IslamDraft · awaiting advisor review
Doesn’t the Bible forbid pork and require circumcision, as Islam does?
In short
Yes. The Law of Moses forbids pork and commands circumcision, and Jesus was circumcised as a Jewish boy. But the New Testament teaches that these laws were signs of God’s covenant with Israel, and that through Jesus they are not required of non-Jewish believers. Peter, James and Paul agreed this in Acts 15, and Mark says Jesus “declared all foods clean”.
The Objection
Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, kept the Law, and said he came not to abolish it but to fulfil it, with not the smallest letter passing away. Circumcision was given to Abraham as an everlasting covenant, and Isaiah condemns those who eat pork. So, Muslims argue, Islam, which forbids pork (Qur’an 2:173) and practises circumcision, is closer to the faith of Abraham and Jesus than a Christianity that followed Paul in setting these laws aside.
Put as its strongest advocates would put it.
The Christian Case
- Scripture
The Torah is clear. God gave circumcision to Abraham as the sign of his covenant, for his male descendants on the eighth day, and Leviticus repeats it. Pork is among the foods Israel must not eat, and the food laws are tied to Israel being set apart from the nations. The Old Testament also speaks of a deeper “circumcision of the heart”.
- Scripture
Jesus taught that what goes into a person cannot defile them, and Mark adds, “Thus he declared all foods clean” (ESV). Later Peter hears in a vision, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common”, which he takes to mean Gentiles are not unclean. Paul writes that nothing is unclean in itself.
- Scripture
When some insisted Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses, the apostles and elders met in Jerusalem. Peter and James, not only Paul, agreed not to require it, asking Gentiles to avoid certain things such as blood. Paul later says circumcision itself counts for nothing either way; what matters is faith working through love.
- Historical evidence
Paul’s letter to the Galatians, usually dated around AD 48–55, shows this debate already live among Jesus’ first followers, with Peter and James as key figures. Whatever one concludes, setting these laws aside for Gentiles was not a later church innovation; it goes back to the first generation. Some early Jewish believers, later called Ebionites, did keep the Law.
- Philosophical argument
The Qur’an itself accepts that God’s laws can change between communities. It has Jesus say he came “to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you” (Qur’an 3:50), and says each community was given its own law (5:48). So a change in rules is not by itself a sign of corruption; the real question is whether Jesus had the authority to bring it.
- Christians differ
Most Christians eat pork and treat circumcision as a medical or cultural choice. But the Ethiopian Orthodox Church avoids pork and practises circumcision, Seventh-day Adventists avoid pork on biblical and health grounds, and many Messianic Jews circumcise their sons and keep kosher as Jews, without requiring it of Gentiles. Christians also debate exactly how Jesus “fulfilled” the Law.
Where the Evidence Is Weaker
Jesus himself was circumcised and, as far as the Gospels show, kept the food laws; the clearest release from them comes after his resurrection, through the apostles. Mark 7:19 is Mark’s own comment, and its wording and meaning are debated. Matthew 5:17–19 is a genuinely hard text. A Muslim who believes Paul changed Jesus’ message will need more than these verses: the question becomes whether Acts and the letters can be trusted.
Arguments to Avoid
- Saying the food laws were simply ancient hygiene rules about disease: the Bible presents them as marking Israel as holy, not as medical advice.
- Claiming Paul alone invented the change: Acts and Galatians show Peter and James were involved, and Paul himself had Timothy circumcised (Acts 16:3).
- Claiming the Qur’an commands circumcision: it does not mention it; Muslims practise it from hadith and Abraham’s example, and Islamic legal schools differ on whether it is obligatory.
- Mocking Muslim or Jewish food laws as mere legalism: Paul tells Christians not to judge others over food (Romans 14:3).
Read for Yourself
Mark 7:14–23
14And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: 15There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. 16If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 17And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. 18And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? 20And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Acts 10:9–28
9On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: 10And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, 11And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: 12Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 13And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. 14But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. 15And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. 16This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. 17Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate, 18And called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. 19While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. 20Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them. 21Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? 22And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. 23Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. 24And the morrow after they entered into Cæsarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. 25And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. 26But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man. 27And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together. 28And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
Acts 15:1–21
1And certain men which came down from Judæa taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. 2When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. 3And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. 4And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. 5But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. 6And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. 7And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 8And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. 12Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. 13And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: 14Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. 15And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, 16After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: 17That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. 18Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. 19Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: 20But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. 21For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
Galatians 5:1–6
1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Further Reading
- Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People · E. P. Sanders (1983)An influential study of how Paul handled the Law of Moses.
- Purity and Danger · Mary Douglas (1966)An anthropologist’s classic reading of the food laws in Leviticus.
Drafted with Opened AI and awaiting review by Opened’s apologetics advisors. Labels show the kind of support each point has: Scripture is what the Bible says; historical evidence and philosophical arguments can be checked by anyone; “Christians differ” marks questions on which faithful Christians disagree.
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