Almighty and everlasting God, you govern
all things both in heaven and on earth:
Mercifully hear the supplications of your
people, and in our time grant us your peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.
Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. “Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.
-------
It was crucial that Paul spoke this message to the Corinthians. It was highly unlikely in the ancient city of Corinth in which Paul preached Jesus that one would find meat that had not been offered in sacrifice in one of the pagan temples. From these temples, meat offered in sacrifice was taken to the markets and sold not only as food for the body but indeed as food from the gods for the soul and the body.
Paul stresses that these idols to which this meat has been offered in sacrifice are no gods whatsoever and that the rites of sacrifice are empty rites which have no meaning. Paul represents a Jewish theology that has transformed from an earlier time in which God was seen as the one true and desireable God among the gods to a later understanding that there is only one God. If we read the Old Testament, we find signs of that progression. Reflecting that later view, Paul encourages the Corinthians yo have no fear in partaking of food offered in the temples of those who are in fact not gods but merely false idols.
But Paul also speaks of conscience as well as freedom. He stresses that if one Christian's eating of meat within the freedom he proclaims causes another to stumble and be weakened in their faith, the first should not partake for the sake of the weaker believer. There is something to this that we need to embrace. Our Christian freedom is wonderful, but it should always build up and never tear down. That continues to be an important reminder in our own day and generation, and it is centered on many more things than meat.
Let me give you an example. I grew up in a family and a faith tradition in which alcohol was viewed as abhorrent. I know people who believe that any reference to wine in the Scriptures is actually a reference to juice and not wine. As an Anglican, I have no problem with the reaponsible consumption of alcohol. But if I am in the presence of someone who thinks differently than me on alcohol, should I partake? My Christian freedom tells me yes. But my Christian freedom has boundaries. If it causes offense for me to partake, and causes harm to the faith of a brother or sister, then it is wise for the sake of the love of that Christian brother or sister to refrain from partaking.
Father Timothy Alleman
No comments:
Post a Comment