“You White Tombs Filled with Dead Bones!” ~ Jesus. By Dr. Chapman Chen

Introduction: In Matthew 23:27, Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocritical "whited sepulchres" (KJV), beautiful on the outside but filled with “dead bones” (Lamsa Bible) and “impurity” (Berean Literal Bible)/“uncleaniness” (KJV) on the inside. They were obsessed with the cleanliness of cups and plates, yet deep down they were full of greed and self-indulgence (Matt. 23:25). The KJV, NLT, and other mainstream translations domesticate the anti-animal-abuse message by rendering “dead bones” as “bones of dead men.” However, according to Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word for “dead” (nekros, G3498) refers to any dead body, and it is unspecified whether it is human or animal. The Greek word 

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1. Dead Bones of Animals

Per Dr. Karl Anders Skriver (2025), Jesus is here bluntly exposing the Pharisees for harbouring the remains of dead animals and other defilements within their bodies. The mainstream church has likely never censored this passage because its theologians have failed to realise the full meaning of Jesus’ satire. IMO, the Pharisees whom Jesus condemns here are not unlike the mainstream Pauline, carnivorous church of today.

2. Jesus’ Purity Doctrine

As Skriver (2025) points out, just because Jesus mocks the Pharisees’ obsession with ritual purity—such as animal sacrifice and handwashing before eating—doesn’t mean that He lacked a purity doctrine of His own. In fact, Scripture states that Christ “cleanses us,” and “everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3, ESV). Jesus' purity doctrine is that eating animals makes one impure or unclean, whereas going vegan makes one pure and clean. For example, “I desire compassion, NOT sacrifice!” declares Jesus, quoting Hosea 6:6  (Matt. 9:13, 12:7); “Now beware…that your hearts do not become heavy with the eating of flesh…that day will come up upon you suddenly; for as a snare it will come upon all of them that sit on the surface of the earth”, cautions Jesus (Luke 21:34, Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe).

3. The Vegan Decree of the Jerusalem Council

This interpretation is supported by the vegan apostolic decree issued by James the Just, head of the Jerusalem Council around AD 50, which exempted Gentile believers from circumcision and instead required them to abstain from: “pollutions of idols…fornication… things strangled, and…blood (Acts 15:19–20, 29, KJV).

This decree must be vegan in essence. First, it states "abstain from blood," not merely “from consuming blood.” As questioned by Andrew Linzey (1993), blood is life, and life is blood—how can one kill an animal without shedding blood? Second, the instruction to abstain from “things strangled” (Greek: pniktos, G4156) likely refers, as suggested by Pastor William Metcalfe, to animals subjected to violent death—i.e., slaughtered—rather than just those killed by strangulation (Vegetarian Testimony, 1840, Ch. 27). Furthermore, some scholars interpret pniktos as possibly referring to meat prepared in a particular way, such as cooked in thick, rich sauces, thereby still implying indulgence in animal flesh.

4. Paul the Anti-vegan’s Lip Service to the Vegan Decree

At the time, the Jerusalem Council was the authoritative centre of Christianity. In contrast, Paul's faction was a peripheral movement. Paul initially appeared to pay lip service to the decree. For instance, he wrote: “If food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble” (1 Cor 8:13, ESV). However, he later advised: “Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience” (1 Cor 10:25, ESV), suggesting that he secretly rejected the decree.

By AD 56, Paul's group had grown in size and influence. He then became more openly anti-vegan and anti-Jewish-Christianity. For example, he mocked vegans by saying, “One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables” (Romans 14:2, ESV). He further proclaimed: “Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean…” (Romans 14:20, ESV), directly contradicting the idea that eating animal flesh defiles a person.

5. Conclusion

In a word, we will be as hypocritical as the Pharisees if we harbour dead bones of animals and impurity in our body and claim to be a righteous person. If we follow the Pauline anti-vegan mainstream church and deem it alright to eat the flesh of innocent creatures of God, we will be defiled and caught unprepared and ensnared in the Day of Judgment or Divine Reckoning. In order to stay pure and clean from the inside out, we got to go vegan. Thus, cut out all meaty vice; follow the Vegan Christ! 

Reference

Skriver, Carl Anders. The Churches’ Betrayal of the Animals. Translated by Christine McClarnon. Research Triangle, NC: Lulu Press, 2025. Originally published as Der Verrat der Kirchen an den Tieren, 1986/1967.