Filthy Food

“To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled” (v15).

Gluten-free. Low fat. Low sodium. Low carb. Lactose intolerant. Vegan. Vegetarian. Fruitarian. It seems like just about everybody I know is on some sort of restricted diet. It’s amazing how much discipline these folks have when it comes to food. They know what they should eat. And they know what they should avoid. For the new believers on the island of Crete, a team of false teachers demand that they follow a diet as key part of their faith in Jesus. Here in his letter to Titus, the Apostle Paul reminds his go-to guy that this idea of filthy food is crazy talk. 

As part of his assignment, Titus is to shut down and shut up a posse of spiritual snake oil salesmen who are distracting new Christ followers from the main thing (Titus 1:10-11). And that main thing is following Jesus! These con artists are members of the “circumcision party” (Titus 1:10). These are Jews who demand that Gentiles must convert to Judaism before they can ever consider following Messiah Jesus. Paul dealt with the same sort of knuckleheads in Galatia. This became such a hot button issue for the new church that they called a meeting back at the home office in Jerusalem to figure out what to do (Acts 15). They quickly decided that if God is saving non-Jews and bringing them into His kingdom, there’s no reason to burden these new believers with following the Old Testament and getting circumcised (whew!). A huge part of living life under the OT law is Jewish food regulations. In other words, there’s no requirement for Gentile believers to order the kosher meal.

Clearly, these new followers of Jesus understand the beauty of God’s creation and the glory of a good meal. “To the pure, all things are pure” (v15). In other words, when we place our trust in our pure and holy High Priest, we no longer have to worry about those incredibly complex rules of ritual purity God handed Moses in the Old Testament. Jesus is our ultimate High Priest (Heb 4:14-16). He makes EVERYTHING ritually pure and clean. The religious police challenged Jesus on this very same idea one night at dinner. The Pharisees’ jaws hit the floor when the Rabbi/Carpenter from Galilee didn’t wash up before dinner (Lk 11:38). They didn’t give a hot hoot about sanitation. They were obsessed with Jewish regulations of religious purity. At that point, Christ busts their chops and tells them they are totally preoccupied with the wrong stuff. He told them that they were like bad dishwashers. They scrubbed clean the outside of cups and dishes but never even touched the inside (Lk 11:39). “You fools! Did He who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you” (Lk 11:40-41). 

Paul also ran into similar food controversies. No we’re NOT talking about who has the best barbecue (why can’t we all just get along?!?). It was huge point of contention for his friends in Rome. He let Roman believers know that we shouldn’t let food rules drive a wedge between each other. “Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats” (Rom 14:20). Forbidden foods was also a controversial issue in Corinth. The apostle reminds the Corinthians to not get all hung up on what they should eat. The bottom line is to remember that food and religious diet is a big deal for a lot of fellow believers. Don’t let what’s served at dinner “become a stumbling block to the weak” (1Cor 8:9). We need to stop worrying about what we want and start concerning ourselves with the good of others. “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (1Cor 10:23).

The problem with the false teachers is that they see the world like my wife looks at a service station restroom. It’s disgusting. It’s filthy. “But to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure” (v15). This is WAY more than just whether or not there’s bacon on my cheeseburger. This is failing to trust that Jesus completely saved you and me. These Jewish circumcisers believe that Christ may have gotten us into God’s kingdom but it’s now up to us to stay in. And a big part of that is following a complicated list of religious rules and regs. Trusting in Jesus means wrapping your arms around His completed work. When He yelled from the cross “It is finished!” (Jn 19:3), He wasn’t kidding! He did it all. There’s nothing left for us to do except believe that He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He lived the perfectly obedient life of purity that I completely failed to live. He died the death for my sinful disobedience that I should have died. He rose to a spectacular new life that I totally do not deserve. 

As a result, I don’t have to worry about my diet. Well, I probably do need to cut back on my red meat, but that’s a completely different issue. Jesus has freed us not just from the kosher food rules, but the obligation to follow the rules to self-salvation. It’s a reminder of God’s critique of His spectacular creation. “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Yeah, this idea of filthy food is crazy talk.