Chapter 566 of 957

Believers’ Freedom

BELIEVERS’ FREEDOM

1 CORINTHIANS 10:23–11:1

As Christians, we are to think about the choices we make.

The burning question raised by the Corinthian correspondents still required further treatment. At the earlier place (8:10) the situation envisaged is an invitation to share a meal with an unbeliever at his god’s temple. The worship of Serapis included a meal at the temple as the devotees gathered, and in a surviving papyrus letter an invitation to such an occasion is recorded: “Chaeremon invites you to dinner at the table of our lord Serapis in the Serapeum tomorrow the 15th at nine o’clock.” Paul’s answer to this problem is that eating such a sacrificial meal is tantamount to idolatry, and is forbidden.

But two other practical issues still remained. The practice of shopping in the market (10:25) and a social occasion of a meal in a private house (10:27) presented cases on which Paul’s ruling was sought. His answers follow:

In the case of people shopping in a butcher’s shop, they are not required to be anxious over the food’s “past history,” ie whether or not it has been formerly offered in a temple. Paul allows the Christian to accept it, because it is covered by the ordinance of Psalm 24:1, which declares all God’s gifts to be good (1 Timothy 4:4-5).

In the case of an invitation to a nonsacrificial meal, the same allowance is granted, and Paul is sympathetic with the Corinthians who had evidently made the point that such occasions were part and parcel of the social and business life of their city (equivalent to lunch engagements of modern business people). The only proviso is the action to be followed if attention is drawn to where the meat has come from. If this happens (10:28), the “eating is prohibited, not as in itself idolatrous, but because it places the eater in a false position, and confuses the conscience of others” (Robertson-Plummer, updated). Notice again Paul’s delicate concern for another’s well-being (10:24,29,32-33).

The last word on the subject is final in every sense (10:31), setting the highest standard possible, namely to live to the greater glory of God.

Notes 10:23: Paul is quoting from the Corinthians’ letter to him. 10:28: “offered in sacrifice”—the Greek term indicates part of pagan ritual (unlike the term in 8:1, which is capable of carrying a good or bad sense).

To think over On 10:32: “Christianity demands that your right shall not lead others astray, that it shall not do violence to that most sacred and delicate thing—a human conscience” (F.W. Robertson).

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