A lot of protestant Christians who are slaves to their tastes rather than to the Word of God will argue up and down that Christ abolished the restrictions on food in the Bible, even though there is no evidence of such. These people will use the NIV Bible (aka. the “Not-quite-so Inspired Version”) with its little addendum in Mark 7:19 as “proof” of their extra-biblical doctrine.

Except you’re wrong.

The severe dearth of education in the English language is the reason that Early Modern English is considered “too difficult” to read, when in fact it was the street language of the day. The King James Bible, and its predecessor the Tyndale Bible (from which the KJV copied between 80 and 90% of its English translation – keep in mind that this predates the concept of plagiarism), were written in Early Modern English, the street language of the common folk (as an aside, I think it’s hilarious that having ‘an’ before a noun that begins with ‘h’ started with Early Modern English because in the original pronunciation the ‘h’ was dropped – like Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady – and yet people assume it’s “noble” and “illustrious” speak).

As Tyndale actively sought out the older Greek manuscripts for his translation of the New Testament, the fact that the KJV borrows so much from his translation means that it is the closest existing English translation to the Greek manuscripts. This offers great insight into what has happened with these modern translations.

Having done a summary cross-examination of the KJV and Tyndale (as well as Wycliffe’s English translation of the Vulgate), what we find of the “proof” verse is actually a modern misunderstanding of a Greek word.

Here it is in Early Modern English, the English of the common folk:

Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? 

And now, to put it in smaller words, here is what Jeshua is talking about: in short, when you eat the food you eat goes into the place where the food goes when you eat, and then comes out the other end.

Crudity aside, the issue at stake here is the word “purging.” The NIV uses the word “purifying”, though scholars admit that “purging” works better in this context. But when you change the word to “purifying”, it sounds like Christ has “purified all foods”, when in fact that is not the case whatsoever. Though they sound very similar, there is a marked difference between “purge” and “purify.”

Purify has positive intonations, the idea of purification, of removing the impurities and restoring the object to its pure and elevated status; in contrast, purge is a more aggressive word, forcing out the bad element with violent vigor.

You might not think this is the case here, but look at the context! Jeshua is talking about bowel movements: is the excrement that is purged from a bowel movement – ie, that which “goeth out into the draught” – purified and clean to eat? Of course not! Only a deviant would think such things!

The unfortunate truth is that Jeshua’s mother was Jewish. He submitted Himself to the Law that He gave to His people, and poured His blood upon the Ark of the Covenant when He was crucified in fulfillment of that very Law. There is little evidence of what He ate, except for a passage in Luke about broiled fish and honeycomb; but knowing that this is 1st century Israel, it is highly likely – nay, in fact certain – that the fish was “kosher”.

God, who created all creatures, knew precisely which ones would not produce healthy food for His post-flood people (in fact, that is the reason why clean animals came into Noah’s Ark in sevens: Darren Aronofsky doesn’t have a clue). God never speaks anything only for the sake of hearing His own voice. If He says something, it’s a good guess that He has good reason for saying it. Rather than balk at His Word (ironic that people decry the laws of clean food as being “for the Jews” when, according to the Old Testament, the Jews were ready to bolt and run from Jehovah’s Word at a moment’s notice), we should be ready to deny ourselves the flesh-pots of Egypt no matter how they may excite our tastes.