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This study set out to determine the NT attitude (conformity or abolition) toward the OT distinction between clean and unclean animals within the larger context of purity and defilement. The study revealed that in the OT and subsequent Jewish literature, the ingestion of unclean animals results in moral rather than cultic defilement. Further, the study found that the abolition of the distinction between clean and unclean animals cannot be substantiated from the NT. Thus, the distinction between clean and unclean animals is binding for Christians.

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Dr Davidson Razafiarivony is teaching New Testament Studies and Greek Language at the Adventist University of Africa, Nairobi, Kenya. He has special interest in biblical backgrounds, relationship between early Christianity and Judaism.

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