Clean & Unclean: From Creation to Eternity

Genesis 7:2 proves that the distinction between clean and unclean animals existed long before Israel or Sinai. God told Noah, “You shall take with you seven pairs of every clean animal…the male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean, two.” This was centuries before Moses, showing that there was already a distinction of which animals were clean. That means this understanding came from God, not from the so-called “Jewish Law.”

Genesis 8:20 confirms this. After the flood, Noah “built an altar to YHWH, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings.” He didn’t need a list from Moses to know which were clean, he already knew. The concept of clean and unclean wasn’t cultural, it was part of God’s created order, revealed directly to man before there was ever an Israelite nation.

Leviticus 11 later defines those same categories in detail for Israel, it clarified what was already known since creation. The Torah simply codified what God had already instituted. The distinction between clean and unclean was about being pure, clean, healthy, and holy (being Set Apart) and obedient. It was God’s way of teaching separation between the pure and the impure, the holy and the profane.

This is where Christianity deliberately twists the text to fit its own desires. Scripture NEVER calls unclean creatures “food.” That teaching is a doctrine of demons. The Bible speaks of clean and unclean animals, not clean and unclean food. If it’s a clean animal, it is food. If it’s an unclean animal, it is never considered food in Scripture—ever. God never changed that definition. There is no way around this, no matter how many verses you rip from their context or how much you add into your Bible later. For example, in Mark 7:19 many translations insert “He declared all foods clean,” but that phrase doesn’t exist in the oldest manuscripts. It was added by translators who either knowingly corrupted the text to support their own doctrines or followed traditions already corrupted by them. Jesus wasn’t talking about unclean animals at all; He was addressing extra-Levitical, man-made traditions about handwashing.

Isaiah 56:6 shows that these clean and unclean standards weren’t limited to Israel alone: “Also the foreigners who join themselves to YHWH, to serve him, and to love YHWH’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant.” And Exodus 12:49 declares, “One law shall be to him who is born at home, and to the stranger who lives among you.” From the beginning, God’s Law applied to all who served Him.

Romans 7:12 reinforces this: “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, righteous, and good.” Paul wasn’t describing something temporary or ethnic, he was affirming the holiness of God’s standard. Psalm 119:142 says, “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth.” God’s Law reflects His character, and Malachi 3:6 declares, “For I, YHWH, don’t change.”

Leviticus 11:44–45 sums up the purpose of these commands perfectly: “For I am YHWH your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy… For I am YHWH who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” The food laws are about obedience, holiness, and health. Because who knows better than the One who created all the clean and unclean animals what is healthy or not healthy? 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 says, “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” If our bodies are His temple, then we have no right to defile them with what He calls unclean. The same God who made the body gave the instructions for what keeps it holy and healthy.

Isaiah 66:17 paints a sobering picture of the end times: “Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig’s meat, abominable things, and the mouse, shall come to an end together, says YHWH.” This prophecy is about the time of Messiah’s return, showing that God still judges those who eat what He calls unclean. Revelation 18:2 speaks of Babylon as “a prison of every unclean and hateful bird,” showing that uncleanness, both spiritual and physical, is tied to the corruption of the world system. And Revelation 21:27 declares that “nothing unclean will enter” the New Jerusalem. From creation to eternity, God’s standard never changes. What He calls unclean in the beginning will still be unclean when Messiah returns.

So when Christianity says the Law was just for the Jews, it denies the plain testimony of Scripture. The separation between clean and unclean existed before Abraham, before Moses, before Israel. It reflects the eternal order of a holy God who never changes. To reject that is to reject His holiness itself. What He called clean and unclean then, He still calls clean and unclean now, and He will when Messiah returns.