1 Corinthians 8--Food Offered to Idols

1 Corinthians 8
English Standard Version

Food Offered to Idols8 
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.

4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”-- 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

​7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

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Before you read the section heading here and say "That doesn't apply to me" and skip this, I encourage you to read the first verse of this section and see how much it applies to everyone in all circumstances today.  The wisdom of the world makes people haughty and "puffed up," but the wisdom that comes from God makes people love Him and others sacrificially, walk in humility, and to speak in a way that would encourage and edify our brothers and sisters in Christ instead of tearing them down.

Paul is using the situation of meat that had been sacrificed to idols to address this point.  There is Old Testament law and precedent to not eat any meat that had been sacrificed to idols and we even see this issue discussed in Acts 15:20 as the apostles in Jerusalem gave instructions to the Gentile churches to, "abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood."  So how does that square with today's passage?  Maybe it doesn't because in Acts they were focused on legalism (which Paul spends a lot of time talking about and preaching against in his epistles, especially Galatians, which is the next epistle in the timeline after 1 Corinthians and before 2 Corinthians.  It may have been one of those situations where the Church leaders decided to say "we don't really know the right answer, but we're going to say something," and the Holy Spirit later came back to say, "this is the answer you should have waited for."  I'm not trying to set myself up above Scripture here, but the tone with which Peter, James and John speak in Acts 15 does not sound like them speaking from their position of apostolic authority and the situation reminds me much of the disciples meeting together to choose a replacement for Judas when God had already chosen the apostle Paul to do that, which again reminds me of the choosing of the 70 elders in the Old Testament and how there were others that the Holy Spirit chose that the people had not chosen.

A little bit of history here to talk about why this is an issue for the Gentiles that maybe the apostles in Jerusalem didn't understand.  Every shop that sold meat in the marketplace belonged to a guild or union and those guilds and unions all supported particular gods or goddesses and made sacrifices at the pagan temples and this is where the meat that they sold came from.  You weren't going to find anything sold in the marketplace that hadn't been sacrificed to idols or blessed by a pagan priest.  So Paul has spent much of the book of 1 Corinthians trying to tell the Church how to live holy and separate in a pagan world and to not let the pagan practices around them creep into their worship and their daily lives.  But what about the food they eat?  Are they somehow going to be defiled and sinning if they eat the meat sacrificed to idols?  Is that somehow joining them with the idolatry, especially since part of the money that they give for buying the meat in the marketplace is going back to support the pagan temple?  Now does this sound like something that more of us deal with on a daily basis?  Where do we draw the line as Christians engaging in commerce?  Must we know everything about the company we are buying from and how they are spending their money?

Let's address those general principles as we talk about the specific issues addressed aby the text.  Paul's answer to Christian liberties is multi-faceted here.  First, let's address the issue of meat that is sacrificed to idols for someone like Paul that knows that the idols are deaf and dumb and don't have any real power.  For him, there's no issue eating the meat, however he realizes that there are people in the culture who do believe that the idols are actual gods and goddesses with real power and if this in any way hurt his ability to be a minister of the gospel to those he was preaching to, he would rather not eat meat than do anything that would impair the gospel message--even though he's convinced that what he's doing is not sin.  So, of primary concern to us today is that the reputation of Christ and the gospel come before any personal rights or Christian liberties that we may claim--even those from being an American, or in Paul's case a Roman citizen.  We'll see Paul refuse to assert his Roman citizenship on many occasions--if he did, he is likely to have almost never received the kinds of beatings that he did as those were punishments reserved for slaves and barbarians.

Next comes the issue of eating at someone's house, probably someone who is not a Christian, and they make a wonderful meal for you.  In one situation they say nothing about where the meat came from.  Paul's instructions here are to not ask.  First that would be rude, and second there is no conflict if you have no knowledge--Paul says this specifically in the book of Romans that those who don't know they are breaking the law are held guiltless.  However, if the person makes an issue of of where the meat came from, probably in an attempt to test the faith of the Christian, and it clearly is an issue, then Paul says the Christian should be willing to go without eating the meat.

The last situation has to do with someone who has a personal conviction about it (maybe this would be someone that came out of Judaism) who is a brother or sister in Christ.  Is it the responsibility of the person that understands that the idols have no power to correct the "weaker" brother or sister and tell them that they have to eat the meat that is sacrificed to idols when it is an issue of conscience for them?  The answer is no--to the one who is convicted who acts against his or her conscience, it is sin, and Paul says that it is wrong to try to force someone to act against his or her conscience in such cases.  Instead the believer with the "knowledge" in this case that there is no sin by eating meat sacrificed to idols for them should give up his or her right to eat the meat so as to not cause his brother or sister to stumble.  You can live just as well off of vegetables and water like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah did if that's what it takes to preserve the reputation of Christ and to not cause your brothers or sisters to stumble.

How might this apply to some situations today?  What about shopping at a store like Target or buying products from Proctor and Gamble (P&G)?  Is there a correct company to buy your soft drinks from (many argue for instance that Dr. Pepper/Snapple is the only company they'll buy from because they are at least more biblically responsible than either Coke or Pepsi)?  And a conversation I've had with a friend recently--is it okay to take the coronavirus vaccine if you think that it might have been made using stem cells from aborted babies?  My answer to all of these questions to not go looking for problems, but deal with the issues of conscience once the company makes it an issue (personally, I think Target is a great example of this as for a while I didn't know their agenda, but once it became clear and publicly known, I changed my shopping habits) and to be willing to give up your liberties, but also don't be the person that says that just because you're convicted by something that everyone else has to be as well--don't impose your personal convictions for the Holy Spirit or the Law or God.  I have to many conversations with Christian brothers and sisters that are along the lines of "Why aren't you upset about this like I am?"  In fact, this seems to be a lot of the conversations between me and my Christian friends on social media, and it distracts from the message of the gospel and makes the world want to listen to us.  Remember that we are taught to only judge others by the standard by which we want to be judged and to have as much grace and mercy with others as we want to be shown to us.  We can't forget this when it comes to Christian liberties as well.

In short, do everything you can to protect the reputation of Christ and the gospel and don't sacrifice your mission--but do so without sinning.  Honor your conscience personally, but don't expect others to do the same and don't make it an issue for them by bringing up things that you think you know that no one else does.  Let your personal convictions be personal.  If you realize though that someone else is convicted about something, respect and honor those convictions so as to not cause that person to sin by violating their conscience and NEVER act smug or superior to them because you know something they don't or think they have to change their convictions to be a "real" Christian--a good example I can think of in my own life here is that I know some people that still believe in observing and worshiping on the Sabbath Day (that is the 7th day) as prescribed in the Law of Moses.  Others believe that the "correct" day to worship is on Sunday (the 1st day).  Each should be convinced in his own mind according to Paul--he teaches about this in another area of his epistles--but it is wrong to try and force someone who believes differently than you to do the opposite of what they believe once you are made aware of it, and you should give up your "right" for instance to do work on the Sabbath day (if that's how you feel about it) if you think that it might be an issue that would cause a brother or sister to stumble--especially if you are going to try to make the participate and might be asking them to violate their conscience.  The issue at hand is not whether or not you think it's right or wrong or permissible or not, but in humility letting the Holy Sprit deal with each believer as He sees fit.

I again am not trying to tell anyone what to eat or drink or wear or where they can shop, etc.  I'm just trying to use some specific examples, especially some that are very real for me, to illustrate this point in a way that is more tangible to you than meat being sacrificed to idols, since many of us may think that this passage isn't applicable to us if you restrict the scope of this passage to only that application.  If this is the teaching of the Holy Spirit (and I think it is), does that mean that Peter, James and John got ahead of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts in Acts 15:20?  Maybe, but again, they were trying to make peace between the Jewish and Gentile believers, and I think their decision is consistent with this passage in that the Gentiles were being asked to give up a limited number of Christian liberties in order to not cause the Jewish believers to stumble.  I think Paul would completely agree.

Last story from me.  My best friend's family while I was growing up was Jewish--Reformed Jew, so they didn't follow all the rules, but still Jewish.  I did my best to make sure whenever he was invited over for dinner that we were not having pork or anything else that would violate Kosher for him, even though he didn't follow Kosher exactly (for instance, don't cook the green beans with ham or even with pork fat, and don't offer him a cheeseburger because some Jews have issues with having meat and dairy on the same plate).  I eventually learned what his boundaries were by talking with him and realized that each person in his family had his or her own convictions and for my friend, he basically ate anything that he wanted to except during certain holiday seasons where he tried to be more traditional--especially because his grandparents were more orthodox in their beliefs, meaning the strictly followed the Law.  I did what I could to avoid a situation where I would not cause my friend to sin, even though I didn't think it was a sin to eat bacon or a cheeseburger, but I didn't want to flaunt that or shove it in his face and make him have to make a choice to be rude or violate his conscience.  It was only after he and I got to know each other better and I learned that this didn't violate his conscience that I offered him some other food--but I wouldn't offer the same things to his brother or sister who were much more strict about their dietary choices.  We may not specifically be dealing with meat sacrificed to idols, but how I handled that situation and others like it afforded me opportunities to share the gospel with my friend and his family.  I still hope one day that the seeds that were planted with them take root and produce fruit for the gospel, but I think all of them heard and understood, hopefully without me getting in the way of the gospel message or sullying the reputation of Christ.