Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-march-11-2024
I Corinthians 10:23-11:1
The Believer’s Freedom
23 [You say] “Everything is permissible,” —but not everything is beneficial. [You say] “Everything is permissible” —but not everything is constructive. 24 Nobody should seek their own good, but the good of others.
25 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”
27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. 28 But if anyone 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 – 29 the other person’s conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another’s conscience? 30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 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. 1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
This passage is complicated. It takes some thinking to figure out how we’re supposed to apply it. But it’s worth it, because the issues it raises are important.
Paul wrote this letter to the members of the church he had established in Corinth, which was a prosperous Greek city with a sizable Jewish population. So, like a lot of the churches Paul established, the church in Corinth was made up of a mixture of people who had been raised as observant Jews and others who were former pagans. (And by ‘pagans,’ we mean people who had grown up worshipping the Greek and Roman gods.)
As you might expect, that made life complicated in the Corinthian church. The Greek and Hebrew Christians had different attitudes toward some issues. The one Paul addresses in our reading for today is the matter of eating meat from animals that had been sacrificed to pagan idols. Some pagan temples basically cooked the meet on an altar and then sold it in the marketplace. Some even had tables and functioned as restaurants.
The problem for the church was that some followers of Jesus bought that meat and had no qualms about eating it. But others, especially ones raised as observant Jews, regarded eating that meat as the equivalent of worshiping foreign gods, and so forbidden by the Ten Commandments. And the Christians who had been pagans were divided on it, too. Some felt like eating that meat was ‘back-sliding’ to their old religion. So it seems that there was quite a bit of conflict in the church about whether or not to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols.
This matter of what could be eaten was a live issue in the early church – and one that God sent some guidance on. You might remember that in the Acts of the Apostles, God sent Peter a message in a vision to the effect that the Hebrew kosher laws were no longer binding on the church and its leaders. It seems that God wanted the followers of Jesus to be able to share meals with gentiles. Which makes sense, because sharing table fellowship is one of the best ways to build relationships that can lead to sharing faith. In fact, in our passage for today, Paul also tells his readers that if they were invited to eat with unbelievers, they should eat what was served.
Or most of the time, at least. There are some exceptions in Paul’s mind. He writes that if you’re eating at someone’s house, and the host announces with pride that the meant he’s serving was from a pagan sacrifice, a Christian should pass. That’s because the pagan might think the sacrifice had conferred some special blessing on the food. And under those circumstances, eating that meat really could be understood as acknowledging and accepting that blessing by a false god.
For Paul, it seems, the question is not what we are “allowed to do.” In the Jewish tradition, there were lots of things that were forbidden. So compared to observant Jews, “everything is permissible” for followers of Jesus.
(And by the way, you might notice that the way we’ve included the passage in this reflection, we’ve added the words “you say” before “everything is permissible.” Those words aren’t in the original Greek text of First Corinthians, but New Testament scholars say that’s what Paul really meant to communicate in this passage. If you’re reading this Reflection, you can look back at the text above. If you’re listening to the audio, just be aware that those words – “you say” – have been added to clarify Paul’s meaning.)
Paul wants followers of Jesus to think about the life of faith differently than either Jews or pagans might have thought about it in the past. Instead of asking, “Are we allowed to do this?” he wants us to ask, “Is this helpful to the task of spreading the faith?” or “Is this constructive to the life of the church?”
It’s been all too common in the history of the church to think of Christian ethics in terms of what is forbidden to us. Things like drinking alcohol, dressing in certain ways, watching certain movies, playing cards, and wearing lipstick have all been considered serious sins at various times in Christian history. I suppose they still are, in some parts of the church.
But in Paul’s mind, the point is not to obey a bunch of religious rules to avoid going to hell. Our faith comes with great freedom, but it also carries the responsibility of being thoughtful about how we exercise that freedom. Being thoughtless about how we eat, drink, talk, dress – and even drive – can affect how the Christian faith is perceived.
All of which doesn’t really lend itself to hard-and-fast rules. Instead, it calls us to be thoughtful about how our words and our actions represent our faith to those around us, and about how we can best make the love of Jesus known to them. Mindfully living a Christ-like life takes some restraint about how we exercise our freedom as his followers, and some patience with how others exercise theirs.
If you really want a simple principle for living as a follower of Jesus, probably the best you can do is to consider in every situation how the master himself would have interacted with those around him. The old “What Would Jesus Do?” principle might seem like a cliché, but you won’t stray too far from the path if you’re genuinely trying to follow the master.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for the great freedom that comes with following your Son – the freedom to enjoy the blessings you provide without constant attention to detailed rules and regulations. But we recognize that how we exercise our freedom influences others, and we ask your help in being thoughtful enough to give you glory in everything we say and do. Amen.
Every Blessing,
Henry
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