TEACHING NOTES Introduction The next section of our study of First Corinthians will focus on idolatry, and specifically food sacrificed to idols. This section begins in chapter eight and continues through chapter eleven. To the modern reader, it seems that this section has connection to modern life because our food sources are not connected to pagan gods. However, there are principles here that do apply to us. ‌ The Issues in Corinth: There is a division in the church about eating food that had been sacrificed to pagan idols. Some in the church believe eating these foods is wrong. Others believe they can eat anything and judge those who don’t. ‌ Options for Food in Corinth: ‌1. Raise your own animals and crops. ‌2. Buy from the city market. ‌3. Eat at the pagan temples. ‌ The Backdrop of Acts 15 In Acts 15 the apostles gathered in Jerusalem to address a problem. As Gentiles were coming to Christ by the thousands, a group of Jewish Christians (former Pharisees) were teaching “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). After a long discussion, the apostles settled on “these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality” (Acts 15:29). The apostles were not making up these rules, but are getting this from the Torah itself. In the Torah, any Gentile living in Israel was required to follow these four requirements. So, the apostles are applying the same principles to Gentile Christians. ‌ Throughout the New Testament we find a struggle between Jewish and Gentile Christians on the issue of circumcision and eating food sacrificed to idols. This was a big problem in Corinth. Why? Because most of the meat for sale in Corinth had likely been sacrificed to a pagan god. This created a problem for Christians living in Corinth who are not raising their own animals and have to get their meat from the city’s meat market. ‌ What did Paul say about this elsewhere? ‌See Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 10. ‌ 1 Corinthians 8:1–3 1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. ‌ Now concerning = This indicates that Paul is about to address a question or concern in the letter from Corinth to Paul. “Now concerning” occurs six times in First Corinthians. ‌ Food sacrificed to idols = Grk. eidolothyton - Literally, “idol sacrifices.” In the ancient world, a sacrifice was not about killing but about eating. Sacrifices included animals, crops, bread, and wine. In other words, sacrifices were about devoting something to God (or gods) and eating the sacrifice as a community. ‌ Note: While it may not be clear in this passage whether or not eating food sacrificed to idols is allowed, Paul is very clear in 1 Cor. 10. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:20–22 “20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” ‌ “all of us possess knowledge” = Paul is quoting the letter from the Corinthians. It seems that they believed they had achieved enough knowledge about idolatry that they were free to participate in pagan meals. ‌ “knowledge” puffs up = Paul is referring to the kind of “knowledge” that the Corinthians think they have. They had a prideful attitude and were behaving as if they were better than those who refused to eat food sacrificed to idols. This caused a division between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. This division also existed in the Roman church and others. ‌ But love builds up = Knowledge inflates the person who thinks they have it and tries to deflate the other person. Love builds up all people. When we are practicing love, we do not elevate ourselves over others. Rather, love compels us to practice humility and lift others up. ‌ If anyone imagines that he knows = Notice that Paul is being somewhat sarcastic about the Corinthians’ “knowledge.” Paul is clear than these Corinthians do not know what they think they know. ‌ Known by God = When we love God we realize that God knows who we really are. We can’t act like we know everything when we know who God is. ‌ 1 Corinthians 8:4–6 4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. ‌ “an idol has no real existence” = The Greek literally says, “an idol is nothing in the world.” Paul believed that “all the gods of the nations are demons” (Ps. 95:5 in the Greek Septuagint). The idol statue is obviously not a god in itself, but it represents spiritual beings who have set themselves up as gods over the nations. In the biblical worldview the gods are real spirits that exist, but they are not God the Creator. Jeremiah 10:11 says, “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.” ‌ So-called gods = The Greek text says, “there are many called gods.” The evil spirits worshiped by pagan nations are called gods repeatedly in the Old Testament. ‌ There are many gods and lords = Paul was an expert in the Old Testament and the intertestamental writings of Israel. Even a surface reading of the Old Testament will show that many gods are mentioned with language indicating their existence. Psalm 82 says that Yahweh God sits in judgment of “the gods” who are also called “sons of the Most High” who will “die like men.” ‌ For us there is one God, one Lord = While there are many spirits who have deceived the nations to worship them as gods, we worship the God who created all things. ‌ From whom, through whom are all things = Notice that Paul says that all things are “from” God the Father “through” Jesus Christ. Both the Father and the Son created all things. John 1:1-3 describes Jesus as “the Word” who created all things in the beginning with God. In Genesis 1, God speaks words to create. ‌ 1 Corinthians 8:7–8 7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. ‌ Not all possess this knowledge = Paul means here that not everyone understands that the other gods are simply rebellious spirits (demons). Those who are “weak” in this knowledge have trouble separating eating the meat from worshiping the gods. ‌ Food will not commend us to God = The Greek phrase for “commend us to God” here is paristemi ego theos, which means “present us to God.” In the end, Jesus will present His kingdom (believers) to God (1 Cor. 15:24). This refers to our ultimate and final salvation. Paul is saying that food plays no part in whether or not we are saved. What matter is whether or not we are faithful to Jesus. ‌ Their conscience is weak, defiled = The weak person here is likely a Christian who cannot yet disconnect eating the food from worshiping the idol. This creates in the weak Christian a crisis of conscience and confusion. ‌ 1 Corinthians 8:9–10 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? ‌ This right of yours = Refers to a Christian’s right to eat meat that may or may not have been sacrificed to a pagan idol. ‌ Stumbling block to the weak = In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he uses the term “the weak” to refer to Torah observant Jewish Christians. Jewish Christians were highly offended if they saw a Christian eating meat sacrificed to an idol. They would also be highly judgmental of that Christian. This was the problem in the Roman church and also in the Corinthian church. ‌ Eating in an idol’s temple = It’s one thing to buy meat in the market and eat it in the privacy of your home. You didn’t see it sacrificed to an idol. It’s another thing to attend the pagan temple and eat there in fellowship with the pagans. ‌ Will he not be encouraged = If a Christian is walking by the pagan temple and sees a fellow Christian there eating food sacrificed to idols, it could encourage him to do the same and turn back to worshiping pagan gods. ‌ 1 Corinthians 8:11–13 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. ‌ This weak person is destroyed = This is the main problem that Paul wants to address. We should not do something (even it we feel we have a right) if it leads to the destruction of another believer. ‌ Sinning against your brothers = If you are causing another believer to stumble, you are sinning against them. ‌ You sin against Christ = Sinning against another believer is sinning against Christ. Why? Because every believer belongs to Christ. To sin against a believer is to sin against the image of God. ‌ If food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat = If I know that something I am doing to causing my brother to stumble, I will stop doing it. ‌‌ Modern Application Love your neighbor as yourself. Love people more than your preferences. ‌ Example: If a believer struggles with alcoholism or drunkenness, other believers should abstain from drinking alcohol around that person. Why? Because in practicing our freedom of drinking in moderation we may cause our brother or sister to stumble. Or at the very least our actions are providing temptation. ‌ Do not divide the church over secondary issues. The church in Corinth was dividing over diet. ‌ How is this happening in the modern church? ‌- Music styles ‌- Preaching styles - Politics ‌- Views of the End-times ‌- English Bible translations - Vaccines/Masks ‌ Next Week: Read 1 Corinthians 9:1-27. ‌