We have learned from passages such as Romans 10:4 that Christ is the end of the law for the redeemed Christian, who is, therefore, not under the law. Does this also mean that a Christian does not have to keep the Sabbath and is allowed to eat pork?
The New Testament provides clear answers to these questions. For example, the apostle Paul writes in Colossians 2:16, 17: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” He writes to the Galatians: “You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain” (Gal 4:10, 11).
These verses make it clear that there is no Sabbath commandment or the like for Christians. He does not keep one day before another, not even the first day of the week, which, however, is given special recognition by the expression “the Lord’s day” (Rev 1:10). But this does not make this day a kind of Sabbath for which there is a specific commandment. We Christians no longer have a day on which we have to do certain things or are not allowed to do certain things. The Sabbath no longer has any meaning for Christians other than that it points to the rest of the Millennium. It is a shadow of the reality that will come based on the the work of Christ.
As far as pork is concerned, Peter already had to learn in Acts 10 that the dietary rules of the Jewish system no longer had any meaning for him. In the so-called apostolic council, which is reported in Acts 15, the apostles and elders, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, decided that there were only the following rules for Christians (Acts 15:20):
- abstinence from idol sacrifices
- abstinence from blood (e.g., black pudding)
- abstinence from things strangled
- abstinence from fornication
There is no mention of pork here. The following applies to us: “For 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). So we may eat pork also with thanksgiving.