You may have the right to do and say something but is it the righteous thing to do and say?

This title sums it up. If there was one motto that would run through Paul’s teaching on food sacrificed to idols it would be this title.

Paul’s argument was never about the food but it was always about the idol worship. He was against them going into the temple to eat where also idol worship was taking place. For they would be seen as eating at an idolatrous altar. They must have asked him further questions because Paul now speaks of the same food produced for the temples being sold in the market and also accepting invitations to homes where the same food was being served.

 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. ²⁴ No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, ²⁶ for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” (1 Corinthians 10 v 23-26)

Unless you were a vegetarian then the chances are as you went to the meat market you would be choosing from meat that had all been previously sacrificed to some idol in the temple.

Paul is clear then: don’t go into temples to eat the meat because in those places it’s not the meat sacrificed that is a problem but it is the idol worship that is. So when you go to the market it is fine choose whatever meat you want because there is no worship there to an idol. God created it and that settles the matter.

But there’s another scenario:-

“If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. ²⁸ But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. ²⁹ I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? ³⁰ If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?” (v27-30)

It is these verses and the following ones that help us understand what to do in an idolatrous world.

So Paul has answered what to do regarding going into the temples to eat the food sacrificed to idols. Don’t do it.

Buying meat from the market even meat that was sacrificed to the idols is fine. You can do that.

Now when a non-Christian invites you round for dinner don’t be anxious about the meat, don’t make a fuss about it, just eat!

However if the owner of the house or another guest tells you that this meat is sacrificed to idols, then for their sake, their conscience, their thoughts over whether a Christian should be eating pagan food, don’t eat it. You could but don’t. If you did you wouldn’t be breaking any law but for the witness to that unbeliever it is better not to. If I can eat with a clear conscience regarding my own standing before God but also my effect upon another person whether a believer or unbeliever then no one can judge me, I am free.

It could be possible that you are a bit confused with what Paul is saying. Though it is quite simple if you view life being not about you but about God and others. Is what I am doing (or saying) righteous? I might feel I have the right to do whatever and within reason you have in your own home. But in public you haven’t. In public you are an ambassador and it is not about being right but being righteous before God and people.