Yes, Paul did talk about eating food sacrifice to Idols. I will try to give you my understanding of what he said and its context.

Paul realized that in Christ, he was free to eat anything, clean, unclean, or even offered to idols. This was a common practice in pagan places. The food sold in the markets had been offered up to the gods or idols of the land before it was eaten or sold. Some Native Americans did something like this as well, stopping to thank their Gods and perform a short ceremony over meat they had just killed.

Paul says, "Look, we know the idol is nothing. It is just an invention of these people's minds. The fact that they offered it to an idol has absolutely no effect upon me as a believer. If I am hungry, I will eat. My conscience is clear." But then Paul goes on to say this, "If in eating that food I cause someone not so established in his faith to stumble, I will go hungry. His faith is more important than my hunger." This is the crux of 1 Cor. 8 and 1 Cor. 10.

However, in Acts 15, the Apostles and Elders advised the new Gentile believers NOT to eat of anything offered to idols. I believe the reason for this was the immaturity of these new believers. They came directly from a culture in which they had always offered their meat to idols. These were examples of the weaker ones Paul referred to in 1 Cor. 8 and 1. Cor. 10.

Let me give you an analogy from my own culture if I can. I have never knowingly consumed alcolholic drinks. But I cannot make a Biblical case that consuming alcolhol is sinful. If I wanted to drink a glass of wine or cup of beer with my meal, I have every ability to do so and still not be defiled as a believer. However, in the culture of the USA, alcohol is a VERY abused substance. I often minister to people whose lives have been destroyed by alcohol or drugs. So, I will not partake. Why? So I can say honestly, "No, I don't partake of that because I see too many people destroyed by it, and I want you to be free from it as well." My freedom is curtailed by other's weakness, and I willingly do this out of love for them.

Hope that helps.

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Travis

Yes, Paul did talk about eating food sacrifice to Idols. I will try to give you my understanding of what he said and its context.

Paul realized that in Christ, he was free to eat anything, clean, unclean, or even offered to idols. This was a common practice in pagan places. The food sold in the markets had been offered up to the gods or idols of the land before it was eaten or sold. Some Native Americans did something like this as well, stopping to thank their Gods and perform a short ceremony over meat they had just killed.

Paul says, "Look, we know the idol is nothing. It is just an invention of these people's minds. The fact that they offered it to an idol has absolutely no effect upon me as a believer. If I am hungry, I will eat. My conscience is clear." But then Paul goes on to say this, "If in eating that food I cause someone not so established in his faith to stumble, I will go hungry. His faith is more important than my hunger." This is the crux of 1 Cor. 8 and 1 Cor. 10.

However, in Acts 15, the Apostles and Elders advised the new Gentile believers NOT to eat of anything offered to idols. I believe the reason for this was the immaturity of these new believers. They came directly from a culture in which they had always offered their meat to idols. These were examples of the weaker ones Paul referred to in 1 Cor. 8 and 1. Cor. 10.

Let me give you an analogy from my own culture if I can. I have never knowingly consumed alcolholic drinks. But I cannot make a Biblical case that consuming alcolhol is sinful. If I wanted to drink a glass of wine or cup of beer with my meal, I have every ability to do so and still not be defiled as a believer. However, in the culture of the USA, alcohol is a VERY abused substance. I often minister to people whose lives have been destroyed by alcohol or drugs. So, I will not partake. Why? So I can say honestly, "No, I don't partake of that because I see too many people destroyed by it, and I want you to be free from it as well." My freedom is curtailed by other's weakness, and I willingly do this out of love for them.

Hope that helps.

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Travis

Good points, Twayne.

I agree with you (and Paul the Apostle) that there is a difference between eating food and not knowing where it came from (but receiving it as "food" and giving thanks to God for it) and knowingly participating in the sacrifice of idols.

Participation in idolatry. This is what the Israelites did after Balaam. That is what Solomon did. That is what many of the kings of Israel (and some from Judah) did.

For me, Solomon's fall is one of those utterly tragic yet rarely-referenced events from the Old Testament. Yet, everything that happened to Israel after it is consequential to this -- including the breaking apart of the Promised Land into Israel and Judah, the captivity of first Israel and then Judah, a remnant's return, the continued scattering of others abroad and the coming of the Messiah (with many believing that he would "restore the KINGDOM of Israel" (Acts 1:6).

Idolatry is one of the basic prohibitions in the Old Covenant. It is the first two commandments of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-6). It is the basis of what became known as the "Shema Yisrael:"
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one"
(Deuteronomy 6:4).

Just like sexual immorality, one doesn't just "unwittingly" or "unknowingly" engage in it. In the context of the apostle's letter in Acts 15:22-29 (possibly the first recorded epistle): The strangling, blood and the food that was part of the sacrifice is all a part of an aware participation in idolatry.

Not only does Jesus reference the idolatry and sexual immorality of Balaam in Revelation 2:14,20, but idolatry and sexual immorality are two of the issues that preclude someone from entrance into the gates of our heavenly city in Revelation 22:12-15.

Yes, I believe that it is the knowing participation in idolatry that is so wrong. It is knowingly participating in the table of demons. This is what destroys someone from the inside -- the error of Balaam -- which taught Balak to put "a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality" (Revelation 2:14).

It is this type of participation that is wrong under both the old and new covenants. I feel that this is the essence of what Paul stressed this in I Corinthians 10:

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Christopher

Does halell food count as food sacrificed to idols

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Dominic Shiells