What is meant by "abstain from blood" at Acts 15:29?

Question

Acts 15:29: " That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well."
Also at Leviticus 7:27: "Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people."

Answer 1

Blood is life. God wants his people to respect life. God provide water for us to drink and fruits, but not people's blood or animal. It is evil in the eye of God.

Answer 2

It means don't eat meat with blood, or to eat blood.

If you ask any chinese, they will tell you how to cook blood in various way.

This rule in Act was form to allow the Jews and Gentile to accept each other.

Imagin all these while, the Jews did not do certain things. Now out of sudden, all things are possible! It will be a culture problem.

The council was wise to state certain rules, and include blood. Afterall, blood holds a special place in the religion. Innocent blood in shed for the redemption of sin. And the perfect blood is Jesus.

So to abstain from blood is also a wise things to do, in a peace the Jews, and to remind the Greek that the Blood is something holy.

Answer 3

It instructs people not to consume the blood of an animal when they eat it. In the Hebrew culture, they were often allowed to eat the meat of a sacrificed animal, but not the blood, because God knew that the life of a mammal was in the blood (Lev. 17:14). That was to be poured out onto the ground (or offered in sacrificial ceremony to God) and not consumed. Many cultures do the opposite and do consume the blood, making blood pies, blood sausages, mixing it with milk, drinking it straight, etc.

In the New Testament, Christians were warned to be careful not to accidentally eat blood when they purchased meat from the market or meat that was known to have been offered to idols and false gods.

In the Bible, the blood is a serious issue. In mankind, the sin nature is carried from generation to generation through the bloodline of man. With animal sacrifices, it is often a symbol of the future sacrifice of Jesus on the heavenly altar. How they treated the natural blood of the sacrifice reflected on how they symbolically treated the blood of God's sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Hope that helps!

Answer 4

There's a great article on this in Christianity Today online at:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/127/45.0.html

Here are some clips from this article:

"And yet, rooted deeply in every Jewish person's consciousness was a primordial association of blood with life. God had given it that meaning, as a new era of world history began, in a covenant with Noah. God commanded, "But you must not eat meat that has lifeblood still in it." Later, in the formal legal code with Moses and the Israelites, God reiterated his command as "a lasting ordinance for the generations to come." He explained the reason: "For the life of a creature is in the blood . . . " (Lev. 3:17; 7:26ff.; 17:11, 14; Deut.12:23ff.)."

"But, before eating, any good Jewish housewife checked her meat to see that no blood remained. The rule was absolute: do not eat the blood, for it contains life. "Kosher" cuisine developed, with elaborate techniques to assure that no blood contaminated the meat."

"So deeply was the prohibition against ingesting blood etched into Jewish consciences that, centuries later, when the apostles distilled which Jewish customs must be honored by the new Gentile Christians, two dicta against drinking blood made the list of only four taboos (Acts 15:29). Jewish Christians were flexible on such long-held practices as circumcision, but they clung to strict prohibitions against ingesting blood, "For the life is in the blood.""

The interesting thing about this article is that the author then goes on to discuss the fact that, during the Last Supper, Jesus lifts the cup and says, "This is my blood" and then instructs those present to drink. The author illustrates how radical this concept was to Jews and yet the powerful meaning behind it.

Answer 5

It means to not ingest blood (or put it in your body) in any way. God views blood as sacred, that's why he forbade the Israelites from drinking it or eating meat that was not bled properly. The apostle Paul was speaking of the same thing at Acts 15:29.

Answer 6

Woohoo, it's open interpretation day.... here we go:

Having read the Bible fairly extensively back when I was a Christian, I paid particular notice to all these passages about rules.

It strikes me that they _almost_ all have some basis in common sense or in real world safety, along with the stated doom and gloom.

Consuming blood back in the days of the Bible, would have been flat out dangerous from a food safety point of view.

To read 'blood' here as 'violence' or 'getting a blood transfusion' is taking it out of context. The passages are about food consumption.

Answer 7

I think they are saying to abstain from the blood from the meat offered to the Idols. As far as the old testiment Jesus did away w/ the old laws thats why he died on the cross. To deliver us and tear that veil in two.

Answer 8

This means you are not supposed to eat the blood from meat. Orthodox Jews soak their meat in brine to draw out the blood. For most people, if they observe this law, it mainly means having meat cooked well done. Some sects broaden this to include blood transfusions, and do not allow it.

Answer 9

Meat gets it's taste from blood. They were being instructed that if they were going to eat meat, then it needed to be prepared bloodless. Hence, Kosher meats.

Answer 10

Don't eat blood. But get real, you cannot extract morality from the contradicitory bible!