 11) stands with no explicit same-or-higher-tier revocation, and a Tier 1 eschatological oracle (Isaiah 66:17) still condemns pig-eating; but multiple New Testament texts at Tier 4-5 point toward food freedom, and the Jerusalem council's four-item list for Gentiles (Acts 15:29; Acts 21:25) notably omits the Leviticus 11 animal categories, creating a genuine tension the text does not resolve with a single explicit statement.

The unresolved tension: Whether the Leviticus 11 animal prohibitions bind those who were never under the Sinai covenant (the nations/Gentiles) is not explicitly resolved by any same-or-higher-tier text in either direction. The Jerusalem council's four-item list for Gentiles omits the Leviticus 11 animal categories but does not explicitly revoke them. Isaiah 66:17's eschatological condemnation of pig-eating does not specify its audience as Israel only. This scope question, Israel only, or all who are called to holiness?, is the unresolved tension.

Key texts:
Leviticus 11:1-47Tier 1 · God
“Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, “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. Whatever parts…”
Leviticus 11:44Tier 1 · God
“For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.”
Deuteronomy 14:2Tier 5 · Other
“For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

…and 22 more verses weighed in the full analysis.

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Original-language words behind this answer:
eidōlóthyton (Greek G1494)brōsis (Greek G1035)eídōlon (Greek G1497)sheqets (Hebrew H8263)kolláō (Greek G2853)gannâh (Hebrew H1593)parádosis (Greek G3862)éxōthen (Greek G1855)koinós (Greek G2839)ktízō (Greek G2936)

SAM answers from primary-source texts only, weighing each verse by its authority tier. Every quotation is verified word-for-word. How the method works →

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