Leviticus 11:44

"For I am Jehovah your God: sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that moveth upon the earth. For I am Jehovah that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

"This is the law of the beast, and of the bird, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth; to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten."

We must continue to bear in mind that the distinctions referred to here were deeply ingrained in human tradition long before the Divine record here was given, and that God's primary purpose of separating Israel from surrounding pagan nations was doubtless the principal reason for the imposition of these rules. Their effectiveness was total and complete. These dietary restrictions did absolutely separate Israel from every other nation on earth, and they continue to do so. Christ abolished them, because the purpose for which they were given ceased to exist. God "broke down the middle wall of partition" between Jews and Gentiles, and the continuation of the separation involved in the rules here given could not possibly be any longer pleasing to God. Why? Because God had caused all distinctions between Jew and Gentile to cease.

There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile (Romans 10:12).

And the Spirit commanded them to go with them (to the house of a Gentile), making no distinction (Acts 11:12).

In every nation, the one who reveres God and practices righteousness is acceptable to God (Acts 10:35).

"And God made no distinction between us (Jews) and them (Gentiles)" (Acts 15:9).

Yet it was the existence of these very dietary laws that proved an almost insurmountable barrier to the establishment of any real fellowship between Jews and Gentiles as the struggles over this question loomed large indeed in the early church. Galatians 2 and Acts 15 deal precisely with this problem. Let it be ever remembered that God not only removed distinctions between unclean and clean meats, but also the greater distinction between Jews and Gentiles which those dietary laws were designed to create and enforce.