Nothing to Be Refused!

Some people have used 1 Timothy 4:1-5 to say that Christians are free to eat anything they want. But is that really what it says?

The passage speaks of some who depart from the faith and command “to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” Notice that these people are commanding to abstain from meats which God created to be received.

The vital question is, What “meat” did God create to be received? The Genesis account is clear: “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” Genesis 1:29. The meats which God created for us to receive are herbs and fruits and seeds.

The word “meat” today almost always means flesh meat, but in the Bible it simply means “food.” When Paul’s ship was about to be wrecked he invited the passengers to “take some meat,” adding, “for this is for your health.” Acts 27:34. Notice then what meat he took. He “took bread, and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all: and . . . began to eat.” Verse 35.

First Timothy 4:4 says, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.” Some people claim that this means that we are to eat anything and everything. Following that line of reasoning, we should not refuse to eat rats or cockroaches. Obviously Paul’s “every creature” is to be qualified by the previous verse—foods which God hath created to be received! Verse 5 gives additional qualifications: foods that are “sanctified by the word of God.” Sanctified means set apart and designated for a specific purpose. Far from giving license to eating anything we please, this passage is fully consistent with the rest of Scripture, permitting only those foods that are designated by the word of God.