In our last study, we saw that Paul did not want to be paid for his preaching, in case the church who employed him might consider that they could control him.
Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Like us, Paul operated in a multicultural society. Many cultures have strong codes of behaviour. As Paul travelled he made sure that the things he did wouldn’t cause offence.
Similarly the other Jewish apostles soon discovered that the way of life they had been brought up in was vastly different to that of the Gentile nations. So a deputation was sent to Jerusalem for some official guidance. Their response was:
Acts 15:28-29
‘28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.’
Everybody was already subject to Roman law which covered most aspects of normal behaviour, but there were two areas where God’s laws needed restating. Paul has already covered sexual immorality, so now he tackles the whole problem of food laws, and particularly meat offered to idols.
Quite a lot is known concerning ritual sacrifice at Greek temples. Animals were taken to the temple and offered there to the god. When this was part of a religious feast, a small portion was burned – major bones, some fat, some skin etc. The rest would be cooked and eaten at the feast by all those present. At other times, animals that had been taken to the temple as an offering to the gods were ritually slaughtered – but then returned to the worshipper. In some cases these might then given to the temple priests either to be eaten by them or sold in the local market.
Also in some cases there were actually places within pagan temples where you could eat this meat (1 Corinthians 8:10.)
Animals offered in sacrifice had to be flawless, so it therefore followed that meat offered to idols would be the best quality.
There were other problems: most people knew that the eating of pork was forbidden for Jews. Then the edict issued from Jerusalem insisted that the blood was to be removed from any meat before it was eaten. Pagan sacrifice did not require this and in fact pigs were one of the favoured animals for offerings.
For those who had been brought up in the Greek culture, they would instinctively know that the way to participate in the feasts to the gods was to eat some of the sacrifice.
It was therefore considered that it was a good thing to offer to your guests meat that had come from the Temple, and in fact you might want to specifically buy this meat if you were inviting people to a meal, pointing out that this was the best ‘temple-meat’ and thus pleasing to the gods.
So it was that Christians could be invited to a meal and then find that the meat had been offered in this way, also it would often include meat, like pork, forbidden to Jews in Old Testament law.
Greek converts, embracing their new freedom from Religious rules and practices, could see no problem with this. But some Jewish Christians would still find it unthinkable to eat such meat.
So the Corinthians wrote to Paul asking what they as Christians should do.
What is Paul’s basic answer in 1 Corinthians 8:4?
We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.
(Idols are just man-made things so it is impossible to contaminate meat by using it in a worthless ritual)
Therefore we have: 1 Corinthians 10:25-27,
25 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26 for, ‘The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it’.
27 If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.
Well that settles that nicely.
Except . . . .
Look at the second part of 1 Corinthians 10:29
For why is my freedom being judged by another's conscience?
Does that sound good? Or we left with a slightly uneasy feeling?
Actually we need to go back to the first part of this study where we read
1 Corinthians 9:19
Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible
So we need to be careful in our use of our freedom.
We have also missed something important.
We know that man-made idols have no power, so If you were to actually take part in the worship in an idol’s temple,
who would you actually be worshipping?
Read 1 Corinthians 10:20-22
20 the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
What does v22 mean?
look at Deuteronomy 32:16-17:
‘They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God’
I think the important word here is in 1 Corinthians 10:20 ‘participants’. There is a vast difference between going into a temple and actually participating in their rituals. As long as we don’t take part, we’re ok.
And others who thought like this would not wish to eat this meat – for their conscience’s sake they would prefer not to have anything to do with it.
So we have 8:8 :
8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
Well that’s quite clear then. Nothing we eat will damage our walk with God.
BUT
There would be some Greek converts who would in the past have been participants. For them, for their conscience’s sake, they could not now have anything to do with it.
Now read that whole passage: 1 Corinthians 8:7-13
7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling-block to the weak.
10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols?
11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
This then is the application for us today, and it can relate to those who choose to be Vegetarian or Vegan. Some people for conscience’s sake find animal foods abhorrent, and cannot bear eating anything that has been on the same plate, cooked in the same dish, or served with the same spoon as meat. This can also apply to those who choose not to drink alcohol.
It is too easy, with our superior freedom, to offend or even destroy others.
Now let’s look at Romans 14:13-21
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling-block or obstacle in your brother's way.
14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.
16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.
21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
Look at the second part of v21: or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
What other practices could there be which some of our Christian friends might find questionable, or offensive?
Videos? Computer games? Stag nights? Apps?
Our actions should at all times encourage and build up brothers in our Christian walk. Things we do might seem perfectly alright for us, but if our actions offend others. Perhaps we need to ask ourselves why this is?
Our best guide is 1 Corinthians 10:31 and 11:1:
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
