² “Speak to the Israelites:

“From among all the land animals, these are the creatures that you may eat.^(A)

¹⁰ but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things right.^(A)

¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”^(A)

¹¹ and detestable they shall remain. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall regard as detestable.

⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food,^[a] which have not benefited those who observe them.^(A)

⁴ For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving,^{(A) 5} for it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.

A Good Minister of Jesus Christ

⁶ If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant^[a] of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed.^(B)

¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who considers it unclean.^{(A) 15} If your brother or sister is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died.

² Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.^{(A) 3} Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat, for God has welcomed them.

¹² In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. ¹³ Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.”^(A)

¹⁵ there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”^[a]

¹⁷ When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ He said to them, “So, are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, ¹⁹ since it enters not the heart but the stomach and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)