Christian Rights in the Courtroom and Living Room
February 16, 2025
Preached by Benjamin Vrbicek
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
There’s a meme with the line, “Said no one ever.” It’s a way to poke fun. “I love Pennsylvania winters. – Said no one ever.” “Your hot take on social media changed my mind. – Said no one ever.” “Math is fun. – Said no one ever.” That sort of thing.
Paul’s first words in our passage begin, “Now concerning food offered to idols,” which indicates that Paul is responding to questions they’ve asked. Of course we might hear, “Now concerning food offered to idols,” and think, “Said no one ever.” But sometimes people do love Pennsylvania winters and sometimes social media posts do change people’s minds and some wonderful and strange people, like me, like math. And sometimes—at least once upon a time in a city called Corinth—people did ask about meat sacrificed to idols. While the specific question might not be something you’ve asked before or will ever ask, when we know the principles involved and how Paul describes a faithful and loving Christian response to the issues, it helps us become the community God desires us to be. Let’s pray as we begin.
“Dear Heavenly Father . . .”
Corinth was a different kind of city than most of the cities that we have lived in. In Corinth, the issues both new and mature believers faced together were different from what we face now, especially related to idols. If you were transported back and walked through their city streets and marketplaces, you’d be overwhelmed by the influences of the gods and idols and temples and the corruption and evil that comes with them.
In the New Testament, there’s a book called “The Book of Acts,” and it describes the spread of the good news about Jesus. Once, when Paul visited a city called Athens, the narrator tells us, “While Paul was waiting . . . at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.” And then when Paul begins his message about Jesus and the resurrection, he says, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god’” (Acts 17:22–23). Their culture was so full of idols that they had even created an idol to a god no one knew. The thinking went like this: just in case we missed one, we better offer sacrifices generically so that the gods will keep us safe and prosperous and healthy, and we’ll have good crops and good fertility and make good business connections, and so on.
Now, Athens isn’t Corinth. But they are only about fifty miles apart. And both were major cities and would have shared many similarities. This idol worship would stand out to us if we could go back in time. It would feel very different.
Sometimes these differences can be overstated. Their struggles, at the level of their hearts, are the struggles we have.
I want to put up a picture. It, of course, is from Times Square. All of us have seen iconic pictures of these world-famous streets. Many of you have been here. I want to pause for a few seconds, letting you look and ask the questions: What idols are represented in this picture? If someone from Corinth could come here, what would they see?
I’m curious what you noticed. Would you mention idols of beauty, lust? Idols of power, social standing, being “cool” (cf. American Eagle ad), convenience (cf. McDonald’s is open 24 hours a day)? Idols of food and drink, commerce and money, social networks? What about idols of technology (cf. ads for electronics on giant electronics)? Industry (cf. implied by the buildings themselves), entertainment, music? Others?
My point is that we’re not so different than they are, at the heart level. And let’s just say this is your world, which it is, and you became a Christian five minutes ago, and you’re past context involves strong association with any one of these areas—or what we might even call association with any of these idols—then it’s not surprising that you’ll need to take great care that you not get sucked back into the riptide. And if you have been a Christian for some time, and if one or several of these areas are not particularly tempting to you, well, that’s great. We need you to help the rest of us. But the way we help each other might look like giving up some of your rights.
And this very normal, common, expected struggle is the struggle behind our passage in 1 Corinthians 8, a struggle that affects us. On the one hand, we all have struggles with sinful patterns from our past, and, on the other hand, we can become more concerned about our rights and our freedom than loving our brothers and sisters.
If you want the outline for where we’re heading, in the first part of the sermon we’ll talk about “the letter of the commands,” and in the second part we’ll talk about “the spirit of the commands.” But a simpler way to say this is that we’ll talk about our rights in the courtroom and our rights in the living room.
1. The letter of the commands (the courtroom)
We’ll start by talking about the letter of these commands. When I use the phrase “the letter of the commands,” I’m alluding to the common phrase, “the letter of the law,” which refers to a strict reading of laws. The letter of the law says you can drive a certain speed on a certain road. But any driver knows there might be a reason not to drive a certain speed, like on a morning when the weather is bad or if you’re hauling a trailer.
According to this passage and the rest of the Bible, what is the letter of the command for Christians regarding food previously sacrificed to idols? In other words, what are Christian rights in the courtroom? We might not be asking questions about food sacrificed to idols, but when we understand what was going on in the details, then we’ll be able to better understand how this plays out for us. Look with me again at vv. 4–6.
4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
Then look with me at v. 8.
8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.
These verses give us some of the letter of the commands and God’s instructions through Paul about Christian rights, namely, that idols are nothing. Now, in Corinth, idols were everywhere. And it was common for the temples to host animal sacrifices to the idols, and some of the meat would be used for worship, some meat would given to the priest as compensation, and some meat would be sold. The meat might get sold in the party rooms at the back of the temple for people to have a special occasion or a work function. Or the meat might get sent to the marketplace, where it might get sold at a discount because when a bunch of meat gets sold at once, meat is on sale. Perhaps they had some sort of BOGO deal; if you buy one flank steak offered to an idol, you get one free. I’m being silly. But they were not so different.
And these verses I just read give command into this context, the letter of the commands about a Christian’s rights. What are those rights, those commands? First, in one sense, Paul teaches that all idols are really nothing at all. They are hunks of metal or hunks of wood or hunks of something else. Or they might just be arrangements of pixels on a screen. But whatever they are, that’s all that they are. There is only one real God, and from him, through him, and to him alone are all things. Idols are nothing. We might call them a god or a lord, but they have no real power. So, if we eat something that was part of a sacrifice to a nothing, that affects nothing of our standing with the real God. This is the letter of the command. Because this is true, Christians can buy discount meat.
This larger conversation about “rights” and “the letter of the commands” was so important, it actually spans all of chapters 8, 9, and 10. Pastor Ron will preach next week on all of 9, and then I’ll come back the following week with all of chapter 10. While we will read the words in those chapters more closely on those Sundays, I do want to read a few verses from chapter 10 this morning because there are more commands in this area. You can flip there if you like. I’ll read 1 Corinthians 10:20–22.
. . . what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Here Paul says that while the idols might not be real gods, the worship of these not-gods might be demonic. In the following verses Paul goes to command a distinction between eating food in the temple, which is participating with the idols, what he calls drinking the cup of demons. I didn’t read the next verses (we will in two weeks) but he says that you do have the right to buy the meat in a market and eat that same meat in a home, even if it might have come from an idol sacrifice. So, it’s a nuanced command.
A summary would be helpful. Do you have the right to eat meat that was formerly sacrificed to idols? Yes, you have the right to eat it, as long as in eating you do not participate in the sacrifice itself. These are your rights in the courtroom.
And the strong Christian, the one who is theological sound, can follow these rights without a problem. I can’t worship demons, but I can buy food and drink and clothing and electronics and cars and homes from places that I don’t fully support. It’s my right to not become infinitely separatist in such a way that everything I buy must be “pure,” as though I can only buy from Christians—or certain special Christians who are really pure. This is not commanded. And the strong in conscience know this.
But we’re going to see that not everyone is so strong or so mature. Others have a weak conscience, those who struggle with the idea of freedom because, for them, their past causes them to stumble. The key line to explain the weak is in v. 7. Look at it again.
. . . Some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
As the passage goes on, we read that the defiling of conscience then leads the weak to get sucked back into the riptide of sin. That’s not the case with the strong. The weak are those who have a “former association with idols” such that even eating meat associated with idols privately in a home, for them, is still wrong because it will thrust them back into their sinful pasts, which they can’t resist. So, Paul is saying, if this is you, while you might have the right in the courtroom, right now you actually can’t practice the right because it’s too difficult.
I’ll put it like this. Paul is saying that no Christian has the right to stand at the bottom of a sinful, slippery slope. At the bottom of a sinful, slippery slope you are in sin. You can’t, Paul says, stand at the bottom without sinning, no matter how okay you feel about it. There are moral commands that are notgray areas. And, somewhere along the slope, you might start to sin. But you do have the right to stand at the top of a slippery slope and walk along the edge, if you have strong ankles for it. If you can do it, you can do it.
But remember that just because you are strong in one area, doesn’t mean you are strong in all areas. Not all slippery slopes tempt all people equally. In their context, the Jew who became a Christian would have been strong in some areas and weak in others, just as the Gentile who became a Christian would have been strong in some areas and weak in others. Just as each of you are strong in some areas and weak in others. Think of all the potential idols we mentioned looking at that picture of Times Square, idols of beauty and power and money and clothing and technology and lust and food and drink and convenience and so on. Each of these has its own slippery slope that tempt each of us with different strengths.
Some of you might be able to eat in a Chinese restaurant or go to a nail salon even though there are little statues of Buddha all over the counters. Or you may be able to go to a yoga class at the gym because, to you, it’s just stretching. But to others with a Buddhist or Hindu past, these are not small things at all. Do you see?
Now, once the commands are clear, Paul shifts from a mere conversation about rights and the letter of the commands to a conversation about the spirit of the commands.
2. The spirit of the commands (the living room)
So, let’s turn now from the letter of the commands to the spirit of the commands. Or to say it another way, let’s turn from the courtroom to the living room.
What do I mean by courtroom and living room? Well, in the courtroom, we’re asking the question of right and wrong. We’re talking about the letter of the law. But in the living room, we’re talking about how as a family do we all get along and love each other well. If Jesus has loved us and welcomed us into his family, how do we love each other?
It’s clear to me that while Paul wants us to know our rights in the courtroom, he really wants us to know how to love in the living room. Look at vv. 1–3 and then 7–10.
8 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. [I think meaning “knowledge” of rights] 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. . . .
7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?
Now, I’ll point out that this line “will he not be encouraged” or “built up” is said ironically. He’s saying to get away from the edge of the slope because if you have weak ankles in a particular area. And if you see another brother skipping along near the edge of that slope, you might be built up to try to skip along the edge as well, and through former association with the slope, you’ll fall down. I’ll keep reading vv. 11–13.
11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
I hope you can see that for Paul, while the conversation about the letter of the law in the courtroom is important, the conversation about the spirit of the law in the living room is even more important. I might be allowed to do something, but if by doing it I cause a brother or sister to stumble into sin, then I won’t do it.
Now, this teaching about strong and weak has often fallen into many errors—even abuses—on both sides of the strong and the weak. Let me try to say how these words challenge both strong and weak (and we’re both strong and weak in different areas), and then I’ll give a few examples of each.
To those who are strong in one area, at the level of the heart, they should not be either indifferent or feign hardship. I’ll say it again. At the level of the heart, the strong should not be either indifferent or feign hardship toward the weak. Strong brothers and strong sisters cannot be indifferent to those around them, as though just because they have the right to do something, then they can.
At the same time, if they do see a time when it does make sense to not do something for the sake of loving others, they can’t pretend as though it were some great hardship. “Oh, you struggle with alcohol, well, the Bible says I can drink in moderation, so I’m going to drink if I want to. I won’t get drunk, because that’s at the bottom of the slope. But I’ll drink when I want and where I want. It’s my right.” No, do not be indifferent. Paul would say, “That may be your right but if that’s how you act, you’re sinning not only against your brother but against your savior.”
At the same time, the strong brother or sister should not say, “Okay okay, if this thing with alcohol is really a big deal for you, I guess when we all hang out and watch the Super Bowl, even though I would really enjoy the football game more if I could have a beer, I won’t do it for you. Ya happy now?” Paul considers it no sacrifice to make much of the sacrifice of Jesus. “If food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” If Christ died for our brothers and sisters, and they need our help, we sin by not helping. Because of a past context with lust or violence, they might not be able to watch certain things, they might not even be helped by going to art exhibitions, and so on. In the same way, if someone had a gambling struggle, don’t make them buy into your fantasy football team and then do side bets every weekend.
Again, to those who are strong in one area, at the level of the heart, they should not be either indifferent or feign hardship to the weak.
Now, what are the considerations for the weak? To those who are weak in one area, at the level of the heart, they should not be demanding or unwilling to take personal responsibility. Again, to those who are weak in one area, at the level of the heart, they should not be demanding or unwilling to take personal responsibility.
The weak shouldn’t seek to demand or control every believer everywhere. If the weak is making the argument that “all believers everywhere should do X (or not do X),” then they can make that argument, but that’s not an argument about strong and weak. It’s an argument about right and wrong. Weak believers should not become controlling toward all believers everywhere, nor controlling of those in their church or small group.
And neither should they be unwilling to take personal responsibility for the struggle. Those who are weak in one area because of past association should be able to take personal responsibility. Again, the key line is from v. 7, “through former association with.” Through former struggles with food or drink or sex or money or power or social status or whatever, that means in this area, I need to be extra careful, they might say.
So, what might this sound like in a small group Bible study. Well, I can’t give a ridged script, but perhaps a template might sound like this: “Thank you for having me in this study. It means so much to me that I can pray for you and you can pray for me and we can teach each other the Bible and remind each other of why Jesus loves us. You might not know all the details, but in my past I really struggled with this thing. And I’m working on it, and I’m trying to get better, and I hope one day to not have the struggle feel so intense. But right now, I just can’t go to that movie. And I just can’t have that at our Christmas party. Or I can’t do this or that. Would you work with me on this?”
The strong would say something like, “Oh, brother or sister, I’m sorry it took me so long to even think of this and that you had to say it. I might have been able to connect those dots myself, but maybe I didn’t have enough information to do that. Regardless, I’m glad you had the courage to bring this up. Of course we won’t do this. We might still do that individually when we’re not all together, but what’s most important to us is that we help you follow Christ well, just as you help us in other areas where we are weak. I know because of my past I wouldn’t want a group to [fill in the blank].”
Conclusion
This is the type of community God calls us to be. Though at first the issues can seem from a foreign land, they are not so foreign. And all of this is done under the banner of the gospel, the good news of Jesus. This is why his words are so relevant to us. At every turn among this fractured flock of people trying to follow Christ in their broken world and with their broken pasts, Paul consistently points them to the person and work of Jesus and asks if what he has done is having its full effect on them.
As I close, look again, once more at vv. 3 and 8.
But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. . . . Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.
To be known by God, to be known by the holy, wise, loving, creator of the universe? What a thing.
Then Paul says, food doesn’t commend us to God. So what does make us stand before God? Only Christ. Think of all the areas we’ve fallen into the ditch at the bottom of sinful slopes, the ways we’ve tried to control others, all the ways we’ve worshiped at the altars of money and power and beauty and given the allegiance of our hearts away, all the times we’ve been cold-hearted to the needs of others around us, how will we ever commend ourselves to God? Is there some kind of eating that we can do to make us right with God? Is there some kind of abstinence from eating we must do to make us right with God? No, but Christ can commend us to God, which is why we trust him and love him.
I’ll put it like this. You won’t want to stand in the courtroom of God demanding your rights. But it’s here in the courtroom that Jesus forgives us. And he doesn’t then leave us in the courtroom. He brings us into the living room, as sons and daughters, which makes us brothers and sisters, which is what this passage is about.
Let’s pray. “Dear Heavenly Father . . .”
Sermon Discussion Questions
How have you seen the ideas of strong and weak talked about before? How is v. 7 a key verse in making this distinction between each?
If someone is making the argument that “all Christians everywhere should never do X,” is that a strong/weak distinction? Why not? Why does this matter?
In what ways are strong and weak consciences the same as tender and callous consciences? How might they be different? Why does this matter?
How have you been around Christians who have confused the courtroom and the living room? Have you? What happens when this distinction gets lost?
What are areas that you have “a former association with” that you still need to be very careful? How can the brothers and sisters around you help? Why can it be so hard to let them help?
How does Paul connect these realities to the good news of Jesus?
