COMMENTARY BY JOHN W. GREGSON

MEAT SACRIFICED TO IDOLS

I Corinthians 8:1 - 13

Paul tells these know-it-alls that they first of all need to express some charity (agape) or love before bragging about their superior knowledge. This higher type of perception means the Corinthians learned some things in the past, but they didn't learn what they should have learned. True learning is facilitated by the love of God. "One often hears in strident voice, 'But my Bible says...!' If indeed the Bible says what they say it does, they are to be congratulated for their steadfastness, but does the Bible say what they think it does? (Yeager, p. 502).

Love comes first (I John 4:19); God is the source of the Christian's love. Were it not for God's love for us, we would not love God now nor would be even know God. God loved us before we loved Him, and He makes it possible for us to love Him. Where is bragging then? Paul bursts the Corinthians' "egotistical balloon," and ours also if we think we are somebody; however, we know nothing but by the grace of God. The Corinthians were all puffed up (phuisioi) or arrogant; Paul uses the same word in I Corinthians 4:6. So Paul hits them with a second volley. A little intellectual humility will go a long way. God knew the Corinthians as well as every Christian before we were born, and He called us lest we would be on our road to hell. Paul show some contempt for their supposed "knowledge."

4 - 6 Now Paul gets to the postponed subject of idols; some believed eating meat that was first sacrificed to idols (eidolothuton) was compromising their Christian principles. Idols, however, are nothing. "Two things we know: (1) An idol is the world is nothing. So why get excited about it? (2) If the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition does not exist, then no God exists. And if no God exists why bother about ethics? What difference does it make what you eat? (Yeager, p. 505). The word eidolothuton meant that portion of flesh left over after the heathen sacrifices; so this meat was not profaned, because idols are of no account; by "idol" is meant not the image but the deity represented by it. "Since there is no idol, there is nothing to contaminate or pollute the things offered in sacrifice to it" (Gould, p. 70). In fact meats sacrificed to idols are probably of greater quality than those pieces thrown to the dogs, for the idol worshipers gave the choice cuts to their idols. "The remnants of these were retained, either by the priest or the offerer, and were either eaten in sacrificial feasts in the idol-temples or at home, or were sold in the markets" (Gould, pp. 69, 70). The eating of meats sacrificed to idols was not brought up in the Jerusalem Conference several years earlier (Acts 15:1 - 27; Galatians 2:1 - 10).

The Psalmist paints a rather vivid picture of the idols that are worshiped by man. "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat. They who make them are like unto them; so is every one who trustest in them." The prophet Isaiah wrote of idols and they that worship them as well (44:12 - 20); those who worship idols take a piece of wood, they carve out the image from the trunk of a tree and use the residue to warm themselves at its fire or they bake their bread and cook their meat.

It may be remembered that in the Old Testament dispensation when the offerings were brought to the tabernacle or the temple a part of the animal or food was retained as food for the priests, and the rest, offered to God and consumed by fire. In the Greek rites certain portions were reserved and offered to the gods, a part of the offerings were kept by the priests and a part of the carcass not so used in distinct sacrificial worship was put on sale, and anyone could buy and eat such meat as food. That sold in the market was offered at a lower rate of exchange (Morgan, p. 106).

The so-called gods of this world do no exist; in fact, "Paul denied really the existence of these so-called gods and held that those who worshiped idols (non-entities) in reality worshiped demons or evil spirits, agents of Satan (I Corinthians 10:19 - 21)" (Robertson, p. 139). The Corinthians should forget about refraining from eating the meats that the pagans sacrificed to their gods. The Corinthians and all Christians know that there is only one God Who is the Father in whom all things consist, and there is only one Lord Who is Jesus Christ. Let the pagans worship their gods and lords, but the Christians are enlightened; we have superior knowledge. Jehovah God knows and tolerates no competitors. He is the direct Agent of all things and the Lord Jesus Christ is the intermediate Agent, and it is through Them that all things consist and exist as well as all mankind.

7 - 9 Paul continues his epistle by pointing out that not every man has the knowledge that the Corinthians possess, not all are progressing spiritually as some are. Some who had been converted out of paganism had weak consciences and were offended and defiled (molunetai) or stained by eating meat sacrificed to idols. They eat the meat "as an idol-sacrifice" though they no longer believe in idols; the idol-taint clings in their minds to this meat" (Robertson, p. 139). They looked upon idols as competing deities, and they did not understand the truth.

Meat does not commend (parastesei) or give good standing to a person in the eyes of God, nor does the avoiding of meat condemn a person before God. The person who eats meat sacrificed to idols is neither bettered nor made worse for having done so. The one who eats meats can claim no superiority to those who will not eat the meat and vice versa.

If, however, the liberty of eating of meats that have been sacrificed to idols offends someone and causes a stumbling block (proskomma) or offence in the way of the weak, then Paul says that he will never eat flesh again (verse 13). When Paul wrote to the Romans, he said, "Let us not, therefore, judge one another any more; but judge this, rather: that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way...For food destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense" (14:13, 20). "Obedience to this precept is an exercise of Christian charity in its highest expression. It calls for a Christian of superior intelligence and spiritual development to give up pleasures that do not involve him in compromise with the moral standards of the gospel of Christ in order to prevent his participation in them to become the cause for a less enlightened Christian to fall by the wayside" (Yeager, p. 510).

10, 11 Paul instructs the strong Christian not to eat meat sacrificed to idols if it causes his brother to stumble. Although an idol is nothing, nor is the eating of meat sacrificed to idols condemned, the weaker (asthenous) or more feeble Christian may be offended to the point of perishing. If this is the case, Paul instructs the stronger Christian to refrain from eating meats sacrificed to idols; defiance is flung in the face of the unenlightened brother instead of loving consideration. When the weaker Christian is stronger then both the stronger and the weaker Christian can enjoy their liberty together.

12, 13 When a stronger person sins against his brethren and wounds (tuptontes) or smites his weak conscience he sins against Christ, "one wonders if Paul know the words of Jesus (Matthew 25:40, "ye did it unto me.)" Wound here does not mean offending or shocking, but, as a context shows, inflicting a moral injury (physically, like a slap in the face). Although eating meats even in the idol's temple the stronger person may cause a weaker brother to stumble who may not understand the teachings of Paul in verses 4 and 5.

The apostle does not want to be a stumbling block (skandaliso) or an offense in the pathway of anyone. If anything that Paul does, when he finds out that it has caused a weaker brother to stumble, Paul will refrain from that action as long as the world stands (forever and ever). Any activity, large or small, is not too much to give up in order to advance the cause of Christ and edify the body of Christ. That is the true spirit of an humble servant of the Lord. "To put a stumbling block in the way of that man (the weaker brother) is to sin against Christ Himself...So the ultimate victory of love in the forming of a judgment is the foregoing of a right, and perhaps that is the supreme thing...Love will suggest that we forego the right, and refrain from eating, if by so doing we may be helping the man who lacks our knowledge" (Morgan, p. 109).

Return to Home Page for John W. Gregson