I Corinthians 8
- tonight we're moving into a new section of the book of
I Corinthians that begins in chapter 8
- you may remember that our last several studies dealt with
chapter 7 and what the Lord said about marriage, divorce,
and remarriage
- the passage we're looking at tonight is actually part of a
larger section in this book which includes chapters 8, 9,
and 10
- all three chapters are dealing with the subject of
Christian liberty and how a key ingredient in the way we
use our liberty is BALANCE
- I've given you an outline for all three chapters from
Warren Wiesbe to give us an overview of what to expect in
coming weeks
Knowledge Must Be Balanced By Love - chap. 8
Authority Must Be Balanced By Discipline - chap. 9
Experience Must Be Balanced By Caution - chap. 10:1-22
Freedom Must Be Balanced By Responsibility - chap. 23-33
- tonight we're going to begin studying chapter 8
- read 8:1-11
(after 8:1 - remember, these chapters, beginning with
chapter 7, are responses to specific questions the
Corinthians had asked Paul in a previous letter)
- question on the table here is - what do we do with
meat offered to idols?
- Let's begin with:
I. The Problem Paul Is Addressing
- there's a specific issue here, and also a general one
A. In specific
1. Question was - should a believer be involved with
meat that has been offered to idols?
2. we've mentioned before that the culture in which the
Corinthians lived was very pagan
- they were both polytheistic and polydemonistic
- polytheistic - believed in many gods (which had
to be pacified with all sorts of offerings)
- polydemonistic-believed in many evil spirits
- they believed that the air was filled with all sorts
of evil spirits and that the evil spirits were
constantly trying to get inside of you
- of course one of the easiest ways for an evil spirit
to get inside of you, so they said, was for it to
attach itself to a piece of meat and then the evil
spirit came inside of you when you ate the meat
- as a result of this, there were regular meat and food
offerings to the pagan dieties
3. meat offerings
- these offerings fulfilled two purposes
- pacified the "gods"
- purified the meat of all these evil spirits
- when this meat was offered - it went to one of
three places (its important to know these
because it helps us understand some of the
questions the Corinthians had to face)
1) burned on an altar to the god
2) given to the priests
- because the priests couldn't possibly eat
all that was given to him - the remainder
was sold in the marketplace
3) kept by the worshipper
- now, the:
4. Corinthians could face this problem in one of
three ways:
a) Can I buy the meat in the marketplace?
- there was such a glut of this meat around
that apparently it was cheaper than meat that
hadn't been sacrificed to idols
- so it would be like going to Pay Less as a
believer and being confronted with the choice
- Do I buy this hamburger that has been
offered to idols for 79 cents a pound, or
do I buy the hamburger that hasn't been
offered to idols for $2.29?
b) Can I go to a feast where that kind of meat is
going to be served?
- remember, we said that a portion of the meat
offered to a pagan god was returned to the
worshipper
- often that person would have a big feast
right in the pagan temple and the that
unbelieving person might very well ask a
believer to come to the party
- so the question would be - what does a
believer do if an unbelieving friend asks
him/her to come to the pagan temple to
participate in a feast where meat that was
just offered to an idol is going to be served?
- a related question to that would be: Is it
possible that one is right and the other is
wrong?
- is it possible that it would be OK to buy it at Pay Less
but not right to go to the feast? Or Vice-versa?
- another way that might impact a believer is when
c) Can I go to a dinner party given by an
unbelieving friend where I don't know what kind
of meat is being served?
- do you just stay away from all dinner parties
to be safe?
- do you ask what kind of meat is going to be
served?
- do you just play "dumb"
- of course that complicates things, too
- is it possible that you could go to the
private dinner party but not go to the
public feast or but it at the market?
- there's obviously several other possible
combinations
- the problem at the church of Corinth was this - THE BIBLE
AT THAT POINT CLEARLY DID NOT FORBID EATING MEAT THAT WAS
OFFERED TO IDOLS, but:
5. Church at Corinth had fallen into at least 2 groups
(in their response to this issue)
- in a later message, we're going to try to show that
there are actually several different groups a
person can "fall into" in terms of his/her response
to issues like this one that are not specifically
addressed in the Bible
- for our purposes tonight, this passage mentions
that the church at Corinth had fallen into at least
two groups on this question of eating meat that had
been offered to idols
a. those brother or sisters who had a "weak"
conscience (and as a result believed it would be
sinful for them to eat that kind of meat and
sinful for anyone to eat it)
conscience - "to know with"
- our "internal court" where actions are judged
to either be acceptable or unacceptable
INPUT - now, our conscience only works properly
if what? (if it's making judgments based on
the Word of God)
- a weak conscience is a conscience that’s
triggered by criteria other than the Word of God
- so folks who have a weak conscience:
1) are using sources other than the Word of
God to determine their standards
2) want to apply those standards not just to
themselves, but to everybody else
- let me mention a couple of examples:
- some folks think it's sinful for a believer to drink
Coke
- others would say that its sinful for a woman to wear a
coat that has sleeves
- others say its sinful for a woman to wear makeup
- or its wrong to have these electric candles you put in
you windows at Christmastime
- that’s a person with a weak conscience (those are
obviously extreme examples - we'll mention some that
are more controversial in coming weeks)
- but that's a person with a weak conscience
- the bottom line is - if you handed a person like
that a Coke and they took a drink, they'd be
convinced that they had sinned, they'd feel guilty,
they would believe the Lord was displeased
- that’s a weak conscience
Paul says in this chapter a weak conscience can be:
defiled - vs. 7
wounded - vs. 12
offended - vs. 13
- they believed it was wrong to eat the meat offered to idols
under any circumstances
b. those who had knowledge (cf. "the strong", Rom.
15:1)
- this group believed there was nothing wrong with
eating the meat
- Paul calls them "those who have knowledge" in
that they knew the Scriptures did not
specifically forbid the practice
- they also knew some other principles of
Scripture that seemed to back up their position
- as we'll see next week, that didn't necessarily
prove that their position was right - or what
Paul was now commanding
- but at least they had some knowledge on the
subject - so Paul refers to them as the ones
with knowledge
- at this point - I think we ought to have two responses to
this material
6. 2 responses at this point
a) Scripture didn't specifically address this
subject
- so that tells us what the context of these
verses is (issues where the Bible has not
directly spoken)
b) You and I probably won't face this specific issue
today.
- we're probably not going to be confronted
with whether to buy meat offered to an idol,
or whether we should attend a feast where
that kind of meat will be served, or whether
to attend a dinner party where that kind of
meat might be served
- so the natural response might be - "well, maybe these
verses don't have any applications for us"
- the fact is, just the opposite is true
- sure, we won't be confronted with the specific issue of
eating meat offered to idols, but I'd like to present
to you that the general problem that Paul is addressing
here is one that we face all the time
- its one that can lead to great confusion and problems
unless the principles laid out in this passage are
followed
- so, the problem in general is this:
B. In General
What principles should I use when I make decisions in
the area of "Christian liberty?" (areas where the
Bible has not directly spoken.)
- now, there are a lot of answers to that question
that come from the verses we're going to study in
the next couple of weeks:
- but for starters tonight, let's concentrate on this
principle:
1) We must develop the ability to distinguish
things that truly differ.
- in other words - folks fall into difficulty
in these discussions on Christian liberty if
they apply the same set of principles to
things that really are different
- for example, let me just give a sample list of decisions a
Christian has to make about what he/she is/is not going to
do
1) Should I attend church?
2) Should I wear makeup?
3) Should I covet?
4) Should I go to a movie?
5) Should I drink Coke?
6) Should I play cards?
7) Should I drink alcohol?
8) Should I commit adultery?
9) Should I drink coffee or tea?
10) Should I be evangelistic?
11) Should I go to a wear slacks?
12) Should I have a TV?
- and we could go on and on
- the point is - the things in the list I just mentioned are
different. And if we tried to apply the same set of
principles to that entire list, we'd be in trouble, because
we didn't work at distinguishing things that are truly
different.
- here's at least three distinguishing
categories
a) Black/white areas in the Bible
INPUT - can you think of an example?
(thou shalt not covet)
b) Standards that can be readily deduced from
principles in the Bible.
- in other words - there may not be a
specific "thou shalt, or thou shalt not"
in the Bible, but as you put different
Biblical principles together, the
standards can be readily deduced
- I think an issue like "drinking alcohol"
fits in here. There is not a passage of
Scripture in the New Testament that says
- "A believer absolutely can never drink
a drop of alcohol."
- we talked about that when we
studied the Pastoral Epistles
- but when you put all the biblical
principles together
- how wine in that day was much
different than wine today
- how they did not have the access to
clean water and the great assortment
of beverages that we have today
- how we are accountable for the
example we set before our kids, and
other folks around
- we would say that the issue of
drinking is one that can be readily
deduced from biblical principles
(not to mention the great amount of
secular evidence on the subject)
c) Things that are indifferent
- things that the Bible simply does not
address.
- We have to think of some questions even
with these.
1) Will it edify? - I Cor. 6:12
2) Will it enslave? - I Cor. 6:12
3) The law of love - I Cor. 8:13
- (if time) - let's go back through some of the ones on the
list and try to categorize them:
1) Should I attend church?
2) Should I wear makeup?
3) Should I covet?
4) Should I drink Coke?
5) Should I play cards?
6) Should I drink alcohol?
7) Should I commit adultery?
8) Should I drink coffee or tea?
9) Should I be evangelistic?
10) Should I go to a wear slacks?
11) Should I have a TV?