Concerning Food Offered to Idols

 

Concerning Food Offered to Idols

 

1 Corinthians 8:1-2: "Concerning food offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge (gnosin). But knowledge (gnosis) puffs up, while love (agape) builds up (oikodomei). For if anyone thinks he knows (egnokenai), he does not know (egno) what he ought to know (gnonai)."

 

Although *gnosin* (γνῶσιν) is translated as knowledge, true knowledge is knowledge gained through a relationship with God. However, the knowledge found in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil incites spiritual pride. Spiritual pride is the pride of wanting to become like God oneself. It is knowledge based on one's own judgment and actions.

 

This means that we must think carefully about food offered to idols. The fundamental purpose of a sacrifice is to receive forgiveness for sins, but food offered to idols is for the purpose of seeking blessings; therefore, it is not a sacrifice offered to God, but merely a sacrifice for oneself. The offerings presented to God are Agape, meaning they are sacrificial offerings for all people. Therefore, if one misunderstands the meaning of the offering without knowing its true significance, it cannot serve as edification for the church.

 

Although the offering is nothing, if it is accepted as having meaning, it can influence new believers who have joined the church, and thus it cannot serve as edification.

 

Oikodomei (οἰκοδομεῖ) signifies building the church. In other words, when building the church, a misunderstanding of idolatrous offerings can fail to serve as edification, and one must treat people solely with Agape. The sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ is Agape intended to save the people of the world.

 

Agape (ἀγάπη) is love for value. It is the work of reviving the dead spirit through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Loving one's neighbor is precisely the valuable work that revives the spirit. This is the way to build up the edification of the church. If viewed from this perspective, idolatrous offerings are nothing more than mere food.

 

Egnonai (ἐγνωκέναι), Gnonai (γνῶναι), and Egno (ἔγνω) all signify knowing through a relationship with God. If a believer who possesses knowledge of God intellectually thinks they know Him, it implies that they do not accurately understand "knowing God." This is because God is Agape. Agape signifies reviving the dead spirit through the death on the cross.

 

The Agapa (ἀγαπᾷ) that loves God is precisely the act of being united with the cross of Jesus Christ. God acknowledges those who have died with Jesus. The main point Paul intends to convey is Agape. He is saying not to judge others based on whether they eat food offered to idols. Since food offered to idols is nothing, one should not attach any significance to it.

 

If one considers whether food was used as an offering to idols, one is already viewing that food as a sacrifice; and if one views it as a sacrifice, one is ultimately judging the food given by God, which does not contribute to the edification of the church. Even today, such foods are abundant around us, and there may be those who view them from this perspective. However, that food is merely food.

 

An object or image created by people as an idol is nothing in itself, but an idol is something one thinks of as a god in one's heart. Therefore, if one thinks of an idol through food, one believes that the idol holds meaning. Since the offering to an idol is nothing, the idol does not exist. It is merely an image to which people have attached it, and within that heart lies an inherent hatred of God.

 

An idol is anything that has turned away from God. To follow anything other than God is to serve an idol. However, if one believes in the one God, the offering to an idol is merely food. A believer does not view that offering to an idol with the mindset of serving an idol. 1 Corinthians 8:5-6: "Although there are many gods and many lords, whether in heaven or on earth, who are called gods; yet for us there is one God (Theos), the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist."

Although there are many gods called by people, they are not divine beings. Only God is the one and only God. All things originated from one God and one Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are one in the Holy Spirit.

 

Most believers interpret this as referring to the faith of the Trinity. In the Kingdom of God, there is one Jehovah God. However, Christ, who bore the cross on this earth, is the Son of God who came as the Son of the Father. Most churchgoers refer to Jesus Christ, who bore the cross, as God the Son, but He is not God, but the Son of God.

 

The reason Jesus becomes the Son of God is to save people. Believers present Him as God, but if Jesus were to become God, He would become a judge. Therefore, He becomes the Son of God who came into the world to fulfill the role of a savior.

 

Jesus Christ, who bore the cross, possesses divinity, but He is not God, but the Son of God. However, if believers come to believe that Jesus Christ is God, they end up referring to the object of their faith as a god, just like people of other religions. It is only when we come to know Agape love through our relationship with God that we come to know who God is. People cannot realize God through the knowledge they have learned.

 

Philippians 2:6-8: "But being in the form of God, He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on the cross."

 

Although Jesus Christ became a sacrificial offering as the Son of God, He never claimed to be God Himself. Jesus said that He is one with God. The same was true for Jesus' disciples. John 17:21: "Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You, may they all be one in us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me." To be one means to be one who is within the power of God.