1 Cor 8 is one of those chapters in the Bible which on first glance appears to have no relevance to modern day life at all. It’s fodder for those who declare that the Bible is outmoded and outdated and therefore can be quite happily discarded in favour of any other trendy literature which deals with modern thinking. The question Paul addresses in this chapter (should Christians eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols?) might have been relevant to 1st century Christians in Corinth, but hardly seems to feature on the list of most discussed questions in 2015.
As always, however, specific historical situations can have wider contexts than seem apparent from a cursory glance. People don’t change very much, even if the situations they face do, and how to respond to individual questions will always involve core principles which can apply to a whole variety of situations. Paul’s ‘core principles’ in this chapter have to do with love (which should always be our prime motivator), consideration and care for other believers. He is keen that we learn to build each other up, rather than tearing each other down (see 2 Cor 12:19, 2 Cor 13:10, Eph 4:29, Rom 4:19, 1 Thess 5:11) and keen that we learn how to balance freedom with love and respect.
The historical context of the question involved buying meat. There were two sources of meat in the ancient world: the regular market (where the prices were higher) and the local temples (where meat from the sacrifices was always available.) Some members of the church saved money by purchasing the cheaper meat available from the temples, arguing that idols were not able to contaminate food and therefore they could eat that meat with nothing to disturb their consciences. They also attended meals where sacrificial meat was served. Other Christians (saved out of pagan idolatry) were troubled and offended by this, believing that the meat was contaminated as a result of the sacrifices and that they should therefore avoid this.
Paul effectively agreed that meat sacrificed to idols was not actually contaminated, because idols have no real power of their own; there is only one God: ‘for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.’ (1 Cor 8:6) He knew, however, that the real issue was not about food, because ‘food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.’ (1 Cor 8:8) In essence, he echoed Jesus’s teaching in Mark 7 that washing hands before eating was not the thing that defiled people: ‘Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.’ (Mark 7:15) Paul knew that the real problem lay not so much in what people ate but in how they thought and how they treated others.
Knowledge itself, he comments, is not the be-all and end-all of life: ‘We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.’ (1 Cor 8:1) Instead of the inflated arrogance he has warned against in previous chapters (see 1 Cor 4:6, 18), Paul advocates consideration for other people’s opinions, especially if by acting in a certain way we will lead them into sin. ‘If someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.’ (1 Cor 8:10-11) In such circumstances, Paul reckons it’s worth curbing individual freedom in order to help someone else avoid sin (see Gal 6:2).