Lessons #267 and 268
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Food sacrificed to idol: supernatural beings (1 Cor 8:4-7)
. 4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet 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. 7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
The second answer of the apostle as to the reason the Lord he wrote in 1 Corinthians 8:6 is unique is because of His function as creator and sovereign sustainer of the universe. This function of the unique Lord of the universe is given in the clause of 1 Corinthians 8:6 through whom all things came and through whom we live. There are no verbs in the Greek as we find in the NIV since literally the Greek reads through whom all things and we through him.
The function of the unique Lord as both creator and sustainer of creation are conveyed in the preposition “through” used in our passage and the phrase all things of the NIV. We have already considered the phrase all things when we studied the description of God the Father but let me review what we said about the phrase. The phrase refers to all created divine beings that we described as “lesser gods,” humans, and all other creation of God in the universe.
The word “through” is translated from a Greek preposition (dia) that has several usages in the Greek. It may be used as a marker of means or instrument by which something is accomplished and so means “through” as in the reconciliation of believers to God through the death of Jesus Christ, as stated in Romans 5:10:
For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
The word may be used as a marker of the manner in which something is accomplished so means “by” as in the epistle of Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians not to waver from the truth he taught them regardless of the manner of its communication as we read in 2 Thessalonians 2:15:
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
The Greek preposition may be used as a marker of personal agency through whom something is accomplished hence means “through, by” as it is used to describe the miracles God performed through Apostles Paul and Barnabas as they narrated to the leaders of the church gathered during the first church council recorded in Acts 15:12:
The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
Interestingly, it is not only through these two apostles that we read of God performing miracles through an agency, so it is used regarding the Lord Jesus in Acts 2:22:
“Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
The preposition is used to describe the Lord Jesus Christ as the intermediary agent in the creation of the world in Colossians 1:16:
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 8:6, it is used in the sense of intermediary agent of creation.
That the Greek preposition translated “through” in our passage has the sense of intermediary agent of creation implies that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things as that is how to understand the literal Greek phrase through whom all things or in the words of the NIV through whom all things came. That this phrase is to be understood to mean that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things is supported by Apostle Paul’s statement in the passage we cited previously, that is, Colossians 1:16:
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
The pronoun him refers to Jesus Christ who is described in the preceding verse as the image of the invisible God as stated in Colossians 1:15:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Apostle Paul is not alone in declaring that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things, so did Apostle John, as recorded in John 1:3:
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
The pronoun him refers to the Word the apostle mentioned in John 1:1:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The phrase the Word is a title for the second member of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ, that is described as God and the One who took on human form according to John 1:14:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word becoming flesh is a way to describe the incarnation in that God took on a human body to come to this world to reveal Himself and to die for our sins. The fact that the Word is called God in verse 1 of John 1 makes it difficult to deny the deity of Jesus Christ.
By the way, we should note that the New World Translation (NWT) of the Jehovah’s witnesses translated the sentence of John 1:1 the Word was God as the Word was a god. The translation of the NWT has at least two major problems. A first problem is that of inconsistence in applying the Greek grammar that was behind their translation. Without going into the detail of the Greek grammar, let me show you how inconsistent the translators of the NWT are because of a predetermined agenda of denying the deity of Jesus Christ. A good example of the inconsistence of the translators of the NWT regarding translation of the Greek word that means “God” in the Greek text is in John 1:18:
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
The NWT reads No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten god who is in the bosom [position] with the Father is the one that has explained him. Here, the same Greek word is translated “God” in its first occurrence and “god” in its second occurrence. There is no rationale for such arbitrary translation. If the translators were being consistent then the phrase the only-begotten god they used should have been translated only begotten God. Of course, the Greek word (monogenēs) they translated “only begotten” means either “one and only” or “unique.” In John 1:18 the word means “unique.” This meaning could be easily understood from the use of the same Greek word to describe Isaac in Hebrews 11:17:
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,
The phrase his one and only son could not possibly be understood as “only begotten” as the NWT used the word. Instead, the Greek word should be translated “unique” to indicate that Isaac was the unique son of Abraham being conceived through miraculous display of God’s power since Abraham’s first son, born the natural way without special divine intervention as the case of Isaac, was Ishmael. The problem with the NWT is that its translators had an agenda that they wanted to promote so they failed to be consistent in their translation of the Greek word that could mean “God” or “god” in both of its usage in John 1:18. We mean that the Greek word should be translate “God” in its both occurrences or “god” in both. There is no justification to switch from one to the other in the verse.
A second problem the NWT has in translating the Greek sentence of John 1:1 as the Word was a god is that its translators imply that the Word that clearly refers to Jesus Christ as the Son of God was a lesser god and so one of the lesser gods mentioned in 1 Corinthians 8:5. This interpretation creates problem with the fact that God commands angels to worship Jesus Christ, as recorded in Hebrews 1:6:
And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
The translators of the NWT rendered the command Let all God’s angels worship him as And let all of God’s angels do obeisance to him. The translators wanted to avoid the implication that angels were commanded to worship Jesus Christ, so they used the expression “do obeisance.” Even the English dictionary indicates that the word “obeisance” is concerned with bowing before someone as a token of respect or submission or an acknowledgment of another person’s superiority or importance. Thus, from English perspective, God commanded the angels to acknowledge the superiority of Christ over them. Since the angels belong to the category of divine beings that we have indicated are the “lesser gods” then the command to angels is to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is superior to them despite His incarnation and that would imply that He is a different class of divine being than they. Of course, the translators of the NWT were again being inconsistent in how they translated Greek word. For the Greek word (proskyneō) they translated “to do obeisance to” is the same Greek word they translated “worship” when Satan tempted Jesus Christ as recorded in Luke 4:7–8:
7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
Interestingly, the NWT translated the Greek word as “worship” in both verses. Since the temptation event involved Jesus Christ and Satan who is an angel and so a lesser god then for the translators of the NWT to be consistent, they should have translated the Greek word in the two verses as “do obeisance” but they did not. The Greek word that means “to worship” indeed may mean “to do obeisance” when a human being is involved as in the act of Cornelius towards Peter that he, of course, discouraged as we read in Acts 10:25:
As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence.
Here the translators of the NWT used the expression “to do obeisance” which is certainly correct since that is one of the meanings of the Greek word used. That aside, the fact that God commands angels to worship Jesus Christ must be because He is God. For God had clearly indicated that He would not share His glory with anyone as we read, for example, in Isaiah 42:8:
“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.
For God to commanded angels to worship Jesus Christ or even as the NWT indicates of doing obeisance to Jesus Christ is to share in God’s honor. This contradicts the passage in Isaiah. The only way to avoid this contradiction is if Jesus Christ is God. In any event, it should be clear that the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul conveys that Jesus Christ is the agent of creation or the creator in the clause in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 8:6 through whom all things came or literally through whom (are) all things.
The fact is that the phrase through whom all things in the context of 1 Corinthians 8:6 conveys that Jesus Christ is God, the creator. Someone may say that the phrase through whom all things used in describing Jesus Christ as creator is not the same phrase used to describe the Father as God the creator since the phrase is from whom all things. There is no material difference in the use of the word “through” and “from” in this passage since both Greek prepositions used for the Father and Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 8:6 are used to indicate that God is the creator in Apostle Paul’s doxology recorded in Romans 11:36:
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
So, the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 8:6 indicate that the Father is the creator, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the creator because each is a member of the unique class of divine being, we call God, the creator of all things in heaven and on earth.
The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul conveyed to us that Jesus Christ is God the creator in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:6 through whom all things but that is not all that the Holy Spirit says through the pen of Apostle Paul. He conveyed through the apostle that Jesus Christ is also the sustainer of creation. This truth is conveyed in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 8:6 and through whom we live. Literally, the Greek reads we through him. The pronoun him, of course, refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. Nonetheless, as the literal translation indicates, there is no verb in the Greek text to enable us to be definitive about what the apostle means as being through Jesus Christ. This being the case, we should look to the context of the Scripture, especially in the epistles of the apostle, to help us interpret what the apostle would have meant.
There are several things that the Holy Spirit through the pen of Apostle conveyed that are associated or are through Jesus Christ. I will mention some of these although we have already referred to some of them previously in our study. The apostle indicates that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ as we read in Romans 5:1:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Reconciliation between us and God occurred through Jesus Christ as the apostle penned down in Romans 5:11:
Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
We receive eternal life through Jesus Christ as we read in Romans 5:21:
so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We have victory over death and all forces of darkness through our Lord Jesus Christ as we may gather from 1 Corinthians 15:57:
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We belong to God as His adopted children through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ as stated in Galatians 3:26:
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
This idea of belonging to God is the interpretation that we advanced when we encountered the literal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:6 and we to him or the clause of the NIV and for whom we live as it relates to God the Father. While this meaning and the various truth associated with Jesus Christ that we have cited make sense and are true we do not think that any of these is what the apostle had in mind when he wrote the literal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:6 we through him.
It is our interpretation that when the apostle wrote the phrase we through him, he meant that Jesus Christ is one who sustains us as well as all things in creation. We say this because of what the apostle wrote in his epistles to the Colossians. Recall that we have already referred to his teaching that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things in Colossians 1:16:
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
After this declaration of verse 16, the apostle made a statement that indicates that Jesus Christ is the sustainer of all things as implied in Colossians 1:17:
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
The expression “hold together” is a translation of the Greek word (synistēmi) that basically means “to put together.” However, it has other senses such as “to be composed of, to exist, to display.” The verb here is in the perfect tense in the Greek to indicate not just the work of Christ at creation but that an aspect of His work regarding creation is continuing. The idea here is that all things are being held together in Christ and by Him. In effect, Christ is the unifying principle and sustainer of creation. Without His sustaining power everything in the material universe would disintegrate. Before creation there was no order in the universe, but it is through the creative work of Christ that order was given to the material universe. We speak of the laws of physics, but in truth, they apply because of the sustaining power of Christ. For, if Christ refuses to sustain the world, every law of physics will fail. The One who is responsible for establishing order in creation is still maintaining order in His creation. In Christ there is cohesion among created things. This is the reason that if Christ is central to one’s life there is both order and peace. Furthermore, there is perfect harmony among Christians who are obedient to the word of Christ since that is the means by which He sustains creation. Anyway, following this approach in Colossians where the apostle wrote of Jesus Christ as the creator and then sustainer of the material universe, we believe that the Holy Spirit would have brought to his mind the idea of Jesus Christ sustaining creation especially those who are the sons of God through faith in Him. It is for this reason we believe that the literal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:6 we through him should be understood as the apostle stating that Jesus Christ is the sustainer of all things He created, especially those who are God’s children. By the way, Apostle Paul is not alone in declaring that the Lord Jesus Christ rules and sustains everything on this planet so did the human author of Hebrews in Hebrews 1:3:
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Anyway, the apostle in the literal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:6 through whom all things and we through him conveys that Jesus Christ is God who created all things and sustains them. In effect, the literal phrase we through him means that we are sustained through Jesus Christ. With this interpretation, we have completed our consideration of the second proposition of 1 Corinthians 8:4-7 and so we move to the third proposition. {Break here}
It is necessary before we state the third proposition to refresh our minds that the message, we have been considering of 1 Corinthians 8:4-7 is You should be aware that there is God and gods in heaven and on earth. This message we stated would be expounded using three propositions. The first proposition is that the worship of idols by some is indeed a meaningless exercise. The second is that there is hierarchy in the concept of supernatural beings revealed in the Scripture. This second proposition means that there is the supreme being called “God” with the “g” capitalized and there are other lesser supernatural beings called “gods” with the “g” of lower case to differentiate from the supreme being. With this brief review of the first two propositions, we have considered we then stated the third proposition.
The third proposition is that attitude towards food offered to idols is affected by ignorance of the first two propositions that deal with meaninglessness of idol worship and the hierarchy in the concept of supernatural beings. This third proposition is derived from the first clause of 1 Corinthians 8:7 But not everyone knows this. Although the translators of the NIV rendered the Greek noun used as a verb, there is no verb in the Greek for literally the Greek reads but this knowledge not in everyone. The point the apostle wanted to convey in the Greek is quite clear so that he emphatically stated it without use of a verb. Furthermore, the apostle used a contrasting conjunction (alla) that is more emphatic than another Greek contrasting conjunction (de) that also means “but.”
The word “knowledge” used in the literal translation is translated from a Greek noun (gnōsis) that basically means “knowledge” with two major nuances. Knowledge may refer to “the content of what is known” as it is used by Apostle Paul in describing what is known about Jesus Christ that he and others tried to communicate as we read in 2 Corinthians 2:14:
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
The phrase the fragrance of the knowledge of him refers to what is known about Jesus Christ or God that the apostle communicates to others. Knowledge may mean “comprehension or intellectual grasp of something” as the word is used in the instruction given to husbands concerning their treatment of their wives in 1 Peter 3:7:
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
The instruction of the NIV Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives is literally Husbands, in the same way live with your wives according to knowledge. Here “knowledge” refers to intellectual grasp of what the apostle intended for husbands to have. Husbands must understand that their wives are of the weaker sex and so should treat them in such a way to reflect this understanding as they deal with them in marriage. It is in the sense of “comprehension or intellectual grasp of something” that the word is used in 1 Corinthians 8:7.
In any case, the verbal phrase of the NIV knows this or literally this knowledge refers to the truths the apostle conveyed primarily in verses 4 to 6. The apostle had communicated that idols are nothing so that it is a meaningless exercise for people to worship them. Another truth the apostle conveyed is the existence of many divine beings and lords but that among the divine beings there is the unique divine being call God the creator that exists in plurality of persons although here he referred specifically to God the Father and God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This unique God is not only the creator but One that sustains and governs His creation. Of course, he also conveyed there were other divine beings that we described as “lesser gods” that reside in heaven and on earth, but these are not objects of worship since they are creatures of the unique God. The apostle is emphatic that not everyone has the knowledge of these truths we have stated. You can admit what the apostle stated to be true since few of us actually knew of the existence of lesser gods in heaven and on earth until we studied what the apostle wrote specifically in 1 Corinthians 8:5. Anyway, the apostle as he wrote the literal phrase this knowledge probably focused on the fact that idols are nothing and the unique God he described is supreme since these two facts that we presented in the first two propositions of the passage we are studying enable what the apostle wrote next to be more understandable regarding believers without this knowledge.
The believers that do not possess the knowledge of the truths that apostle expounded in verses 4 and 5, specifically about idols, are described in a sense by the apostle as those oppressed by ignorance in the clause of 1 Corinthians 8:7 Some people are still so accustomed to idols. Literally, the Greek reads but some by the custom of the idol until now. The literal phrase describes believers who are still oppressed by ignorance. To appreciate what we mean by those oppressed by ignorance let us first consider the word “accustomed” of the NIV or “custom” of the literal translation.
The word “accustomed” or “custom” is translated from a Greek word (synētheia) that outside the NT has the meaning of “friendship, fellowship, intimacy” as the word is used with the meaning “fellowship” in the English translation of verse 1 of the fifth chapter of the Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians that translates as:
1 For if I in a short time gained such fellowship with your bishop as was not human but spiritual, how much more do I count you blessed who are so united with him as the Church is with Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is with the Father, that all things may sound together in unison! [1]
In the NT, the Greek word is used subjectively with the meaning of “being accustomed.” It is objectively used in the sense of pattern of behavior more or less fixed by tradition and generally sanctioned by the society hence means “custom, habit.” It is in the objective sense that the word is used by Apostle Paul in his discourse about head covering for women in worship services, as we read in 1 Corinthians 11:16:
If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 8:7, the apostle used it in a subjective sense since he used the word “some” indicating that not all believers could be described in the way he did so that the Greek word may be translated “accustomed” as in the NIV although the ESV used the meaning “association” in their translation of our Greek word.
The thing that some believers were accustomed to in Corinth is idol as in the phrase in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 8:7 accustomed to idols or literally custom of the idol. It is not clear what the apostle meant in the literal phrase of being accustomed to idol but because of what he stated about idols being nothing, it is likely that the apostle meant to convey that those he described are accustomed to accepting idols as real. Those who are ignorant of the true nature of idols that the pagans put up for worship believe them to be real when according to the apostle that is not the case. A belief that an idol is real puts a person under bondage of fear to think that the individual is controlled by an idol. When people believe that something is real then whatever they believe to be real has great control over them. We can see this kind of bondage or control among those who are involved in ancestor worship. They believe that their dead ancestors have a hold over them if they did not do certain things, such as sacrificing food to them in their burial site. It is not uncommon when those who are involved in worship of ancestors encounter some hardship in their lives that they say to themselves it is because they have not offered enough food to them and so they are out to get them. A believer who is not yet grounded in truth may think that there is some truth to the power attributed to the spirits of his ancestors that such an individual may live in fear when that is not the case. Freedom from such bondage of fear of the spirits of dead ancestors is gained by learning the truth of what the Scripture says about those who have died. The Scripture is clear that a person who dies has no further interest on what goes on earth, as stated in Job 14:20–21:
20You overpower him once for all, and he is gone; you change his countenance and send him away.
21If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it.
Verse 21 is clear that those in the world of the dead know absolutely nothing regarding the events or matters taking place on the earth. This being the case they would not even know of affairs or matters that affect those who were related to them when they were alive, such as their children or spouses. Thus, if members of the family do well or mess up their lives, they do not know any of that. Furthermore, the Scripture conveys that those who have died could not hurt the living as that is implied in Ecclesiastes 9:5–6:
5For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward,
and even the memory of them is forgotten. 6Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
If the love or hate that the dead had while on earth for a person no longer exists, then it is impossible for one who is dead to harm the living. Thus, the belief that the spirits of ancestors could harm someone is one that puts a person in bondage. As we have stated, it is possible that a believer who is not grounded in this truth we stated that lives in an area where such belief is strong may still live in fear of what dead ancestors could do because such a person although saved but once believed that dead ancestors have power to harm those still living. It is this kind of situation that Apostle Paul would have meant in 1 Corinthians 8:7 accustomed to idols or literally custom of the idol. In effect, some believers in Corinth who once believed that idols were real could still believe in their reality, but Apostle Paul asserted that idols are not real. This, of course, is different for the reality of the gods that may be behind the various images of worship among the pagans. The point of the apostle is that although the Corinthians are now believers in Christ but some of them were still being affected by their belief as pagans who thought that idols are real. Some of us can understand this in the sense that quite often, despite what we hear taught constantly from the Scripture, we find ourselves going back to sentiments or slogans that we are used to as unbelievers. Take for example, it is a common thing in this society to say something like “I cross my finger” or “knock on wood.” A person who says such a thing is falling to a concept of chance instead of believing that God is in control of things. Some of you may still be guilty of such a slogan. So, you get the point that it is easy for us to fall back to things we thought were real or held dear as unbelievers although we are now believers. This is the kind of thing that was happening with some of the people in Corinth except that the impact on them was disastrous spiritually. Their belief in the past on reality of idols was lingering with some of them.
The impact of lingering effect in believing that idols were real among some Corinthians is on their consciences when they eat food offered to idols. It is this impact that is given in the clause of 1 Corinthians 8:7 when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. This clause is the way the translators of the NIV expanded the literal Greek that reads they eat as food offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled.
The literal translation from the Greek they eat as food offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled is concerned with the result of what happens with some believers in Corinth eating meat offered to idols. The result conveyed in the Greek is not something that happens continuously but occurs when something happens. The thing that triggers the result is eating of meat offered to idols. We say that the result that we will consider shortly is not a continuous one even though the word “eat” is translated from a present tense of a Greek word. Apostle’s use of a present tense in the Greek may be interpreted as referring to an action that is repeated at various intervals, implying that eating of meat offered to idols occurs at repeated intervals or that the apostle simply states a fact that eating of meat offered to idols is something that happens without being concerned with the progress of the action of eating, that is, whether it continues at a regular interval or not. It is probably that the apostle meant that eating of meat sacrificed to idols occur at repeated intervals since it is unlikely that some in the church of Corinth ate meat every day, considering that many of the members were not wealthy. As we have noted previously, some of the meat in the market in Corinth was the remnant of the meat offered to idols in sacrifice in that some of the meat is burnt in the altars of the idols while the rest is sent to the market to be sold. Meat was not something everyone ate daily in the ancient world since most people could not afford it. Thus, the situation is that the result that we will get to, takes place at repeated intervals when some in Corinth actually ate meat that has been sacrificed to idols as probably the only meat that was available in the market for consumption of the public. Thus, whenever such individuals eat meat bought from the market, they were aware that such meat was offered to idols. It is probably to capture this fact that the translators of the NIV expanded the Greek sentence to read when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol.
Be that as it may, we indicated that 1 Corinthians 8:7 is concerned with result of the action of eating of meat offered to idols. The idea of result is first introduced by the word “and” in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 8:7 and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. The word “and” is translated from a Greek conjunction (kai) that is often translated “and” in our English versions to join words or sentences. However, in our passage, it is used to introduce a result that comes from eating meat sacrificed to idols so that that it should be translated either “and then” or “and so.” This interpretation that I have given is reflected in a handful of English versions that begin the clause with either “so” or “then” as we find in the NJB, the GW, and the LB (Living Bible).
The result that the apostle stated is because some of the Corinthians have not been grounded in the truth of God’s word, that is, in the Christian faith so that he described them as those with weak conscience as in the clause since their conscience is weak. Literally, the Greek reads their conscience being weak. The word “being” in the literal translation is a translation of a present participle of a Greek word (eimi) that may mean “to be.” However, a participle in the Greek is subject to different interpretations in the English. In its usage in our verse, the Greek participle is used to provide the reason, or the cause of the result stated hence should be translated using either the word “since” or “because” as we find in many of our English versions.
In any case, the apostle described some Corinthians as having weak conscience. What does he mean by such a description? To answer this question, we should firstly recognize that the word “conscience” is translated from a Greek word (syneidēsis) that refers to the inward faculty of distinguishing right and wrong. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology defines it as:
…. that faculty by which one distinguishes between the morally right and wrong, which urges one to do that which he recognizes to be right and restrains him from doing that which he recognizes to be wrong, which passes judgment on his acts and executes that judgment within his soul.
This definition of conscience implies that a person’s conscience is formed by the truth content of a person’s soul in order to reach a correct decision about any matter. In effect, a person’s conscience is related to knowledge that a person possesses. Secondly, the word “weak” used in our passage is translated from a Greek word (asthenēs) that may pertain to suffering from a debilitating illness hence may mean “ill, sick.” The word may also pertain to experiencing some incapacity or limitation either physically or spiritually. In a spiritual sense, the word may mean “helpless” or “powerless” as it is used to describe our state before Christ died for our sins as stated in Romans 5:6:
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
It is in the sense of suffering limitation in a spiritual sense that the word is used in 1 Corinthians 8:7. Thus, when the apostle described some people in Corinth as having weak consciences, he meant that their consciences were not properly informed by truth of God’s word about idols. This means that those described as weak in conscience are those weak in their faith because they have not learned the truth that idols are nothing or they are not grounded in the word of God to recognize this fact.
The result of having a conscience that is not grounded in the truth of God’s word about the nature of idols is that when such a person who once believed that idols were real ate food sacrificed to them the person would be disturbed spiritually thinking that the individual has sinned when in fact that is not the case. It is this estimation of such a person regarding the individual’s spiritual status that is given in the last sentence of 1 Corinthians 8:7 it is defiled. The word “defiled” is translated from a Greek word (molynō) that may mean “to cause something to become dirty,” that is, “to soil, stain” as it is used in soiling of clothing in Revelation 3:4:
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.
Here the word “soiled” is used to indicate believers who have not rendered themselves spiritually impure through their conduct. The word may mean “to cause something to be ritually impure,” that is “to defile” as the word is used in describing men who have not become sexually impure with women as we read in Revelation 14:4:
These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
By the way, the idea of some men not defiling themselves with women does not mean that there is something sinful about sexual relationship between a husband and the wife. The interpretation of what is said here is either that the men involved have never committed sexual sin such as fornication or adultery or that the description is used figuratively of men who have remained faithful to God without ever being involved in idolatry. That aside, the Greek word is used in the sense of causing something to be defiled or to be dirty. A conscience becomes defiled when it is formed based on something that is wrong or untrue. Thus, when a conscience becomes defiled the idea is that a norm that is contrary to truth has been introduced into the faculty of making right or wrong decision. The person with such a conscience would then condemn self of having done something wrong when the individual acts contrary to that norm although such condemnation is not true. Those who think that idols are something create problem in their consciences in that once they eat meat that is sacrificed to idols, they condemn themselves as having sinned and indeed because of lack of faith they actually are in the state of sin since anything that does not stem from faith is sin as the Holy Spirit conveyed through Apostle Paul in Romans 14:23:
But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
In any event, the third proposition we considered is that that attitude towards food offered to idols is affected by ignorance of first two propositions that deal with meaninglessness of idol worship and the hierarchy in the concept of supernatural beings. To end, our study of this section of 1 Corinthians 8:4-7, let me refresh your mind first regarding the three propositions we have considered. First, the worship of idols by some is indeed a meaningless exercise. Second, there is hierarchy in the concept of supernatural beings revealed in the Scripture. Third, attitude towards food offered to idols is affected by ignorance of the two first two propositions. Of course, the primary message we considered is that You should be aware that there is God and gods in heaven and on earth.
[1] Clement I, P., Ignatius, S., Bishop of Antioch, Polycarp, S., Bishop of Smyrna, & Lake, K. (1912–1913). The Apostolic fathers. (K. Lake, Ed.) (Vol. 1, p. 179). Cambridge MA; London: Harvard University Press.