God establishes one restriction on the new food freedom: do not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. Blood represents life — the Hebrew understanding is that the life of a creature is in its blood (Leviticus 17:11). Consuming blood is consuming life in a way that violates the sanctity of life God intends to preserve. The restriction on blood consumption will be codified in Leviticus and carried forward in principle into the new covenant community — Acts 15:29 includes abstaining from blood in the Jerusalem Council's guidance for Gentile believers. Hebrews 9:22 states that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, making the sacredness of blood in the covenant framework clear. The application: even in expanded freedom, God establishes boundaries that reflect the sanctity of life. Freedom from the law does not mean the freedom to treat life as merely consumable. How do you relate to the lives — human and otherwise — that sustain your own?

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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