Once again he lays down some principles. The first one is that an idol is nothing. It is just a piece of wood or stone or some other material. But in terms of anything spiritual, it is nothing at all. Paul gets this idea, of course, not from the so-called knowledge of the pagan academies, but from the Old Testament. In Isaiah 44 the prophet Isaiah is quoting God, who is challenging the idols of the heathen. The observation is made of a man who cuts down a tree. He uses half of it to build a fire and cook his food, while the other half he dries out and carves out an idol, which he proceeds to fall down and worship. This is utter foolishness! This god cannot do anything. Put it to the test. Ask it to foretell the future. Of course it cannot do this, because it is absolutely nothing. This does not mean, however, that Paul is denying the existence of demons. There is indeed a spiritual battle going on, as Paul discusses in Ephesians 6. It is not a literal battle against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. But idols that people make out of earthly material have no value and significance at all. The reason such an idol is nothing at all is because there is only one God.
The second principle Paul gives seems to take us back to the teaching of Jesus Christ. He writes in verse 8, “But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.” What one eats or does not eat is a matter of indifference in terms of one’s spiritual life. On one occasion Jesus was challenged by the Pharisees and teachers of the law over why His disciples did not wash their hands before eating. Jesus said that the food one eats does not defile a person, but what comes out of them. Jesus went on to speak of the sinful heart, which is the source of the sinful thoughts, words, and actions that lead to spiritual defilement (Matthew 15:1-20). Therefore, eating or not eating meat that has been offered to idols is likewise a matter of indifference.
At this point you wonder if any within the Corinthian church who thought eating such meat was no big deal felt smug toward those who thought it was wrong to eat it. They may have felt vindicated that they were right because Paul sided with them. But there is more to it than that. It is not simply a question of eating or not eating. They were wrong in spirit because they had not understood what it really is to know in a matter such as this. Knowledge is more than mere intellectual understanding that an idol is nothing and that eating meat sacrificed in a pagan temple does not damage one spiritually. But there is another part of this, the third principle, that needs to be considered, and that is loving your brothers and sisters in Christ.
We will consider this principle in tomorrow’s study.
