“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.
Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”
If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God — even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
If it feels like the apostle Paul keeps coming back to the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols in this letter to the first-century church in Corinth, it’s probably because that’s exactly what he’s doing. That likely was a big issue for the early Corinthian believers, and Paul returns to it as an example for multiple points he makes in this letter.
In this section, Paul gives us 3 key points: 1) Believers have the right to do all things, but all things may not be beneficial, 2) practicing Christian freedom in this way may not be helpful for fellow believers, and 3) as believers, we are not to focus only on our own good but on our fellow believers.
The quotes we see in verse 23 are almost identical to those in 1 Corinthians 6:12. In that context, Paul was using those quotations to make it point that they were taking the idea of freedom in Christ too far, and he builds on that idea in this section of his again.
In verse 24, he begins making his point with the idea that we as believers should not seek our own good, but that we should seek others’ good. He returns to this thought at the end of his argument here, so we can clearly see the point he’s setting up in this section.
Bringing up this idea of Christians eating meat that may have been sacrificed to pagan idols, Paul explains that if it’s being sold in the public market, there is clearly no religious significance to it (verse 25). Paul backs up that idea by quoting Psalm 24:1 in verse 26, that everything in the earth belongs to the Lord. This verse from Psalm 24 was often used as a mealtime blessing by the Jews, so it is very appropriate for Paul to tie that to eating meat while making his point that everything is God’s, so it doesn’t matter whether that particular meat had been previously used in pagan idol worship or not.
But then Paul brings up another situation in verse 27 – being invited to dinner at an unbeliever’s house. Since the church was still very new at this time, it is likely that the Corinthian believers still had a lot of overlapping social circles with unbelievers. Out of politeness, the believer should go ahead and eat the meat; however, if someone brings up the issue that it was from an idol sacrifice, then they shouldn’t eat it (verse 28). If they don’t know whether it came from a pagan sacrifice or not, it’s fine; but that changes if it’s confirmed that the meat was involved in a pagan sacrifice.
Why is that? Paul is concerned for the other person’s conscience (verse 29). He doesn’t want to cause the other person to feel guilty by offering meat sacrificed to idols. It doesn’t affect his own conscience, because only he is responsible for his conscience just as every person is responsible for themselves. If Paul thanks God for the meat, he should not be criticized for eating it, but that is his choice (verse 30).
In verse 31, Paul begins to share a bigger-picture perspective: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” After discussing the details of the meat-eating situation, Paul shows the application to all of life. However you choose to exercise your freedom as a Christian, it is our goal as believers that God is glorified in that situation. This principle doesn’t only apply to eating meat sacrificed to idols but all of our lives as believers in Jesus Christ.
While glorifying God is our primary goal, Paul shares our secondary goal in verses 32-33: that we do not cause anyone else to stumble, and that we seek the good of others so that they might be saved. Paul tries to please everyone, but he needs to keep the proper perspective of why he lives his life that way – so that more people may come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ! Paul can exercise his freedom however he wants, and so can we, but we need to make sure that our goal is to glorify God and seek the good of others.
There is much discussion among scholars as to whether 1 Corinthians 11:1 belongs in this section or with the next section, and some Bible translations break up the section differently. But since I am generally following the NIV translation, I’ll put it in this section. Paul encourages the believers to follow his example as he follows the example of Christ. While commanding them to imitate Christ is a great goal, that is harder to do than imitating a person who is still walking the earth with them. While Paul was not perfect in his imitating of Christ, he was a great example for them to follow.
While the specific circumstance of eating meat sacrificed to idols doesn’t really fit with our modern culture, think about how this idea does apply in your life. What might you be doing in your life that is okay for your conscience but may be causing a fellow believer to stumble, or even causing an unbeliever to be discouraged from the faith?
Remember Paul’s key points in this passage. Just because you can do something does not mean you should. Everything we do should focus on glorifying God and building up our fellow people. Focus on doing good for others, including the ultimate good of sharing salvation in Jesus Christ with them.
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