The Marcan Reception of Dietary Laws

Abstract

The Marcan Reception of Dietary Laws

Mk 7,17-23: and its context is a two-level narrative. On the first level, the text is a prophetic 
critique initially directed against the Pharisaic tradition of handwashing or, more generally, against 
the Pharisaic understanding of purity. On this level, 
Jesus opened the way for a departure from Judaism in no way. In other words, Jesus did not teach 
against the Torah’s dietary laws. The second level 
of the text is Mark’s interpretation. For him, Jesus’ 
saying about the food being eliminated into the 
sewer no longer meant (or primarily did not mean) 
only that morality is prior to purity questions but 
also that everything is pure (i.e. for Gentile Christians). Mark, therefore, found in Jesus’ saying the 
basis for the Gentile Christians’ exemption from 
kosher laws. However, it is important to emphasise that one can discover the problem of identity 
behind the Marcan interpretation. By eating what 
the Jews did not, Christians clearly signal that they 
were now outside Judaism. Eating non-kosher 
food was an identity marker for (Gentile) Christians, emphasising their separation from Judaism. 
The drawing of boundaries between Judaism and 
Christianity was and remained an important issue 
in early Christianity. Whether they interpreted 
the kosher laws allegorically (Barnabas, Clement 
of Alexandria) or accepted their literal meaning 
(Justin), the common theological position was that 
the kosher laws (Lev 11), as interpreted by Judaism, were not valid for Christians. However, the 
practice was sometimes quite different from theological thinking: the extent to which the dietary 
laws applied to Gentile Christian communities was 
and remains a serious problem.