A ceremonial abomination is what the law calls detestable in Israel’s worship and table.
You shall not make yourselves detestable.
You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
Ceremonial abomination is the law’s word for what Israel must not eat, touch, or bring into worship. The unclean animal, the idol in the high place, and the strange fire are not the same sin, but the law can call each an abomination because each treats the Holy One as common. God says you shall be holy, for I am holy. The food laws marked Israel off from the nations. Peter is later told not to call common what God has made clean. The ceremonial line is fulfilled. The holy God is not.
- Idolatry is called an abomination in a stronger key. This page keeps the ceremonial use: unclean things in the camp and the table.
- The church is not under the food list. It is still told to have nothing to do with idols.
- What the law called detestable trained Israel to ask what belongs in the presence of a holy God.
You shall not make yourselves detestable.
You shall be holy, for I am holy.
What God has made clean, do not call common.
- Ceremonial abomination marks what Israel must not treat as ordinary.
- The ground is God’s holiness, not a taste.
- Food laws separated Israel from the nations.
- Peter is told the clean and common line has been redrawn.
- Idolatry remains forbidden after the food laws are fulfilled.
- The word trained the people for a holy presence.
- The Word – Detestable, abomination.
- The Table – Unclean animals.
- The Camp – What must not be brought in.
- The Reason – I am holy.
- The Later Word – What God has made clean.
- The Remaining – No idols.
- Leviticus 11:43-44 – “You shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing… For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”
- Deuteronomy 14:3 – “You shall not eat any abomination.”
- Acts 10:15 – “What God has made clean, do not call common.”
- 1 Corinthians 10:14 – “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”
You shall not make yourselves detestable.
You shall be holy, for I am holy.
What God has made clean, do not call common.
The food line was real. It has been redrawn. The holy God, and the ban on idols, have not.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.