Issues Concerning Giving Up the Right to Sacrificed Food (8:1-11:34)

Paul's Example (1-8)

Continuing on with the same theme of yielding rights, Paul is appealing to an Old Testament example. His example is acute: the Israelites who had been miraculously and powerfully delivered from Egypt by Yahweh were not changed. All the great experiences of spiritual deliverance did not change their hearts; they could not give up their rights.

Their lusts were born out of demanding their rights, and those demands led Israel to be heart-deep in idolatry (1).

Paul's list of Israel's full experiences in Yahweh's presence was staggering:

• They were under God's cloud.

• They were all baptized into Moses' leadership.

• They all experienced cloud-protection and sea-deliverance.

• They ate food and drink, which was more spiritual than physical because it was produced by the word of Yahweh through the Rock—Christ (2-4).

Yet they could not please Yahweh, for they desired food and drink other than what Yahweh had provided. 

They were so demanding of their rights to another kind of food and a different style of leadership that they began to lust after it. Ultimately, their demands gave into the sexually-charged idol worship of the pagan nations surrounding them (5-7).

Paul then warns the Corinthians to be careful not to become so demanding of rights. Paul sees this demand of rights as leading to the kind of lust that could cause someone to indulge in the same kind of sexual worship that Israel became guilty of practicing. Israel's worship concluded in plagues and curses (8).

Paul's Four Cautions (9-14) 

Paul cautions the Corinthians to be careful:

• First, they were not to test Christ. Those who demand a right to have something more than what God has provided actually are putting Christ to the test. They are testing God by seeing if demanding their own rights would really lead their soul away from Christ and into soul-destroying temptations prompted by the serpent-seducer (9).

• Second, they were not to grumble in dissatisfaction for not being able to pursue their rights, for complaining led to lust and lust to destruction (10).

  Paul mentions that what happened to Israel was an example of what happens to anyone who, through being demanding, opens the door of their heart to discontentment, temptation, and then lust (11).

• Third, Paul warns of a condition of assuming one is standing established in liberty when, in reality, they are neck-deep in temptation. When rights are demanded, temptation is at the door to place one's desire for something above all else. 

  Paul's principle is clear: the person who demands their rights, even though their demands are not sin, will, in the end, fall into temptation—Israel being a classic example.

  Paul reminds the Corinthians that God is faithful and will provide a way of escaping the temptation of thinking we are living within God's will when actually we are demanding a right. There is always a way to escape such demands of rights by simply yielding them and following the way of love, treating others as more important (12-13).

• Fourth, Paul calls on the Corinthians to flee, to run away from idolatry. Idolatry in this case is making an idol out of a right. Once an idol is made out of a right, “I have a right to eat or drink that,” then a temptation to yield to a desire is born. Paul's advice is, “Don't make an idol out of a right!” (14) 

Meat Eaten in Pagan Temples (15-24)

Paul now is going to answer the complicated question: should one eat something offered to an idol or should someone eat in the temple restaurants?

His outline is going to work something like this:

• What about eating meat in the temple restaurants? (14-24)

• What about eating meat purchased in the marketplace? (25-26) 

• What about eating meat in the home of a guest? (27-30)

Paul is calling on the Corinthians to think sensibly (15).

He asks some rhetorical questions to bring home the point: isn't the communion table a meal where all share Christ—His body and blood? Are they not all together participating in His presence? Is there not one loaf, one body? Paul is asking if the Lord's table is not proof that they are a part of Christ and a part of one another. They are, as it were, one body, joined together by what they ate together (16-17).

Paul further uses the example of the altars in ancient Israel: did not those who ate the sacrifices participate with the god on whose altars they were eating? (18) 

Paul concedes that food offered to idols was of no consequence because the idols and gods were not real. 

Then Paul revealed the important issue. When a pagan offered a sacrifice to their idols, they were offering it to more than dumb idols and non-existent gods; they were offering their sacrifices to demons. 

Here was Paul's fact: while the god receiving the offering was not real and the idol was without life, when a pagan offered a sacrifice, something else was at work. The pagan was, in essence, offering their sacrifice or their meat to a demon. When offering meat to an idol, they were, in some sense, joining themselves to the demon behind the idol. 

In the same way, some believers were sensing that if they had anything to do with food offered to idols, in a way, they were connecting with demons. The eating of the meat was making them feel in some way that they were giving their lives to the demon behind the idol (19-21).

Paul warns here not to provoke Yahweh to jealousy. Paul was warning the Corinthians not to eat in the temple restaurants and cause other believers to eat there as well. In so eating, some could feel they were giving some of their affection for Yahweh to the demons behind the idol, which would mean giving away a bit of their hearts, splitting their affection, and provoking the Lord to jealousy (22).

Paul admits all things to be lawful but not all things helpful, nor do all actions build up others. To eat in the temple was dangerous, for it could corrupt hearts (23). Paul's rule was never to demand rights but to do what would be for the good of another (24).

Meat Offered to Idols but Purchased in the Marketplace (25-26)

Paul encouraged the Corinthians to eat the meat purchased in the marketplace without raising any questions to mess with their conscience. Paul reminded them that all belonged to Yahweh. In Paul's mind, unless there was knowledge the meat had actually been offered, they were free to eat. If one had no idea the meat was offered to an idol and thus a demon, there was nothing wrong with eating it. Once it was known, however, then the law of love and liberty went into effect. At that point, the Corinthians were to act in a way that built the faith of others (25-26).

Eating Idol Food in Homes (27-33) 

The same rule was true when invited to someone's home: eat and don't ask questions (27). If it was announced that the meat was offered to idols, then they were not to eat, just in case it might affect the conscience of the person who was serving the meal. It was never okay to think an alliance with a demon on any level was appropriate (28).

The conscience of another was never to determine “personal” liberty over whether to eat or not to eat (29). Thankfulness consecrates all things, and no one should be denounced for whatever he or she eats because thanksgiving makes it holy to Yahweh (30).

Paul left the Corinthians with three final rules on the subject: 

• Whatever they ate, drank, or did, they were to consecrate it by giving glory to God (31).

• Whatever they did, they were not to offend anyone or cause anyone to stumble away from full-out allegiance to Christ (32).

• They were never to seek their own advantage, but what would put others at an advantage (33).