Christian Liberty and Satanic Sacrifices

INTRO

I. ROM. 14:13-14

v. 13 Paul gives guidelines to the strong about how to protect the weaker brother. We will deal with this subject exclusively next week, so I’m not going to address it now.

v. 14 nothing is unclean in itself but to him who thinks it unclean, to him it is unclean. Now here the “nothing is unclean” does not mean anything goes. He is not saying that there is nothing at all that is evil or sinful. His comments must be confined to the point at issue: ritual defilement as defined by the OT Jewish ceremonial law.
What I want to do is to camp on this thought “nothing is unclean” and expand the playing field of this whole debate over secondary issues. I want to show you that the doctrine of Christian liberty deals with more than just differences over the ceremonial law of Moses as appears to be the main issue in Rome.

II. EATING FOODS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS IN CORINTH.

A. Outline of 1 Cor. 8:1-13 Foods offered to idols.

1) Knowledge and love (vv. 1-3).
2) Many gods but only one God and one Lord (vv. 4-6).
3) The weak conscience is defiled if it eats food sacrificed to an idol (vv. 7-8).
4) The one with knowledge must not cause his weaker brother to stumble (vv. 9-13).

B. The “big issue” in Corinth was over meat sacrificed to idols.

1) The stronger brother at Corinth knows that there is no such thing as an idol, and he can eat meat sacrificed to idols without worshipping the idols like he once did. This is well within his Christian liberty to do this. See vv. 4-6.

2) The weaker brother at Corinth thought that eating the meat was a part of worshipping the idol (v. 7).

C. The strong believer could not only eat meat sacrificed to idols but even do so while dining in the idol’s temple (v. 10).

The expression in v. 10 “dining in an idol’s temple” is primarily used by Jewish writers to refer to enjoying a sacrificial feast in the precincts of an idol’s temple. Before this believer came to his knowledge of the truth, he would worship the idol and sacrifice to it, but in reality he was sacrificing to demons (1 Cor. 10:19-20). But now he can go into that same temple and eat a sacrificial meal knowing the truth about God, and Paul says it is okay (up to a point).

1) Why would a strong believer want to eat meat sacrificed to his former idol?

2) This is interpreted by some of the weak brethren to be idol worship and the weaker brother will be tempted to respond in either of two ways:
a) violate his conscience and eat the meat and sin, or
b) he will condemn and judge the stronger brother. Thus divisions result.

3) Remember Paul’s warnings to the strong believer not to abuse his liberty: Gal. 5:13; see also 1 Pet. 2:16.

D. The main problem arises when a weak Christian sees the strong believer dining in an idol’s temple and is tempted to fall back into idolatry (vv. 7-13).

SUMMARY: If a believer has knowledge about the non-existence of idols, and worships God through Christ alone and no longer worships the devil like he once did, then he may eat meat sacrificed to idols, and even dine in their temples without incurring any sin. This is their Christian liberty. However, if this liberty causes another to stumble then it must be forfeited.

APPLICATION:

1) Should we use Christmas trees because of their pagan origins? – Principle: no matter how pagan the origin of something is, the believer can use it for the glory of Christ and not be contaminated by its origin.

2) Movies. Principle: contact with meat sacrificed to idols does not make you an idol worshiper, so contact with false religions does not make you a worshipper of that false religion