1Cor 10:23-29 - Law and License

23-29 "All things are lawful," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful," but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For "the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof." 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?

So Paul is dealing with two things here. License and liberty are considered in the context of love and grace. This is a sort of practical summary specific to a problem in the first century Corinthian church, but which contains principles that are timeless.

"All things are lawful," does not mean that nothing is off limits to the Christian. The Christian liberty contained in this statement is subject to the much, the infinitely, higher standard of the law of love. The law of love is far, far more exacting than the laws of "Thou shalt not..." - or even of "Thou shalt..." Such laws can deal only with the externalized treatment of either great general truths, or specific cases in all of the variety and minutiae of every day life. That is Exodus and Leviticus. And they are correct. The law itself is good and perfect and nothing can take away from it.

But Christians serve a higher law. What the law could not do comes to the Christian by faith through Jesus Christ. The Christian has a heart that desires to obey, even though (due to the weakness of the flesh) he often falls short. So, we may indeed have freedom from the ceremonial details because what they represented has now come; soteriologically speaking the perfect has replaced the imperfect. By this I mean that the law could condemn, but it could not save. It had a righteousness that was perfect but it lacked the power to bring that righteousness about in its subjects. Christ changed all that.

Now, what the letter of the law asks we must obey in the spirit of the law. It is internalized because the Law Giver Himself is in us to guide and to instruct us - to sanctify and to grow us. Therefore we no longer look at a circumstance and only ask if a thing is permitted; we now ask if it brings honour to the Christ that saves us, if it is helpful to another, if it builds up or destroys those for whom Christ died, if it honours before lost men the Name above all names.

We have internalized the dos and don’ts. They are etched in our hearts. They are brought to mind by the Spirit so that, in the deepest part of our being, idolatry and covetousness - instead of being our constant friends - are now our inveterate enemies. Sometimes we may let them into the camp, but even then they are seen as opportunistic enemies. To the Christian all things belong to God and were originally created "good". It is what we make of the things God has made that is important; they are to be enjoyed and used unto God, as from God, for the good of others and ourselves, in love.

Since all things are just "things" and have no intrinsic evil, then Christians can indeed eat meats offered to idols if it does not offend their conscience - and, because of this, have no need to even ask what they are eating. Their ignorance in such a case is no sin, and can actually be helpful. If the pagan host isn’t bothered the Christian ought not to bring it up and create an obstacle to the gospel itself. But if the pagan host thinks that meat offered to idols is taboo and he is either being gracious in asking, or thinks he is testing or tricking you, then for his sake the visitor ought not to eat. And by, "for his sake" is meant that it ought not to hinder or cloud the real issues of the gospel, which are much more basic than the externals.

What does that mean for today? It means that in the case of foods and things going into the body we should accept what is put before us. In the case of other things we can see if the principle of conscience applies.

The fact that the Apostles in Acts 15:29 had enjoined that the Gentiles abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from immorality seems to contradict some of Paul’s teaching here. But the decision of the Jerusalem Council was given for the peace of the churches as they struggled to integrate Jews and Gentiles. Here, Paul is, in part, dealing with witnessing to pagan outsiders - an entirely different matter.