1 Corinthians 8
Often when we think about the old
religious systems of offering sacrifices we have images of whole burnt
offerings, a human being thrown into a volcano, or an animal on an altar that
will be completely consumed in the flames. This was not always the case. Many
sacrifices included sparing a portion of the meat and eating it in a
celebration. In other cases some of the meat was given to the priest to feed
his family. If they had enough, they might take it to market and sell it for
money.
This led to a problem for the early
Christians in Corinth. The question raised was, “Can we eat this in good
conscience?” The meat had, after all,
been offered to a pagan god in false worship. Did eating it endorse the worship?
Was it a participation in worshiping a false god?
Paul comes at this from two directions. Firstly,
he points out that “for us” there is but one God and one Lord. We worship the
Father through the salvation the Son has won for us. Therefore this meat was
really offered to no one; to nothing. We could paraphrase him as saying, “It’s
no big deal. Eat! Enjoy! It’s good meat.”
Secondly, he cautions that although we understand that there is only one
God, that doesn’t mean every Christian does. A person may have previously
worshiped that false god the food was sacrificed to. Another may have doubts about
the influence and power of these other deities their friends worshiped. In this
case, Paul says we should be careful. We don’t want to be so bold in our
freedom as to raise doubts or misgivings in others that might lead them into
real sin.
The core of the issue is that Jesus has
overcome all things in this world. The false worship, the idols, and their
sacrifices are included in that. We can accept every food as a gift from God’s
hand, yet, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Even though we might be convinced of our own
salvation and forgiveness, out of love for others, we want to avoid the kinds
of behaviors that, while not sinful, might cause others to sin. Like what? Some
possibilities in U.S. America could be gambling, drinking alcohol, using
tobacco, or attending a different religion’s worship service to learn from it. Around
the world, Christians might deal with exactly what Paul talks about – food and
idols. Overall, what we want to hold on to is that Jesus died for us and our
sins are forgiven – and we want to build folks up in that good news.
Jesus, make me into a person who builds
people up in Your love. Amen.
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