
Freedom and All of Its Limits
Default Setting: Freedom in Christ
For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery. —Galatians 5:1 (CSB)
About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father. —1 Corinthians 8:4-6 (CSB)
Find Freedom within the Will of God
So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. —1 Corinthians 10:14 (CSB)
So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. —Romans 6:11 (CSB)
Real Freedom Leads to Flourishing
“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up. —1 Corinthians 10:23 (CSB)
Freedom Honors our Own Weaknesses
However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled. —1 Corinthians 8:7 (CSB)
Freedom Accepts Limits for the Good of Others
Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat. —1 Corinthians 8:8 (CSB)
Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, without raising questions for the sake of conscience, since the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it. If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions for the sake of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This is food from a sacrifice,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another person’s conscience? —1 Corinthians 10:25-29 (CSB)
Take Away Stumbling Blocks
But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols? So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined, by your knowledge. Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall. —1 Corinthians 8:9-13 (CSB)
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. —1 Corinthians 8:1 (CSB)
So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined, by your knowledge. Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ. —1 Corinthians 8:11-12 (CSB)