Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Historical evidence shows that later generations of Christians still treated the Apostolic Decree—including its three food laws—as obligatory.
For instance, the early-second-century Christian document known as the Didache instructs its readers to “Keep strictly away from meat sacrificed to idols, for it involves the worship of dead gods” (Didache 6:3). At the end of the second century, Tertullian wrote that Christians “have not even the blood of animals at their meals” and that they “abstain from things strangled” and that they consider transgressing these rules to be “unlawful” (Tertullian, Apology 9:13). The fourth-century Apostolic Constitutions likewise affirms all four prohibitions of the Decree (Apostolic Constitutions 6:12), a position also upheld by fifth-century Church historian Socrates Scholasticus (Church History 5:22). Fourth-century theologian Cyril of Jerusalem calls the decree “universal from the Holy Ghost” (Catechetical Lecture 17:29) and condemns those who “lap up blood” and “devour things strangled” (Catechetical Lecture 4:28).
Later church councils and canons similarly affirmed the Apostolic Decree as binding, and many Gentile believers continued following its prohibitions even as some later Church Fathers began to question them. As Karin Zetterholm observes: "The decree was confirmed by the Synod of Gangra in the fourth century, reconfirmed by the Second Council of Constantinople in the sixth century and the Council of Trullo at the end of the seventh century."
So, the Apostolic Decree is not only explicitly repeated in the New Testament despite Solberg’s claim that it isn’t, but also, it is consistently upheld by Christians throughout history. The evidence suggests that the four prohibitions, including the three food laws, were considered to be binding for all times.
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Historical evidence shows that later generations of Christians still treated the Apostolic Decree—including its three food laws—as obligatory.
For instance, the early-second-century Christian document known as the Didache instructs its readers to “Keep strictly away from meat sacrificed to idols, for it involves the worship of dead gods” (Didache 6:3). At the end of the second century, Tertullian wrote that Christians “have not even the blood of animals at their meals” and that they “abstain from things strangled” and that they consider transgressing these rules to be “unlawful” (Tertullian, Apology 9:13). The fourth-century Apostolic Constitutions likewise affirms all four prohibitions of the Decree (Apostolic Constitutions 6:12), a position also upheld by fifth-century Church historian Socrates Scholasticus (Church History 5:22). Fourth-century theologian Cyril of Jerusalem calls the decree “universal from the Holy Ghost” (Catechetical Lecture 17:29) and condemns those who “lap up blood” and “devour things strangled” (Catechetical Lecture 4:28).
Later church councils and canons similarly affirmed the Apostolic Decree as binding, and many Gentile believers continued following its prohibitions even as some later Church Fathers began to question them. As Karin Zetterholm observes: "The decree was confirmed by the Synod of Gangra in the fourth century, reconfirmed by the Second Council of Constantinople in the sixth century and the Council of Trullo at the end of the seventh century."
So, the Apostolic Decree is not only explicitly repeated in the New Testament despite Solberg’s claim that it isn’t, but also, it is consistently upheld by Christians throughout history. The evidence suggests that the four prohibitions, including the three food laws, were considered to be binding for all times.
Subscribe to my newsletter: davidwilber.substack.com/subscribe
Check out more of my content on:
Personal website: davidwilber.com
Facebook: facebook.com/DavidWilberBlog
Amazon author page: amazon.com/author/davidwilber
Twitter: twitter.com/DavidWilberBlog
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