1 Corinthians
Chapter 8
Victims Sacrificed to Idols
Regarding meat from offerings to idols, we understand that all of us have knowledge, but knowledge can make people proud, while love builds others up.
If anyone thinks they know, they do not yet understand as they should.
But if someone loves God, they are known by Him.
So, can we then eat meat offered to idols? We know that an idol is nothing and that there is only one God.
People do speak of other gods in heaven and on earth, and in this sense, many gods and lords exist.
However, for us, there is only one God—the Father, from whom everything comes, and to whom we belong. And there is one Lord, Christ Jesus, through whom everything was created, and through whom we also exist.
But not everyone has that knowledge. Some, until recently, took idols seriously, believing that food connected with the idol could stain their undeveloped consciences.
It is not food that makes us right with God. If we eat, we gain nothing; if we do not eat, we lose nothing.
We are free, of course, but don’t let your freedom cause others, who are less mature, to stumble.
What if people with weak consciences see you, a person with knowledge, sitting at the temple of idols? Won’t their weak conscience, because of your example, cause them to eat as well?
Then, your knowledge would cause your weak brother or sister to fall, the one for whom Christ died.
When you hurt the conscience of your brother or sister and sin against them, you also sin against Christ.
Therefore, if any food causes my brother or sister to stumble, I will never eat it, so they do not fall.
Commentaries
Victims Sacrificed to Idols.
Paul discusses a specific situation in that community living in a pagan environment: whether or not to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. There were conscientious Christians in the community—the Apostle calls them “weak in conscience” (7)—probably recent converts from paganism, who believed such meat was tainted by idolatry and therefore did not eat it. They took offense at others who did. It is respect for the weak and the ignorant that gives our freedom its quality of Christian freedom, that is, a freedom guided and regulated by love. Ultimately, this is the true freedom that Jesus has given us.