Clean and Unclean

When God finished creating everything, everything was "very good" (Genesis 1:31). But by the time of the flood - after the fall - certain animals had already become recognized as "unclean" even though the Law was not yet given (Genesis 7:2). Later, the Law was given to remove any uncertainty as to which animals were clean and which were not clean.

But after the cross, the Lord said to Peter in a vision, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common [or, unclean]" (Acts 10:14).

And Paul taught that in the last days some would command "to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving [that is, with faith - with a clear conscience]: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer" (I Tim.4:3,4).

Therefore the early-church believers need not have let any man judge them "in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which were a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ...." (Colossians 2:16,17); for the kingdom of God "is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17).

What caused certain animals to become unclean and others to remain clean, after the fall?

Perhaps, from the moment of creation onwards, the elect angels had jurisdiction over those animals which remained "clean" even after the fall, while perhaps the angels which kept not their first estate had jurisdiction over those animals which later became "unclean" after Adam's fall which alligned creation by Adam's authority with the by then fallen angels.

After all, the Scripture mentions the angel which seemed to have jurisdiction over the rivers (Revelation 16:5); and another which had jurisdiction over the wind. Satan himself was able to control fire (Job 1:16). How much more the animal kingdom? But I don't know.

And by what means were they cleansed? Paul said that just as it was necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with the blood sacrifices, so the heavenly things themselves [were cleansed] with better sacrifices than the blood of animals (Hebrews 9:23). What does it mean that the heavenly things were "cleansed"? It might just mean that God's righteous demands were met. Or, could it mean that the sons of God which appeared before the throne of God (in the days of Job, and of Jehoshaphat the king) were now cast out from heaven, no more to accuse the saints? If so, with the falling from heaven of those fallen angels, perhaps even the animals who may have been under their jurisdiction received some sort of ceremonial cleansing at that time, through the cross. I don't know.

The main point of the Law, however, was to teach a distinction between clean and unclean - not so much because God cared about nutrition, but to teach a spiritual lesson about the state of man. In Christ, there is no unclean - whether Jew or Gentile. We have been made "all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).