Do Christians have to eat kosher?

No.

Kosher laws far exceed the biblical dietary restrictions. For example, the law not to boil a goat in its mother’s milk (Exodus 23:19, 34:26, Deuteronomy 14:21) was expanded to restrict people from eating any dairy product with any meat product—even though both Abraham and David ate dairy products with meat (Genesis 18:8, 2 Samuel 17:27-29). Current kosher laws like the restriction on meat and cheese originated centuries after Jesus’ resurrection and wouldn’t have been observed by Jesus or any Old Testament Jews.

Concerning the dietary laws found in the Hebrew Scriptures, the early church—including Jewish Christians—believed that these laws had been fulfilled and had stopped observing them by the end of the first century. The Epistle of Barnabas was written was written by the eponymous Jewish companion of Paul, sometime after the destruction of the second temple. In this letter, the apostle explains that the Old Testament dietary laws were given primarily to instruct His people in how they should interact with gentile peoples (10:1-3), and that their purpose had been fulfilled in Christ (2:6-10).

This is in line with Peter’s vision in Acts 10. While Peter is praying on a rooftop, he falls into a trance and God commands him to eat unclean animals. Peter responds as we’d expect him to: “Not so, Lord! I have never eaten anything common or unclean” (Acts 10:14). The Lord responds,

“What God has cleansed you must not call common.” (Acts 10:15)

Soon after, a group of messengers arrive and invite Peter to come visit a gentile named Cornelius. Peter acquiesces, and tell the gentiles,

“God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” (Acts 10:28)

This culminates with Jesus being preached not just to a Jewish audience but to the gentile world as well, opening the gospel to all nations.

You might read this and respond, “Well, that wasn’t about food; it was about people.” And yes, you are correct. This was about people. And it always was. These dietary restrictions were never about food—they were always about people, and now that the lesson has been learned in Christ, these dietary restrictions became obsolete.

Jesus, Peter, and Barnabas aren’t alone in this understanding, either. Philo of Alexandria was a Jewish teacher who was born about two decades before Jesus and who died about two decades after Jesus. He lived in Egypt, and it is unlikely he ever heard about Jesus. He too taught that these dietary laws were never about the food itself, but were instead instituted as symbolic lessons.

The consistent teaching of the Bible is that the dietary laws of Moses were given for a specific purpose, and that purpose has been fulfilled in Jesus, understood by the Church, and are no longer necessary. Whether it’s Mark’s claim that Jesus declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19), Paul’s encouragement that “every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4, 5) and to claim otherwise is “giving heed to deceiving spirits” (v. 1), or the Jerusalem Council’s pronouncement that the dietary laws would not be put on new believers because there was “no distinction between us (Jews) and them (gentiles)” (Acts 15:9-11), the biblical teaching is clear—these requirements are no longer in effect today.

So what then? Should Christians do the opposite? Should you gorge yourself on shrimp and hotdogs in the name of Jesus?

Not exactly.

In Romans 14, Paul gives instruction to believers dealing with weaker brothers in the faith. Paul states that, although he “knows and [is] convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean” (v. 14), he is aware that some Christians haven’t comprehended this truth yet. Paul recognizes that his freedom to eat all foods might offend some without full knowledge and drive them away from the faith. Thus, he warns against “destroying with your food [the faith of] one for whom Christ died” (v. 15).

Alternatively, Paul spends much of his epistle to the Galatians warning against false teachers who will try to deceive unknowledgeable Christians into unnecessarily subjecting themselves to misunderstood Jewish rituals such as circumcision and dietary restrictions. Paul discloses that even Peter got off-track with this. Though Peter had been “living in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews,” he was pressured by Judaizers to “compel the Gentiles to live as Jews” (Galatians 2:14). Paul would have none of it, and confronted Peter for his misleading acquiescence and cowardice, and warned that anyone who taught as the Judaizers had taught was teaching a false gospel (Galatians 1:6), had perverted the message of Christ (v. 7), and would be accursed (v. 8).

Paul’s position is clear. Though the dietary laws are no longer useful or needed, there may be those weaker in the faith who do not understand such things. To them, you are to gently guide them to the truth without damaging their faith. But on the other hand, there are those who will attempt to pervert the gospel by insisting that believers submit themselves to these restrictions, as if that will work alongside grace to benefit the Christian. To them, you are to firmly admonish lest they damage the faith of others.

So once again, should Christians eat kosher? No, there is no need or command to restrict one’s diet in this way, except to spare the faith of a weaker brother as you guide him to the full truth of the gospel. The lesson of these guidelines were fully realized in Christ, and as far as He is concerned, all are purified by faith (Acts 15:9), not by whatever enters a man from outside (Mark 7:18).

“The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:24-26)