Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”  For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth – as indeed 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.

1 Corinthians 8:4-6

The apostle continues his directives concerning the controversy about “the eating of food offered to idols” (8:4a).  Some of the Corinthian brethren could not in good conscience eat such meat (8:7), while others could because they viewed it as nothing more than food (8:8).  In doing so, they became “a stumbling block” to the ones whose consciences would not allow them to eat (8:9-13).

Paul first points out that both he and they “know” (oida, have full and complete knowledge) that the pagan gods represented by the idols worshiped by many do not actually exist and that Yahweh is the one and only God.  The prophet Isaiah gave what is perhaps the clearest reasoning as to why the worship of man-made idols who are not real is folly, and his words are worth your time to read and ponder (Is. 44:9-20).  Paul’s acknowledgment that the Corinthian saints already knew this could be why the ESV translators put “an idol has no real existence” and “there is no God but one” in quotation marks (8:4b), inferring that he might have simply quoted what they had written to him.

He then says that “there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth” (8:5a).  He is not agnostically saying, “Well, there could be other gods out there in addition to our God, I guess.”  We know this because he had just definitively stated, using a Greek term (oida) that means that he has absolute knowledge, that “there is no God but one” (8:4b).  Thus, he refers to these other deities as “so-called gods” (lego, “to call by a name”); in doing so he acknowledges that many erroneously ascribe divinity to things they see in the sky (“in heaven”) or in nature (“on earth”).  He further recognizes that mankind has attributed deity to quite a lot of things which they call their lord (8:5b).  However, Christians recognize the one true God, “the Father” (8:6a), and the one true Lord, “Jesus Christ” (8:6b).  We know that God the Father made all things and we exist to serve him (8:6a; cf. Rom. 11:36; Eccl. 12:13).  In like manner, we know that Christ our Lord also created all and we exist because of him (8:6b; cf. John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16-17).

“However,” Paul says, “not all possess this knowledge” (8:7a).  He is talking to the Christians who had no problem eating this food.  He is reminding them not only of the lost pagans who lived next to them in Corinth and who needed the gospel, but also of some of their own brethren who had been converted from pagan idolatry and yet might still be struggling with temptations to return to it.  It is of these Christians he speaks when he writes, “But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled” (8:7b).

He continues, “Food will not commend us to God.  We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.  But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak” (8:8-9).  In other words, eating food is not inherently sinful.  Abstaining from certain foods does not make one more righteous than others.  Paul wanted them to understand that, as Wayne Jackson puts it, “no hunk of meat that has been offered to an idol has absorbed any idolatrous essence or spiritual contamination.”  However, the ones in Corinth who understood this still needed to patiently love their brethren who still struggled with accepting this fact.  They needed to love them enough to be willing to forego their right to eat this food for their brethren’s spiritual wellbeing (8:9-13).

Christians, do we love others enough to be willing to give up our rights to help them get to heaven?

— Jon