Understanding 'Unclean' in Romans 14
Does Paul's statement in Romans 14:14 that "I know and am convinced
by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself" mean the
early Church made no distinction between clean and unclean
meats?
An understanding of Greek terminology can help us here.
It is important to realize that the New Testament writers referred
to two concepts of unclean in the New Testament, with different
Greek words used to convey those ideas. Unclean could refer to
animals God did not intend to be used as food (Leviticus 11;
Deuteronomy 14). Unclean could also refer to ceremonial
uncleanness.
In Romans 14 Paul uses the word koinos, which means "common" (W.E.
Vine, Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New
Testament Words, 1985, "Unclean," p. 649). In addition to the
meanings of "common" and "ordinary," as used in English (Acts 2:44;
4:32; Titus 1:4; Hebrews 10:29; Jude 3), the word also applied to
things considered polluted or defiled. This word, along with its
verb form koinoo, is used in Mark 7:2, 15-23, where it obviously
refers to ceremonial uncleanness in the incident when the disciples
ate without having first washed their hands.
Through a concordance or similar Bible help you can verify that
koinos and koinoo appear throughout the New Testament to refer to
this kind of ceremonial uncleanness. Something could be
"common"ceremonially uncleaneven though it was otherwise
considered a clean meat.
An entirely different word, akathartos, is used in the New
Testament for animals Scripture specifies as unclean. In the
Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament in wide use
in Paul's day), akathartos is used to designate the unclean meats
listed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.
Both words, koinos and akathartos, are used in Acts 10 in
describing Peter's vision of the sheet filled with "all kinds of
four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and
birds of the air" (verse 12), both clean and unclean. Peter himself
distinguished between the two concepts of uncleanness by using both
words in verse 14. After a voice told Peter to "kill and eat," he
replied, "I have never eaten anything common [koinos] or unclean
[akathartos]." Most Bible translations distinguish between the
meanings of the two words used here. Peter used the same
terminology in verse 28 and Acts 11:8 in discussing this
vision.
When Paul said in Romans 14:14 that "I know and am convinced by the
Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean [koinos, or 'common'] of
itself," he was making the same point he had made earlier to the
Corinthians: Just because meat that was otherwise lawful to eat may
have been associated with idol worship does not mean it is no
longer fit for human consumption. As seen from the context, Paul
wasn't discussing biblical dietary restrictions at all.
Paul goes on to state in Romans 14:20 that "all food is clean" (New
International Version). The word translated "clean" is katharos,
"free from impure admixture, without blemish, spotless" (Vine,
"Clean, Cleanness, Cleanse, Cleansing," p. 103). Clean meats as
such aren't addressed in the New Testament, so there isn't a
specific word to describe them. Katharos is used to describe all
kinds of cleanliness and purity, including clean dishes (Matthew
23:26), people (John 13:10) and clothing (Revelation 15:6; 19:8,
14), "pure" religion (James 1:27), gold and glass (Revelation 21:18
).
Realize also that, in both verses 14 and 20 of Romans 14, the word
food or meat isn't in the original wording. No specific object is
mentioned relative to cleanness or uncleanness. The sense of these
verses is merely that "nothing [is] unclean [koinos: common or
ceremonially defiled] of itself," and "all is clean [katharos: free
from impure admixture, without blemish, spotless]."
Paul's point is that any association of food with idolatrous
activity had no bearing on whether the food was suitable for
eating.
