1 Corinthians 8

What Shall I Have for Lunch?

For the Jew distinctive dietary laws have been part of their culture since their beginnings.

As God gave instructions through Moses to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob certain categories of animals were declared ‘unclean’ by God making them unfit for human consumption.

Fast forward to the months following Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. A pivotal question faced by those early believers - the majority of whom were Jewish was this: Did one need to be fully Jewish in order to follow Jesus? Did males who wanted to come after Jesus need to be circumcised? Were the food laws revealed through Moses binding on all who experienced new life in Jesus Christ?

Those questions sound trivial and unimportant to us. To those early followers of Jesus however, the questions were urgent. You can read how Paul, Peter, James and other early followers debated and discussed this issue in Acts 15. You can read the letter drafted by James to be read to all the gatherings of believers that were springing up all across the region. The letter, in part, reads:

Acts 15:28–29 HCSB

For it was the Holy Spirit’s decision—and ours—to put no greater burden on you than these necessary things: that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things. Farewell.

We have no information letting us know if this letter had been read to the believers in Corinth. Yet the question of eating meat sacrificed to idols occupies I Cor 8, 9, & 10.

One scholar tells us

“About the only time that meat came on the market was after pagan festivals, and it had been part of the victims sacrificed to the gods.” This meat could be purchased for use in private homes, where “the strong” in socioeconomic status could afford it and “the strong” in “knowledge” about the nonexistence of pagan deities could enjoy it without scruple.

Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 618.

One other factor needs to be considered. In Corinth, as in most Roman and Greek cities the temples to idols often offered space attached to the temple where families could gather for festive meals and larger family gatherings. Believers might be invited to gatherings of friends, neighbors, and other acquaintances to share in these meals - often offering meat sacrifice to the idol for whom the temple had been built.

Paul’s initial response (1 Cor 8) focuses on a gospel centered way of living in fellowship with other believers.

We have listened as Paul aggressively denounces the ease at which the believers in Corinth divide into factions, groups that isolate believers from one another:

1 Corinthians 1:11–13 HCSB

For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by members of Chloe’s household, that there is rivalry among you. What I am saying is this: Each of you says, “I’m with Paul,” or “I’m with Apollos,” or “I’m with Cephas,” or “I’m with Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name?

Paul begins his answer to the question of meat sacrificed to idols by not focusing on meat…but on principles of Christian unity.

Prior to Paul’s exposing the rivalry among believers, he pled with them:

1 Corinthians 1:10 HCSB

Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.

THOSE ‘IN THE KNOW’

Which is more important in our relationships with one another? Knowledge or love?

All believers have a certain level of knowledge - see 1 Cor 8:6

1 Corinthians 8:6 HCSB

yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from Him, and we exist for Him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through Him, and we exist through Him.

The gospel hinges upon this fundamental fact. In his letter to Roman believers Paul state

Romans 1:1–4 NKJV

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

The Jesus whom Paul preached, the Jesus whom we follow is indeed God-in-the-flesh. The Holy Spirit - sent by the Father and the Son - indwells us, identifying us as followers.

LOVE RISES ABOVE KNOWLEDGE

1 Corinthians 8:7 HCSB

However, not everyone has this knowledge. In fact, some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food offered to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

Paul recognizes that not all believers grow at the same rate and not all believers are spiritually mature.

Love builds…Knowledge inflates with pride

For what would we rather be known?

A few decades after John finished the last book of the NT Hadrian became Emperor of Rome. Though he followed the practice of the previous emperor, he was ambivalent about Christians in general.

One noted writer of the era wrote a letter that has survived from that era . Aristetes expresses a concern for Christians. In one notable passage, he writes,

‘…they love one another....’

https://ccel.org/ccel/aristides/apology/anf09.xiii.iv.html

The love of believers for one another was already being noticed as that which set them apart from other ways of believing.

Does our love for one another distinguish us from the world around us?

Stumbling Blocks or Examples to Follow?

Paul does not make a distinction between those who ‘know’ and those who ‘don’t.’ Rather he distinguishes between those who ‘know’ and those whose ‘consciences are weak.’

In the case of eating meat sacrificed to idols Paul asks his audience to consider several factors:

a). how long has a believer been following Jesus?

b). how deeply were these new believers embedded in idolatry?

c). will your liberty to eat meat regardless of its source assist others in spiritual maturity or will your liberty weaken already weaker followers?

1 Corinthians 8:12 HCSB

Now when you sin like this against the brothers and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ.

Paul is rather blunt!

To offend a newer, weaker believer and wound their conscience is nothing less than sinning against Jesus Himself!

REFLECT AND RESPOND:

The idea of ‘eating meat sacrificed to idols’ is so far removed from us we might be tempted to gloss over this section of Paul’s letter.

Researcher Christian Smith has spent his career investigating how young people/young adults view God. His conclusion, as recounted by Trevin Wax is simple:

God exists to meet my needs.

(Christian Smith, quoted in Trevin Wax, Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals (Wheaton, ILL.: Crossway, 2010), 37.)

That same view is not just that of young adults. All of us are prone to adopt that view. What has God done for me recently? What is my most significant need? How can I pray so that God moves to meet my need?

When those questions become the predominant pattern, groups of believers who choose to follow Jesus will soon splinter - just as Paul warned those believers in Corinth!

What is the solution? Paul concludes with this:

1 Corinthians 8:13 HCSB

Therefore, if food causes my brother to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother to fall.

Is the issue really eating meat? Or is the issue....

WHAT’S BEST FOR THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO ARE FOLLOWING JESUS WITH ME?

A prominent theme in all Paul’s letters is expressed clearly in Philippians 2:4-5

Philippians 2:4–5 HCSB

Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,

To stand out in our world we need to rediscover that which set those believers apart in their pagan and idol-filled world:

…they love one another...

Jesus gave His followers a new command that really isn’t all that new:

John 13:34–35 HCSB

“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The only way we can truly learn to love one another is with a new heart - a new life that can be ours through trusting in Jesus whose death satisfies God’s wrath at our sin, and His resurrection which assures us of new life - here and now and for eternity

For those who have this new life, this is a wake-up call:

How will the world in which we live come to know Jesus apart from our clear and persistent efforts at showing the same kind of love towards others that Jesus freely offers us...