Genesis 9:3?

[Sovereign Grace]

My sermon this last Lord's day I preached from Romans 6:14 titled, "The harmony of Law and Grace", and how these two do not stand diametrically opposed to each other, but go together hand-in-hand. I then brought up examples from the OT and Noah was one of them. I made reference to Genesis 9:3 and how they did not eat meat prior to this. At last night's prayer meeting my pastor asked me where I got it from they did not eat meat prior God telling Noah that. He thought they ate meat before then as the clean animals sacrificed they always ate, but the only sacrifices I can remember off the top of my head w/o looking is Abel's (and Cain's, but his did not include meat) and in the Garden. As far as I know, neither of those sacrifices, the one who made the sacrifice, ate of the meat. This came to me after I came back home from our prayer service.

I looked up some commentaries online, and the likes of Calvin, Poole, Henry, Gill, Clarke, all thought along the lines of my thinking, but they did not seem to be dogmatic about it, and we shouldn't. So, what are your thoughts on this.

And input would be mucho appreciato.

 

[Ed Walsh]

My sermon this last Lord's day I preached from Romans 6:14 titled, "The harmony of Law and Grace", and how these two do not stand diametrically opposed to each other, but go together hand-in-hand. I then brought up examples from the OT and Noah was one of them. I made reference to Genesis 9:3 and how they did not eat meat prior to this. At last night's prayer meeting my pastor asked me where I got it from they did not eat meat prior God telling Noah that. He thought they ate meat before then as the clean animals sacrificed they always ate, but the only sacrifices I can remember off the top of my head w/o looking is Abel's (and Cain's, but his did not include meat) and in the Garden. As far as I know, neither of those sacrifices, the one who made the sacrifice, ate of the meat. This came to me after I came back home from our prayer service.

I looked up some commentaries online, and the likes of Calvin, Poole, Henry, Gill, Clarke, all thought along the lines of my thinking, but they did not seem to be dogmatic about it, and we shouldn't. So, what are your thoughts on this.

My thoughts align with yours, Poole, Henry and Gill, but neither am I dogmatic.

This is along the lines of what I might say on the matter:

"It seems evident that meat was not eaten previous to Gen. 9:3; however, others better than I lean toward the fact, though not dogmatically."

Here are some alternates suggested by ChatGPT4:

Just for fun, suggested by ChatGPT4, here are several alternative ways to phrase that sentence with a similar meaning:

1. It appears that meat was not eaten before Genesis 9:3, but some others, who know more than I do, lean toward this idea—though not with certainty.
2. It seems clear that meat wasn’t eaten before Genesis 9:3; however, others more knowledgeable than I believe it might have been, though they aren’t entirely certain.
3. While it appears that meat was not eaten before Genesis 9:3, some who know more than I do tend to think otherwise, though they hold this view lightly.
4. Meat seems not to have been eaten before Genesis 9:3, but some who are more informed than I am lean toward thinking it was, though without full certainty.
5. It seems obvious that meat wasn’t eaten before Genesis 9:3; however, others who are more knowledgeable than I lean toward the opposite, though not firmly.

 

[Jack K]

Many teachers look at the differences between God's commands at the end of Genesis 1 and those at the start of Genesis 9 and conclude that because meat-eating is not mentioned in chapter 1, it was forbidden until chapter 9. But couldn't we just as readily look at the similarities of these passages and conclude that each shines light on the other? Because meat-eating is mentioned in chapter 9, we could figure it's implied or included under the similar concepts found in chapter 1.

The evidence is inconclusive. It's best to avoid being too certain either way.