<p>7:19 <em>Because it does not go into his heart but into his belly and is eliminated this he said, thus making all foods clean</em> - See on Acts 10:35,36. Paul really did meditate on every word of his Lord. Thus he says he was <em>persuaded</em> by the Lord Jesus that all foods were clean (Rom. 14:14)- this is how he took the Lord's teaching in Mk. 7:19. Those words <em>lived</em> to Paul, they were as the personal persuasion of his Lord, as if Christ was talking to him personally through the Gospel records.</p><p>Jesus clearly explained that nothing a man eats can spiritually defile him;&nbsp;it is what comes out of the heart which does this (Mark 7:15-23).&nbsp;&quot;In saying this, Jesus declared <em>all</em> foods 'clean'&quot; (Mark 7:19 NIV).&nbsp;Peter was taught the same lesson (Acts 10:14,15), as was Paul:&nbsp;&quot;I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself&quot; (Rom. 14:14).&nbsp;Earlier, Paul had reasoned that to refuse certain foods was a sign of spiritual weakness (Rom. 14:2).&nbsp;Our attitude to food &quot;does not commend us to God&quot; (1 Cor. 8:8).&nbsp;Most incriminating of all is the warning that apostate Christians would teach men, &quot;to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth&quot; (1 Tim. 4:3).</p>