Covenantal Food

It seems that I have slowed down substantially in posting on this site. Though I am still excited about a biblical view of food (and life in general) I am doing many others things, such as college, internship, working part-time, etc... Recently, though, I was listening to a lecture series by O. Palmer Robinson "On the Covenants" (available for free here) and one of his lectures started me thinking again on a topic I started writing about here. The idea is that food is covenantal, that it is granted to us by God's grace as part of His bond of friendship with us. This can be seen through the progression of God's covenant with His people throughout time. The passage from the lecture is as follows (commenting on Genesis 3):

"Man will eat bread. The gracious character of these simple words cannot be overlooked. The creative grace of God which gave to man the bounties of every tree of the garden has continued. God's grace and mercy is still to man, though he has rebelled against him. The extension of the provision of the creation covenant characterizes the totality of human history from that day until the present. Even today, you eat bread. And you very fittingly give thanks at the table, each time you eat bread, for the grace of God which permits you to sustain life." -O. Palmer Robinson, "Covenant of Commencement" 

Even before Genesis 3, when we examine the pre-fall "covenant of works" or, as Dr. Robinson titles it, the "covenant of creation" we find not only the the prohibition of eating of the forbidden fruit, but also the gift of all the other trees in the garden.

“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17, emphasis added). 

In fact, the covenant is rather comprehensive, including the broad concerns of Genesis 1:28-30:

"And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.' And it was so. (Genesis 1:28-30)

An emphasis in American Christianity on the narrow test of the forbidden tree to the exclusion of the broad mission and purpose of the covenant of creation (or works) has led to (or has resulted from) a narrow focus on justification by faith and the point of conversion to the exclusion of sanctification and the broad purpose of redemption. God's covenants with man concern man's whole life, not merely some narrow "religious" element of life. As Dr. Robinson points out in his book, Christ of the Covenants,

"If the covenant of creation is thought not to exceed Adam's probation-test, a curious brand of Christianity ultimately emerges. It is a brand of Christianity greatly at odds with that in which the probation-test is understood as the focal point of the total life-embracing covenantal relationship. The difference between the two views is the difference between 'fundamentalism' narrowly conceived and the broader covenantal theology of Scripture" (p. 82).

This separation of faith from life has been detrimental to modern Western culture.

Here we find that food is a basic element of God's original command and grace to man. Man is commanded to subdue the vegetation for food and is given the grace to use and enjoy it.

As Dr. Robinson pointed out above, this concept is continued after man's sin enters the world. As God establishes his covenant of grace with man in Genesis 3, giving the promise of redemption, he reaffirms man's calling to bring forth food from the ground. Adam gets to keep the job! Admittedly, it is a bit harder, and now the struggle against sin and curse is also thrown into the mix.

We find this pattern also God's covenant with Noah. Noah and his family not only save the plants and animals on board the ark, but God also tells them after the flood,

"Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood...” (Genesis 9:1-4, emphasis added)

In the covenant administrations with Abraham and especially later with Israel we see that food is one of the great blessings of the covenant. To look into all the ways food is mentioned would take more time than I have at the moment (see my book for some), but some of the most obvious might be Deuteronomy 28:4-5, Leviticus, 26:3-5, and Exodus 3:8, 17. God sets up feasts for His people for them to commune with Him. The theme of famine and plenty is tightly woven into God's relation with His people. Food (or the lack of) can be blessing or curse, just as the covenant can work either way.

We have already seen how 1 Timothy 4 deals with this theme (see here). In addition, the Lord's Supper obviously forms the highest new covenant expression of Christ's communion with man through food. The "love feast" and Christian hospitality are also urged in the broader context of food and life in the covenant. This picture is consummated with the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation.

Some of this is old news to many of you all. The insightful thing I have found through this is that we do not deserve food. It is given by God's grace. He gives it to the just and the unjust, yet it is only Christian who can eat with enjoyment (Eccl. 2:24-26), exercising proper (not usurped) authority over God's creation. It is also interesting to see, once again, the unity of God's purposes through history. His promises and purposes are consistent through all ages. They demand our all, our entire life and being. Thus, we must eat and drink, as we do all things, to the glory of our gracious Savior and God.

Food and Dominion

In 1 Timothy 4:1-5 we learn several things. First, everything created by God is good, and second, we are to be thankful to God for His blessings. To reject either of these things is to destroy God's gifts (see other posts on these subjects here, here, and here). A third thing that Paul brings out is that God created food “to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” What then? Did He not created it to be received by all men? What about common grace and the rain on the just and unjust? John Calvin has a great point to make on this subject:

“I reply, Paul speaks here of the lawful use, of which we are assured before God. Wicked men are in no degree partakers of it, on account of their impure conscience, which, as is said, 'defileth all things.' (Titus 1:15)

"And indeed, properly speaking, God has appointed to his children alone the whole world and all that is in the world. For this reason, they are also called the heirs of the world; for at the beginning Adam was appointed to be lord of all, on this condition, that he should continue in obedience to God. Accordingly, his rebellion against God deprived of the right, which had been bestowed on him, not only himself but his posterity. And since all things are subject to Christ, we are fully restored by His mediation, and that through faith; and therefore all that unbelievers enjoy may be regarded as the property of others, which they rob or steal."[1]

In a similar vein, commenting on the fact that “it is made holy by the word of God,” Calvin comments:

"And which of us would venture to claim for himself a single grain of wheat, if he were not taught by the word of God that he is the heir of the world? Common sense, indeed, pronounces, that the wealth of the world is naturally intended for our use; but, since dominion over the world was taken from us in Adam, everything that we touch of the gifts of God is defiled by our pollution; and, on the other hand, it is unclean to us, till God graciously come to our aid, and by ingrafting us into his Son, constitutes us anew to be lords of the world, that we may lawfully use as our own all the wealth with which he supplies us."[2]

Of course, this doesn't mean that unbelievers don't have civil property rights. It does mean that in the eyes of God they are unlawful trespassers on earth. It does mean we have been restored to the task (and promise) of dominion under Christ. It is because Christ was exalted with dominion that we as His people gain the dominion which we lost in Adam. By our union with Christ we are made kings to reign with Him (Rev. 5:10). Since He is the Lord of all, so we also are heirs with Abraham of the whole world by faith (Rom. 4:13). As children of Abraham (Gal. 3:29), we inherit the land. The world and the blessings on it (e.g. food) have been given to us so that we may enjoy and glorify God through them.

The food we eat is made holy. It is set apart for righteousness by the Word of God and prayer. We are taught by the Word of God our place of dominion in our Father's world. We give thanks in prayer for our food, eating for the glory of God, the giver of these blessings. When that is done, we will not be self-centered. We will give our worship and service not to food, nor health, nor any other earthly thing, but to God alone. In that way will God’s blessings be used correctly and to our good. We will thank Him for the way He has made all His blessings. We will not pervert His blessings for our glory, but will stand in awe of His wisdom in His creation, and work with it humbly and joyfully.

Idolatrous Views of Food and the Curse

Here is a quote from one of the talks that Chef Francis Foucachon gave at the Reformation of Food and the Family Conference in July. I have it in a book that Chef Foucachon made just for this event, Food for Thought and Thoughtful Food. He should be coming out with a more refined version of the book next year.

"Today, fallen man frequently responds to the consequences of the curse with two different, yet equally idolatrous reactions...The first reaction seeks to, in effect, reverse the Fall through an unconditional faith in the infinite progress of science. The pride evident in this kind of Scientism elevates its own creations above God's Creation. The idolatry of Scientism is hard to miss. The reaction at the other end of the spectrum, however, may be far more of a pitfall for some Christians today...[T]hose adhering to the pantheistic religion behind radical ecology, mystical natural healing, and some of the organic movement live in denial of the Fall of Creation as seen in Romans 8. They try to recover Paradise by taking man's "evil" influence out of the equation, and fail to see that man is part of the solution as God works by His grace through those whom He has redeemed. The gurus of this false religion promise us all manner of health and well-being--if only, through the "purity" of untainted nature--we could eradicate the "cancer" of modern man's impact. This kind of idolatry may occasionally couch itself in biblical language, but in the end it's just one more example of worshipping the created rather than the Creator."

May we continue to work and shape God's creation, including our food, in the fear of God as His redeemed people as we "have dominion over...all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis 1:26).

Abortion, Christ, and Eating Blood

“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 

‘Whoever sheds the blood of man,

by man shall his blood be shed,

for God made man in his own image.’” 

−Genesis 9:3–6 

“It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” 

−Acts 15:28–29

While we have been given meat to eat, we are still to avoid eating blood because the blood has such a strong connection to life; it can be said that the blood is the life. As Christians we value life, even animal life to an extent (see also Prov. 12:10). God values life/blood so much that capital punishment is required for murderers of humans (made in the image of God) and abstinence from eating blood is required concerning animals. While some connotations are made by the cultural situation (food sacrificed to idols: 1 Cor. 8), the connotation of blood and life transcends the specific situation and is part of the created order.

It is easy to think that the ban on blood eating is a pretty small point and is just another thing to put on the “do not eat” list, but the implications of this go beyond our diets. It goes to one of our most hotly debated issues today, the issue of abortion.

To show this implication, let us go back to Tertullian. Tertullian was a very influential Church Father who lived around 200 A.D. He wrote a book, The Apology, where he defended Christians against the criticisms of his day. Some of the criticisms were horrendous, and one of those was that Christians were said to eat little children. As Tertullian says, “Monsters of wickedness, we are accused of observing a holy rite in which we kill a little child and then eat it.” First Tertullian attacks the claim as a rumor without any confirmation (Chapter 7), and then appeals to natural feelings and will which would not allow it (Chapter 8). Then in chapter 9 he points to the pagans themselves and shows where they practice the same or similar thing in different ways (and describes a bunch of horrible pagan practices). Finally, he points to the actual practices of the Christians, which, of course, are as far from the accusation as possible. Says he,

“Blush for your vile ways before the Christians, who have not even the blood of animals at their meals of simple and natural food; who abstain from things strangled and that die a natural death, for no other reason than that they may not contract pollution...To clench the matter with a single example, you tempt Christians with sausages of blood, just because you are perfectly aware that the thing by which you thus try to get them to transgress they hold unlawful. And how unreasonable it is to believe that those, of whom you are convinced that they regard with horror the idea of tasting the blood of oxen, are eager after blood of men; unless, mayhap, you have tried it, and found it sweeter to the taste!”

 As Christians we are so pro-life that we don’t even eat animal blood! He also states,

“In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fœtus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed.”

To counter the accusations of the pagans he points to the (then) obvious fact that Christians are pro-life and even oppose abortion as murder, so far are they from eating children.

Christians value life, and because we value life so much, the death of Jesus is all the more powerful. Because of sin we are doomed to die, but because He shed His blood and life for our sin, we may have new and eternal life. Thus, there is the one way in which we do something similar to drinking blood, and that is in Communion.

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” (Matthew 26:27-29)

While blood may be a gruesome and serious topic, it is one that is very powerful and full of significance. We don’t eat it because we value animal life. We protect human blood and life as Christian governments should shed the blood of the murder who sheds the blood of man, the image of God, even the small image. And we "drink" and live by the power of Jesus’ blood that was shed for us sinners who deserved to die that we might have life with Him who is “the life.”

New Age, Yoga, Alchemy, and Water Witching

Here is a helpful radio program by Generations Radio concerning the New Age movement and related practices, especially as related to health and medicine. This is an important topic as people are often confused what to trust when it comes to medical (and dietary) decisions.

New Age, Yoga, Alchemy, and Water Witching

Centralization

In my book I discuss a biblical philosophy of economics and social order as it is related to food and food production and consumption. Here is an introduction to the broader subject of centralization/decentralization.

The way that centralization works in Christianity is that Christ's authority is over all. As far as humans are concerned, centralization is discouraged. Neither is individualism, though, and there is a certain balance. The balance involves the limits of human relationships. Authority, power, and rules are very related to relationships. As we are all God's creatures we are his subjects, and as we (Christians) are saved and specially known by God we are specially held accountable to His fatherly authority. While God is infinite and can know everything and everybody, we are limited and can only know certain things. Thus, our authority is limited because our relationships are limited. That is why the family is so important to a biblical society. It is the relational unit that can work, play, eat, sing, live together, with much specificity and detail - including what's for dinner. The broader the jurisdiction, the more limited the power, and, of course, limited in different ways depending on whether it is church, state, etc... When people are unsatisfied with the limited authority they have, and seek to centralize power, they divorce relationships from authority. Sooner or later it will be detrimental to that society (if not blatant tyranny).

"Woe to those who join house to house,

who add field to field,

until there is no more room,

and you are made to dwell alone

in the midst of the land."

(Isaiah 5:8)

The Carpenter and Philosophy

Here is a quote that does a good job of explaining how philosophy and higher principles are very practical and worth studying. It is from a lecture by R. L. Dabney titled, "Commendation of the Study of Philosophy" (1885):

"It may be well just here to illustrate farther the fact that every man philosophizes, 'will he, nill he,' if he thinks. Here is a plain carpenter, who on Monday takes up the hatchet he had sharpened and used Saturday. It proved itself of good steel, temper and edge, then. Will it cut well this morning? Assuredly it will, says the honest man. But may it not have changed its nature since Saturday, although not meddled with in any way? Is it obliged to be steel now, because it was steel then; may it not now be of soft iron? or lead? 'No!' he exclaims. 'That’s absurd!' But why absurd, Mr. Carpenter? Perhaps he had not thought it out in full form; but now that you press him to do so, he tells you: no change could have been made in the metal without some cause; and that 'he knows by looking at it,' i. e., by its sensible properties, that it is still steel. That is all very plain and simple; but this carpenter has now posited three of the most profound general truths of abstract philosophy: The necessary law of causation; the continuity and permanency of substantive being; and the inseparable union of attributes to their substance. He has been dealing in the depths of ontology! Quite a philosopher he!”

We do things for reasons, whether we think them through or not. As a side note you can se here the original form of the term 'willy-nilly' as 'will he, nill he', meaning whether he wants to or not.