1 Corinthians 8:1-13 NIV
Concerning Food Sacrificed to
Idols
1Now
about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But
knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2Those
who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.
4So
then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing
at all in the world” and that “There is
no God but One.”5For
even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed
there are many “gods” and many “lords”),
there is but One God, the Father, from Whom all things came and for
Whom we live; and there is but One Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom all things
came and through Whom we live.
7But not
everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols
that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed
to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8But
food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no
better if we do.
9Be
careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling
block to the weak. 10For if
someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an
idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to
idols?
11 So this
weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12When
you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin
against Christ.
13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother
or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not
cause them to fall.
In this chapter
another subject is discussed, which had been proposed by the congregation at
Corinth for the advice of the apostle. "Whether it was right for Christians to partake of the meat that had been
offered to idols?"
On this question there
would be doubtless a difference of opinion among the Corinthian Christians.
When those sacrifices were made to pagan gods, a part of the animal was given
to the officiating priest, a part was consumed on the altar, and a part was the
property of him who offered it. This part was either eaten by him at home, as
food or it was eaten at a feast in honor of the idol; or it was in some cases
put out for sale in the market in the same way as other meat.
Whether it would be
right to partake of that food, either when invited to the house of a pagan
friend, or when it was exposed for sale in the market, was a question to a
conscientious Christian. The objection to partaking of it would be that to
partake of it either in the temples or at the feasts of their pagan neighbors,
would be to lend their face to idolatry. On the other hand, there were many who
thought that it was always lawful, and that the scruples of their brethren were
needless.
Some of their arguments Paul has alluded to in
the course of the chapter: they were that an idol was nothing in the world;
that there was but One God, and that everyone must know this; and that there
was no danger that any worshipper of the True God could be led into the
absurdities of idolatry, 1 Corinthians
8:4-6.
To this the apostle
replies that though there might be this knowledge, yet:
(1) Knowledge
sometimes puffed up, and made us proud, and that we should be careful lest it
should lead us astray by our vain self-confidence, 1 Corinthians
8:1-2, 1 Corinthians
8:7.
(2) All did not possess
that knowledge 1 Corinthians
8:7; and still regarded an idol as a real existence, as a god, and
worshipped it as such. He left the inference, therefore, that it was not proper
"from this argument," to partake of the sacrifices to idols.
A second argument in
favor of partaking of that food is alluded to in 1 Corinthians
8:8, that it must be in itself a matter of indifference; that it
could make no difference before God, where all depended on moral purity and
holiness of heart, whether a man had eaten meat or not; that we were really no
better or worse for it; and that, therefore, it was proper to partake of that
food.
To this Paul replies:
(1) That though this
was true, as an abstract proposition, yet it might be the occasion of leading
others into sin 1 Corinthians
8:9.
(2) that the effect on
a weak brother would be to lead him to suppose that an idol was something, and
to confirm him that an idol should have some regard, and be worshipped in the
temple, 1 Corinthians
8:10.
(3) that the
consequence might be that a Christian of little information and experience
might be drawn away and perish, 1 Corinthians 8:11.
(4) that this would be
to sin against Christ, if a feeble Christian should be destroyed like that, 1 Corinthians 8:12.
(5) That as for Paul himself, if eating meat was in any way the occasion of making another
sin, he would eat no meat as long as the world stood 1 Corinthians 8:13; since
to abstain from meat was a far less evil than the injury or destruction of an
immortal soul.
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