Good morning and welcome back. Sherri and I had a great weekend in Vermont visiting Morgan and Bobbi-Jo. It was nice to get away for a few days and explore. Sherri and I went to Springfield VT and Hanover NH on Friday for some shopping and fun. Hanover is home to Dartmouth and also part of the Appalachian Trail! Saturday was spent in Quechee VT; there is a beautiful gorge we hiked in and also visited the Vermont Institute of Natural Science Nature Center. They have a great "Forest Canopy Walk" that takes you over 100 feet about the forest floor! Busy but short weekend. I hope you all had as much fun as we did!
Having addressed issues of sexuality, marriage, and singleness, Paul shifts his focus to eating meats and other goods sacrificed to idols (chapters 8 through 10). Typically, meat sacrificed at the pagan altar was divided into three portions: one burnt in honor of the god, one returned to the worshipper, one given to the temple priest (who could sell it at the temple market if he didn't want it). The questions that arise are: Can Christians buy the meat at the market? Can Christians eat the sacrificed meat? What if they are in the home of a pagan for dinner?
Paul starts with a quick reminder of Christian love and our limited wisdom (vv 1-3). The goal of Christian life is love- not knowledge. Love has a huge impact on our life- building us up into stronger people.
Christian theology is that there are no gods other than God (v 4); we are monotheistic- only one True God and there are no other competing gods. In pagan culture, there are many, many competing gods. Each one had a temple, and each had specific sacrifices that were required. There was even a god called "the unknown god" with its own temple- this was so that no god was forgotten! We know that there is just one God- our faith and theology rest on that huge principal. In the mind of the Corinthians Christians- if these idols/gods mean nothing- then the meat that was sacrificed to them was ok to eat, since it also means nothing.
Paul offers a different perspective. Some of the Christians had knowledge of the idols and so when they ate the meat, they recognized it as a sacrifice to the god (v 7). These people weren't wrong in their thought process, they just had a different way of thinking. We have all run into that: two different thought processes clashing together! You aren't more spiritual if you don't eat food offered to idols because you know they are nothing; you aren't less spiritual if you eat the meat offered to idols (v 8). It isn't the food that makes us more or less spiritual!
Paul continues by saying your actions may be a stumbling block for someone else who may be "weaker" in faith (vv 9-10). The whole concept here is that we may cause someone to "decrease" their faith in God when they see us doing something. We know that there are no other gods, so they sacrifices mean nothing, so we are OK with eating the meat. Someone else may still be questioning, and when they eat the sacrifice, they then begin believing in that god. We have caused someone to stumble. What are some of the current issues that may cause others to stumble? We need to be careful that we don't pull our brothers or sisters to sin.
Short chapter but lots to think about!
Have a great day! Going to get ready for VBS!!!
Shalom+
Pastor Paul
What i'm getting from this chapter is that it is ok to eat the meat sacrified to idols as we know that thereis only One God . paul feels that if Christians who are weak in the service see stronger Christians eating this meat they may think that it is okay and that may lead them t do other things thhat they shouldn't in other words "set a good example".
ReplyDeleteYou have it! Although- Paul will tweak this some in the next chapter!
DeleteGood job!
I think this is the simplest explanation that Paul has given to an obvious question asked by the Corinthians. There is no sacrifice of meat because there is only one God - eat it or no, your faith remains strong. My take away is definitely that Paul will not do anything (here it is eating meat that was offered to an idol) if it will make weaker Christians, who feel to eat it is wrong, to also eat the meat. Thereby doing something they think is wrong. I think it brings back a sermon I heard recently - Am I My Brother's Keeper? Yes, we are, and should behave in such a way as to make our brothers and sisters stronger Christians.
ReplyDeleteVBS was fun!!!
Hmmm....someone did listen?!
DeleteThe goal is to strengthen people- so do what we can to help them.
Good job!
Again, I find this chapter confusing. At first, I thought it was like the Jewish kosher foods. An orthodox Jew explained to me once that "kosher" means "fit to eat." A very simple concept, indeed, except Jews have some strange (to me) definitions of what is fit to eat. I thought that Paul was going to pronounce that Christians had to eat "kosher" meats. Since this was not the case at all, I have no clue about what Paul was getting at here. He spoke about getting Christians...I don't have a clue about what Paul was trying to get at here. I am just going to drop back 10 and punt.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha Jack!
ReplyDeleteThe point was the meat sacrificed at pagan altars. Can Christians eat it? There was lots of meat being used for pagan temple sacrifices. Some would go to the priest, but much was sold for consumption by others. If the meat was sacrificed to a pagan god, can Christians eat it (was the question asked for Paul to answer).
Paul's response was that, since there are no other gods except God, then it really wasn't a sacrifice, so yes- Christians can eat it. However, if eating the meat causes someone to question their Christian faith, then we shouldn't eat the meat- even though we know it is "just meat" and not a sacrifice.
Does that help?
Thanks for the question Jack