Jan 14, 2024
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
1 Corinthians 8:1 begins with the words "Now concerning food offered to idols." For the next three chapters Paul will address issues that spring from this matter. In the first century is was believed that demons attached themselves to food and entered human beings when they ate it. In order to extract demonic presence from meat, it was thought to be cleansed by offering some of it to the gods. What remained was sold in the marketplace.
The question in Corinth was this … "Should a Christian eat food that has been part of an idolatrous ritual?" Some folks had no problem with such food and some thought eating such food was sinful.
The root issue here was not the food, but the way Christians related to one another when there were different viewpoints. "Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and we are no better off if we do" (1 Cor 8:8). "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom 14:17).
What governs our behavior is not simply our knowledge of spiritual truth, but our love for our brothers and sisters. Knowledge without love produces conceit and self-righteousness. We must keep in mind that Christ died for our Christian brother/sister. How are we treating him/her? To sin against a brother/sister is to sin against Christ (1 Cor 8:12). Let us ever do the hard work of maintaining our relationships with each other in diligence and humility and tenderness … for the sake of Christ.