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On the Jewish Meats

Novatian of Rome

Chapter 2

About this work

A letter-like treatise interpreting biblical food laws spiritually and arguing that Christians are called to moral restraint rather than observance of Israel’s dietary distinctions of the old covenant.

Author: Novatian of Rome
Traditional attribution: Tertullian or Cyprian (in earlier transmission)
Date: c. AD 250
Origin: Rome
Genre: Theological Treatise

Chapter II. Argument.—He First of All Asserts that the Law is Spiritual; And Thence, Man’s First Food Was Only the Fruit Trees, and the Use of Flesh Was Added, that the Law that Followed Subsequently Was to Be Understood Spiritually.

Therefore, first of all, we must avail

‹ Chapter 1 Chapter 3 ›

ourselves

of

that

passage

,

“

that

the

law

is

spiritual

;

”

and

if

they

deny

it

to

be

spiritual

,

they

assuredly

blaspheme

;

if

,

avoiding

blasphemy

,

they

confess

it

to

be

spiritual

,

let

them

read

it

spiritually

.

For

divine

things

must

be

divinely

received

,

and

must

assuredly

be

maintained

as

holy

.

But

a

grave

fault

is

branded

on

those

who

attach

earthly

and

human

doctrine

to

sacred

and

spiritual

words

;

and

this

we

must

beware

of

doing

.

Moreover

,

we

may

beware

,

if

any

things

enjoined

by

God

be

so

treated

as

if

they

were

assumed

to

diminish

His

authority

,

lest

,

in

calling

some

things

impure

and

unclean

,

their

institution

should

dishonour

their

ordainer

.

For

in

reprobating

what

He

has

made

,

He

will

appear

to

have

condemned

His

own

works

,

which

He

had

approved

as

good

;

and

He

will

be

designated

as

seeming

capricious

in

both

cases

,

as

the

heretics

indeed

would

have

it

;

either

in

having

blessed

things

which

were

not

clean

,

or

in

subsequently

reprobating

as

not

good

,

creatures

which

He

had

blessed

as

both

clean

and

good

.

And

of

this

the

enormity

and

contradiction

will

remain

for

ever

if

that

Jewish

doctrine

is

persisted

in

,

which

must

be

got

rid

of

with

all

our

ability

;

so

that

whatever

is

irregularly

delivered

by

them

,

may

be

taken

away

by

us

,

and

a

suitable

arrangement

of

His

works

,

and

an

appropriate

and

spiritual

application

of

the

divine

law

,

may

be

restored

.

But

to

begin

from

the

beginning

of

things

,

whence

it

behoves

me

to

begin

;

the

only

food

for

the

first

men

was

fruit

and

the

produce

of

the

trees

.

For

afterwards

,

man’s

sin

transferred

his

need

from

the

fruit

-

trees

to

the

produce

of

the

earth

,

when

the

very

attitude

of

his

body

attested

the

condition

of

his

conscience

.

For

although

innocency

raised

men

up

towards

the

heavens

to

pluck

their

food

from

the

trees

so

long

as

they

had

a

good

conscience

,

yet

sin

,

when

committed

,

bent

men

down

to

the

earth

and

to

the

ground

to

gather

its

grain

.

Moreover

,

afterwards

the

use

of

flesh

was

added

,

the

divine

favour

supplying

for

human

necessities

the

kinds

of

meats

generally

fitting

for

suitable

occasions

.

For

while

a

more

tender

meat

was

needed

to

nourish

men

who

were

both

tender

and

unskilled

,

it

was

still

a

food

not

prepared

without

toil

,

doubtless

for

their

advantage

,

lest

they

should

again

find

a

pleasure

in

sinning

,

if

the

labour

imposed

upon

sin

did

not

exhort

innocence

.

And

since

now

it

was

no

more

a

paradise

to

be

tended

,

but

a

whole

world

to

be

cultivated

,

the

more

robust

food

of

flesh

is

offered

to

men

,

that

for

the

advantage

of

culture

something

more

might

be

added

to

the

vigour

of

the

human

body

.

All

these

things

,

as

I

have

said

,

were

by

grace

and

by

divine

arrangement

:

so

that

either

the

most

vigorous

food

should

not

be

given

in

too

small

quantity

for

men’s

support

,

and

they

should

be

enfeebled

for

labour

;

or

that

the

more

tender

meat

should

not

be

too

abundant

,

so

that

,

oppressed

beyond

the

measure

of

their

strength

,

they

should

not

be

able

to

bear

it

.

But

the

law

which

followed

subsequently

ordained

the

flesh

foods

with

distinction

:

for

some

animals

it

gave

and

granted

for

use

,

as

being

clean

;

some

it

interdicted

as

not

clean

,

and

conveying

pollution

to

those

that

eat

them

.

Moreover

,

it

gave

this

character

to

those

that

were

clean

,

that

those

which

chew

the

cud

and

divide

the

hoofs

are

clean

;

those

are

unclean

which

do

neither

one

nor

other

of

these

things

.

So

,

in

fishes

also

,

the

law

said

that

those

indeed

were

clean

which

were

covered

with

scales

and

supplied

with

fins

,

but

that

those

which

were

otherwise

were

not

clean

.

Moreover

,

it

established

a

distinction

among

the

fowls

,

and

laid

down

what

was

to

be

judged

either

an

abomination

,

or

clean

.

Thus

the

law

ordained

the

exercise

of

very

great

subtlety

in

making

a

separation

among

those

animals

which

the

ancient

appointment

had

gathered

together

into

one

form

of

blessing

.

What

,

then

,

are

we

to

say

?

Are

the

animals

therefore

unclean

?

But

what

else

is

it

to

say

that

they

are

not

clean

,

than

that

the

law

has

separated

them

from

the

uses

of

food

?

And

what

,

moreover

,

is

that

that

we

have

just

now

said

?

Then

God

is

the

ordainer

of

things

which

are

not

clean

;

and

the

blame

attached

to

things

which

are

made

will

recoil

upon

their

Maker

,

who

did

not

produce

them

clean

;

to

say

which

is

certainly

characteristic

of

extreme

and

excessive

folly

:

it

is

to

accuse

God

as

having

created

unclean

things

,

and

to

charge

upon

the

divine

majesty

the

guilt

of

having

made

things

which

are

abomination

,

especially

when

they

were

both

pronounced

“

very

good

,

”

and

as

being

good

have

obtained

the

blessing

from

God

Himself

“

that

they

should

increase

and

multiply

.

”

Moreover

also

they

were

reserved

by

the

command

of

the

Creator

in

Noah’s

ark

for

the

sake

of

their

offspring

,

that

so

being

kept

they

might

be

proved

to

be

needful

;

and

being

needful

,

they

might

be

proved

to

be

good

,

although

even

in

that

case

also

there

is

a

distinction

appended

.

But

still

,

even

then

,

the

creation

of

those

very

creatures

that

were

not

clean

might

have

been

utterly

abolished

,

if

it

had

needed

to

be

abolished

on

account

of

its

own

pollution

.

Notes

3
Rom. vii. 14.
4
This sentence is very unintelligible, but it is the nearest approach to a meaning that can be gathered from the original.
5
[Gen. ix. 3. The Noachic covenant was Catholic, and foreshadowed Acts x. 15, although clean and unclean beasts were recognised as by natural classification. Gen. vii. 2. Argue as in Gal. iii. 17.]
6
Or, as some read, “for eating,” substituting “esum” for “usum.”
7
Gen. i. 31.