“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful.  “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.  Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

1 Corinthians 10:23-24

While God did not condemn as sinful the Corinthian saints buying meat known to be used for pagan sacrifice if they were going to simply eat it as a normal meal (“all things are lawful” – cf. 8:8; 10:25-27, 29-30), it was also true that publicly exercising this freedom had great potential to influence others to sin by either falling into idol worship or causing division in the church through unrighteous judgment (“but not all things are helpful”…“but not all things build up” – cf. 8:7, 9-13; 10:28-29).  The agape (self-sacrificial) love God wants all Christians to have for others must motivate each of us to not “seek his own good,” but rather “the good of his neighbor,” even to the point of being willing to forego that which God gives us the freedom to do.  However, we love our freedoms.  We don’t want to give up anything we have the right to do.  Thus, the commands and principles found in this section are a challenge many of us must meet and overcome.

Paul now elaborates on how the Corinthians must do this with regards to the controversy surrounding eating meat offered to idols.  He directs them to “eat whatever is sold in the meat market,” thus showing again that they have the right to purchase and consume the controversial meat; after all, the food was created by the Lord and belongs to him (10:26; cf. Ps. 24:1).  However, they must do so “without raising any question on the ground of conscience” (10:25b).  In other words, exercise your freedom to eat the food quietly and tactfully and don’t go looking for potential controversies by asking if it is associated with idolatry.  This goes against our human inclination to let people know where we stand on any and all controversial issues, which is oftentimes how we show our own inconsistencies and thus turn others away from being open to the gospel.  How much better to follow God’s wise directive and decide to not go looking for contention by keeping our thoughts and scruples to ourselves (Rom. 14:22).

Paul then offers the illustration of a non-Christian inviting a Christian to dinner and directs the Christian to eat whatever their host sets before them without asking questions about the meal’s potential association with pagan sacrifice (10:27).  Yet if someone informs them without solicitation that the meal has been offered in pagan sacrifice, then they should abstain from eating it (10:28a).  They should abstain “for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience – I do not mean your conscience, but his” (10:28b-29a)  Since they are going out of their way to inform you of the meat’s association with idolatry, they either are an unbeliever who practices idolatry themselves or a Christian who has a scruple about eating this particular meat.  Eating meat associated with idolatry after being informed of such would give the impression to the unbeliever that idolatry was not a sin and would cause the Christian with the scruple to conclude that you are sinning by doing so.  Therefore, put what is spiritually best for them ahead of your own desires and abstain from that which you have the freedom to do (cf. 10:23-24; 8:13).  Doing so brings about unity and is a sign of spiritual maturity.

It is also true that what we have the God-given freedom to do is not determined by other’s consciences.  God inspired Paul to acknowledge this and thus teach those with human idiosyncrasies to keep their scruples to themselves and not try to bind them on others.  This is the point made by the apostle’s rhetorical question, “For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?” (10:29b).  If Paul “partake(s)” of this food which some thinks he should avoid, and does so “with thankfulness” to God for the food, then “why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?” (10:30)  Much contention and division among brethren would be avoided if we were more vocal about scriptural commands and principles and very quiet about our own standards and opinions as regulated by our consciences.

— Jon