The Apostle Paul’s declaration to a religious leader that he had lived “in all good conscience before God until this day” brought him a slap in the mouth! (Acts 23:1, 2) How could anyone claim such a thing, was the high priest’s reaction in Paul’s day, and wherever religion rules it remains so to this day.
The question of eating foods offered to idols takes up more space in the New Testament than most other things, which indicates how controversial the question was in the time of the first apostles. Christians then lived in a world where culture and religious practice were indivisibly pagan.
Paul the apostle wrote at some length on the matter of Christians eating food offered to idols. He covered the subject in chapters 8 and 10 of his first letter to the Corinthians. The ancient Greeks placed great store in philosophical knowledge, which continued to influence their thinking after they had become Christians.
So as to counter this, Paul used the ancient Greek word gnosis (“knowledge”) no less than ten times in First Corinthians – one third of all the number of times it is mentioned in the New Testament.
Those familiar with Paul’s approach to other questions will not be surprised to learn that he did not view the issue in black-and-white terms, which is to say whether or not food sacrificed to idols was prohibited to Christians. He saw it as an issue of conscience and how it affected Christian relationships.
Paul’s opening statements that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up and that if any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows nowhere as much as he ought to know, which elevates the supremacy of love for others over knowledge alone. Paul pointed out the fact that God had known them before they had come to know Him.
The following words comprise one of the great statements of the New Testament: “As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For though there are some that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth — gods and lords aplenty — to us there is but one God, the Father, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” (1 Corinthians 8:4-6)
After referring to the knowledge of God as the penultimate of all knowledge, Paul returns to his theme: the believer who eats food sacrificed to idols when his conscience tells him otherwise. Not everyone has the knowledge of the One God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and those without that knowledge are more conscious of the presence of idols. The result of this lack of understanding is that “their conscience, being weak, is defiled.”
“But meat does not commend us to God, for neither are we the better for eating it or the worse for not eating it.” What matters is the effect his freedom of choice can have on the weak brother who is emboldened to copy him, and in doing so compromises his faith. Such a conflict of conscience will leave him self-condemned. The blame, though, will fall on the one who flaunts his knowledge to the detriment of his weak brother, and in so doing sins against Christ.
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient,” Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:23. The Christian is not to seek his own good but the good of his brother. “Whatsoever is sold at the shambles, eat, asking no question for the sake of the conscience.”
An awareness of his brother’s weaker faith should prevent the Christian who is stronger in faith from asking if the food placed before him has been sacrificed to idols. Love for his brother, rather than the freedom that comes from knowledge, is to govern his actions.
Paul’s strong faith in the matter is based on his quote, twice repeated, of Psalm 24:1, “For the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (1 Corinthians 10:26, 28)
The overriding principle of brotherly love should also apply in the matter of whether a believer should eat either meat or vegetables. In the first two verses of Romans 14, Paul clearly states that the one who eats “all things” is strong in faith and the one who eats only vegetables is weak in faith. However, the stronger one should not despise the other’s weaker faith, and the weaker one should not condemn the stronger one’s faith.
The same principle applies to holy days — the motive in observing or not observing them is the principal factor. “For no man lives to himself or dies to himself.” (Or as John Donne would much later put it, “No man is an island…”) Our actions affect those around us. Paul not only chides both parties for their lack of love but also warns them they will give an account of their actions at the judgement seat of Christ!
The determining factor should not be the day itself, just as it was not the food, but the conscience of the believer. Does he observe or not observe it because of what he believes? Does he eat in good faith, or in bad faith? Paul then makes yet another great guiding statement:
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17) Meat should not be permitted to destroy the work of God. “All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that one who eats and offends.” If their faith is strong, they are to have it in the sight of God– not ‘in the face’ of one whose faith is weak.
Paul’s closing statements are remarkable. “Happy is he who does not condemn himself in that thing which he allows.” Happy is the Christian who is strong in faith! As for the Christian who eats in spite of his doubts, he is condemned because he does not eat with faith. “For whatsoever is not of faith is sin” – and this is the crux of the matter!
Conscience and consciousness are from the same word family in the ancient Greek language. A lack of consciousness as to the acceptability of some foods, or as to whether some days are especially holy, enables a Christian to enjoy a less restricted life — a life of great freedom in fact.
It should be understood that this does not mean Christians can do evil and use Paul’s words to justify their actions. The apostle is not addressing moral rights and wrongs but matters of conscience in regard to certain foods and the observance of religious days.
Paul’s abhorrence of the demonic influence behind the sacrificing of food to idols is clear from 1 Corinthians 10:20, but the stronger a believer’s faith becomes, the less he or she is concerned with pagan associations and practices. This world is not a level playing field in which demons contest the authority of Jesus Christ — or Christians for that matter. We are as dismissive of them as our Lord was.
Food that for all I know was dedicated to another deity does not deter me from eating what God created for my health, provision, and enjoyment. I shun foods made with blood, such as Black Pudding because of the Jerusalem council’s decision, which also prohibited the eating of things strangled (since the blood is not drained) and food offered to idols (Acts 15:29).
The decision was a practical one, given that non-Jewish converts to the Christian faith could not be expected to adhere to strict Jewish food laws.
To sum up, the old adage holds true: “One man’s meat is another man’s poison” — and especially so when the food includes the really horrible things eaten on those reality TV survival programs!
Let’s look again at the great statements made by Paul on these matters — and thank God for the apostle’s spiritual understanding:
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This has been the definitive statement of the present, spiritual kingdom of God over the past 2,000 years – and will be until the King returns to establish his kingdom over all the earth!
“Happy is he who does not condemn himself in that thing which he allows.” Can we become so strong in faith that self-condemnation in relation to such matters ceases to exist? Yes, absolutely! Just as a spacecraft breaks through the gravitational power of earth and heads into the freedom of Space! But this does not mean that we can sin against God by breaking His moral laws with impunity!
“For whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” And whatsoever is of faith is not sin in the do’s and don’ts of religious regulations!
If you can get your head (or, more importantly, your heart) around the close link between conscious freedom and a good conscience, you will find yourself able to fellowship with those believers who eat food that you don’t, while accepting those who don’t eat food that you do.
This will make you free to focus on main issues in the Christian faith rather than side issues. May your conscience, i.e. consciousness, be your guide. And may the ever-increasing strength of your faith in God keep both free!