Liberating Truth

People would please take their
Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 8. 1 Corinthians chapter
8, where we have begun a consideration of this
very short but powerful chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 8. As we
muddle through life, most often In spite of all that we know
or think that we know, we often get bewildered. Knowledge, it
seems, in spite of an overwhelming array of information that is
available to us, seems to be always just beyond our grasp. So that no matter what we do
know, it’s what we don’t know that leaves us feeling somewhat
stranded. And we don’t even know which
direction to push sometimes, what knowledge to seek. We don’t
know what we don’t know. Such was the case with the bewildered
Corinthian church. They did not know what they did
not know. They had knowledge, but the knowledge
they did have did not fit them for the occasion before them.
The question that vexed them was about idols and idol worship. An idol, what is an idol to a
Christian especially? And why, even though the heathen
world is consumed by idolatry, should a Christian be concerned
with that realm at all? These are the questions that
Paul has begun to speak to in chapter 8. The heathen world,
especially the Greeks and Romans, were given over to idolatry. They had a wide realm of so-called
gods, and the worship of these idols was very well defined.
They had gods for every area of life, and all of whom had
to be appeased in worship. They indeed had, as Paul explained
to the Roman Christians, exchanged the glory of the incorruptible
God for an image, a statue. An image, an idol, a statue,
nothing more. And so for a Christian living
in such an idolatrous culture, life would not, could not have
been easy for a Christian. The influence of idolatry was
everywhere, not just limited to the corrupt temples of such
gods. The trappings of idolatry distilled
down to affect almost every facet of life, not the least of which
was the marketplace. And that meant that a believer
in Christ would be inundated by these heathen practices. It
was impossible to evade their pernicious influence. Idolatry
was a concern to Paul because it was a concern to his churches.
Idols and the effect of idol worship was ubiquitous in first
century Greek and Roman societies. And the Corinthian church, no
stranger to trouble of its own, was not only immersed in a culture
given over to idolatry, they were embroiled in yet another
controversy among them regarding things pertaining to the worship
of idols. Though this difficulty is new,
it’s a new difficulty that Paul addresses. It’s the same troubled
church with the same clumsy and immature manner of dealing with
issues. But as weak and as infirm as
this church was, at least they knew where to turn for counsel,
and they turned to Paul. This is one of the many questions
on their list that they posed to the great apostle. And they
present this question to their apostle and friend. Because as
embarrassing as it might have been to ask such an awkward question,
About yet another area of contention, they did manage the courage to
do so. So here was yet another major
area of disagreement and strife. One side was touting their knowledge
about the nature of both God and idols. God was real, idols
were not. And an idol, since they are not
real, could not possibly have any effect on the natural world,
including food, food offered to idols. But on the other side
of the question were those who were extremely conscientious. Their knowledge centered around
the heathen cult itself, possibly out of which way they were saved.
complete with its idols and idol practices of the cult itself. To these idols and these practices,
no Christian could possibly attend. And this is the issue to which
Paul speaks in chapter eight. It’s a short chapter. Let’s consider
it in full once again. Chapter eight, beginning verse
one. Now concerning things sacrificed
to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes
arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows
anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know. But if anyone
loves God, he is known by him. Therefore, concerning the eating
of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such
thing as an idol 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 indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for
us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things,
and we exist for him. And one Lord, Jesus Christ, by
whom are all things, and we exist through him. However, not all
men have this knowledge, but some, being accustomed to the
idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrifice to an idol,
and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But food will not
commend us to God. We are neither the worse if we
do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. But take care that
this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block
to the weak. For if someone sees you who have
knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience,
if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge, he
who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And
so by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience
when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes
my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that
I will not cause my brother to stumble. So Paul here in this
chapter renders some very practical assistance, but he does so by
way of sound and timeless principles, so that mature Christians can
not only navigate the questions that arise about idols, such
as the Corinthians were facing, but other similar and vexing
questions in the future, questions that we often face. The Corinthians needed this direction,
but so do we. Because quite often, when two
Christians disagree about a matter of conscience, about a matter that maybe is indifferent in
Scripture, a so-called gray area, when we come across these, we
tend to polarize. We take one of two perspectives.
We adopt positions at opposite extremes, either rigid legalism,
a strong and inflexible position to which everyone is supposed
to observe, whether it’s their conviction or not, or at the
opposite extreme, an attitude of freedom at all costs, where
one is going to parade their freedom before others regardless
of other people’s perspective. Well, they believe they’re free
and that’s the only thing that really matters to them. For us,
since we do not face the dilemma of meat offered to idols in our
day and culture, this discussion is not pointless. That’s because
the principles that Paul lays out here in this chapter enable
us to address similar matters of conscience of our own day,
of our own culture. We speak of them as gray areas,
questions pertaining to Christian liberty. These are the kinds
of issues on which scripture seems to be silent, indifferent. These are questions and issues
that are not so black and white. Even in scripture, I mentioned
a few of them last week. The use of tobacco, the moderate
enjoyment of alcohol, the playing of cards or games, secular music
and dancing. There are many, many more such
issues and there will be new and different issues in the future.
Should I have an InstaFace account? I’m still wrestling with that
one. So this advice that Paul is providing
was not only beneficial to the Christians. These principles
are for our benefit and use because these principles are timeless.
And the chapter, as we saw last week, breaks up into three major
sections. The first, which we considered
last week, the principle of knowledge and idols in those first three
verses. Then in verses four through six,
which verses we’ll consider this morning, the principle of truth
and idols. And then finally in verses seven
through 13, where Paul presents the principle of liberty and
idols. We began our study this chapter
last week, as I said, by pondering that first section in which Paul
addresses the principle of knowledge and idols. And he details for
his readers the scope of knowledge. The answer to all discord is
knowledge, but it’s got to be knowledge of a certain type.
And we saw the expectedness of knowledge, that we all have knowledge,
We saw that Paul maybe was even quoting from the Corinthians
question there. They claimed knowledge, and Paul
says, what is knowledge? We all have knowledge. Then we
saw the consequences or the product of knowledge. At the end of verse
one, knowledge tends to make arrogant. If it isn’t attended
with love, knowledge puffs up. Then we saw the limitations of
knowledge. It will only take us so far. And if anyone thinks
he knows anything, if anyone wants to lean completely and
wholly on his knowledge, he obviously has not known as he ought to
know, because he hasn’t incorporated love into that knowledge. Then
we saw the beginning of knowledge, which is an interesting thing,
given that the beginning of knowledge takes place at the end of that
section, verse three. If anyone loves God, he is known
by Him. But in and of itself, knowledge
would not help the Corinthians navigate life’s difficulties
or difficult questions, nor will knowledge alone help us. Paul insists that if we are to
glorify God in the midst of perplexing questions and situations, it
has to be a certain kind of knowledge. The beginning of knowledge is
to know and to love God, or better, as Paul explains it, to love
and be known by God. Paul doesn’t abandon knowledge,
but he does curb it. Once a person is known by God,
he or she truly comes to know and love Him, and they find themselves
embarked on a whole new and fantastic journey as believers, where their
eyes are open, opened as it were for the first
time. They are introduced to a new field of knowledge, truth. Truth is an altogether different
kind of knowledge. It’s not theory. It’s not the
result of a scientific conclusion. It cannot be debated. The only
proper use of this knowledge is to receive it, to receive
truth and appropriate it into one’s life. Jesus, in His high
priestly prayer, John 17, asked of the Father on behalf of His
disciples, sanctify them in the truth. Your Word is truth. God’s Word is truth. And that means that God’s Word
is truth, regardless of whether anyone believes it. It is true. And so here Paul introduces us
to the second principle in our struggle to navigate life’s difficult
questions. It’s the principle of truth and
idols. If you glance at verse four through
six, just back away from it a bit and just look at the structure
of that passage. If you notice, Paul zooms in
on his focus here. Back in verse one, Paul introduced
his subject. He said that there was a concern
about things sacrificed to idols. But it wasn’t the fact that animals
were sacrificed to idols that was producing the friction in
the Corinthian church. So that’s not really Paul’s concern
either. Heathens are going to live like
heathens. They are going to have their
idols. They are going to worship. They are going to go through
the motion of all of the things of their worship, including animal
sacrifice. That’s not the concern. Paul
just introduces the subject very generally in verse one at the
start of this chapter. And remember the Corinthians
already know the ultimate nature of this question because they’re
the ones that had posed it to Paul. So when Paul says, let’s
talk about idols, shall we? They know exactly where he’s
headed. Nevertheless, Paul narrows his
focus here in verse four to identify the specific concern. not just
about things sacrificed to idols. The Corinthian problem centered
around, as he identifies it here, the eating of things sacrificed
to idols. You see, at the heart of the
idolatrous worship service was the sacrifice. And a Christian
wouldn’t even think of attending one of these idol worship services,
but not unlike Jewish sacrifices. Not all of the sacrifice was
burned up by the fire. Some of it was dedicated to the
person who was offering the sacrifice. Some of it was given to the priest
offering the sacrifice or the religious official. And if either
of those parties was unable to eat this meat, it could be donated
or usually sold in the marketplace. You see where this is going because
inevitably the meat would find itself on various tables, whether
a banquet or a home dinner. And that is what produced the
problem for believers. Because they would find themselves
invited to these events, an unbelieving relative or friend, where such
meat was prepared and served to the guests. Therein lay the question, how
could a Christian, especially a Christian who had been saved
out of these religious cults, how could they eat this food
sacrificed to an idol that they now know does not exist? It was
a puzzling question. Well, the issue about whether
a Christian could eat meat sacrificed to idols, Paul returns again
to the idea of knowledge. Remember, he began with the overarching
statement, we all have knowledge. That may well have been an exact
quote. So Paul just descends to the
argument and stipulates, of course, we all have knowledge. And what
he wants to do here in verses four through six is to get everyone
on the same page. regardless of what poll they
were on, regardless of what position they were taking, rigid legalism
or licentiousness. He wants to get them all on the
same page. And again, he uses their language
here in verse four. We know. We know. And he names two specific truths
in verse four. We know that there is no such
thing as an idol in the world. And second, we know that there
is no God but one. These are not theories. These
are not opinions. These are not the result of scientific
study. These are truths. And Paul says,
this is the bedrock. There are certainly many more
truths in the world, but of all the things that we know, says
Paul, we know that there is no such thing as an idol, and we
know that there is no God but one. And he’s doing this for
both camps. He’s saying, let’s find some
common ground here. What is the truth? We know these
things. And we can almost imagine each
individual Corinthian believer As this letter is being read,
slowly and sheepishly begin to collectively nod their heads. Yes, Paul, we do know these things. But let’s this morning consider
these two truths ourselves. The layout is simple. Paul introduces
each of the truths, as we just saw in verse four. Then he moves
to prove the first truth, that there is no such thing as an
idol. He does that in verse five. And then the second truth, that
there is no God but one, he turns to prove in verse six. Let’s
consider both of these in turn. First, Paul says that we know,
we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world.
And by this statement, Paul is just declaring the illegitimacy
of idolatry. The illegitimacy of idolatry. You know, of course, Paul isn’t
saying that there are not statues and representations of every
size and shape. Of course there are. We talked
about Act 17 last week, where Paul wanders around Athens, remember? noting all the statues of their
so-called gods. Paul knew that there were idols
in that sense. Idolatry was not new, nor was
it limited to Paul’s day, nor was it isolated to Greek and
Roman cultures. Every society of every day has
had its idols. This is the inevitable filling
of the void left by the rejection of these cultures of the true
God. Some cultures have their Buddha.
Israel had their golden calf. Many of these items are just
statues. We don’t need to assume that
every statue is necessarily an idol. Many are just plain statues.
So how do you tell the difference between a bland, lifeless statue
and an object of worship? It’s easy. Just step back and observe this
physical statue of a person or an animal or some hybrid creature,
whatever the case may be, and just watch. Watch what happens
when someone disrespects it. I’m not suggesting that you do
this. But watch how people react to
those who disrespect, dare to disrespect this particular statue. Because if it’s revered, if those
around the statue disrespect it, it is an idol. And this is
exactly what Paul experienced in Acts 19, remember? Listen
to the account of the idol maker itself. Paul had gone through
the city and created quite an uproar, and one particular idol
maker said, you see in here that not only in Ephesus, but in almost
all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable
number of people saying that gods made with hands are no gods
at all. You disrespect my statue, it’s
an idol. So when Paul says here, we know
that there is no such thing as an idol, no gods, Paul, really? Look around, they’re everywhere.
Of course they are. It’s not what Paul’s saying.
There are statues galore and they’re called to, referred to,
they function as idols. Paul’s not contending that point.
What Paul is referring to is not the image, the statue itself,
but that which the image or statue is supposed to represent. You
see, the heathen believed that their God indwelled such statues
and representations, and so the statue became as God itself,
and that is why to disrespect such a statue is so offensive
to them, because you’ve just disrespected our God. There is
nothing There is no God behind them. In reality, there’s certainly
no God within them. They are nothing but stone or
whatever material out of which they’re made. Even pure gold
is nothing but a precious metal. They represent nothing, really.
They are merely the product of an artist’s imagination. They
do not represent anyone or anything that has any real existence. That’s what Paul’s saying. And
further, an idol is an image of a God. It’s not meant to represent
the one true and living God. While each culture or cult or
religion sometimes claims that their God is the God, The fact
that there are manifold statues and manifold God argues against
their reality. So Paul basically says here,
if you can’t have a representation of something that does not exist,
if Aphrodite isn’t real, no statue of her, no matter the material,
no matter the artistic excellence, can make of it anything of real
significance. There’s no such thing, as Paul
would say. Such statues are false representations. Habakkuk 2.18. I’m not going to have you turn
there. I’ll have you do some turning in a moment. But Habakkuk
2.18, just listen. What profit is the idol when
its maker has carved it? Or an image. a teacher of falsehood,
for its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless
idols. The foolishness of this, the
unreasonableness of this is confronted again and again in scripture,
as we’ll see. But the Septuagint of this translation, if you know,
the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament scriptures. And I love the way the Greek
translates this verse. What benefit, essentially is
what it says, what benefit is the carved image that they carved?
He shaped it for a molten casting, a false visual display, for he
relied on the one shaping it, himself. On the thing shaped
in the making of mute idols. But it’s the Greek words that
are used the Greek words that they selected that present a
very amusing image. When they speak here of an image
of falsehood, the Greek words are phantasian sude, a false
fantasy. It’s just hokum, nonsense. Would you please turn to Psalm
115? Psalm 115. Psalm 115, as you’re
gliding down, find verse four. Listen to how scripture describes
an idol. Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot
speak. They have eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears, but
they cannot hear. They have noses, but they cannot
smell. They have hands, but they cannot
feel. They have feet, but they cannot walk. They cannot make
a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become
like them. Everyone who trusts in them.
Would you turn to Isaiah chapter 44 to the right, several books,
Isaiah chapter 44. You probably already know this
passage. It is one of the premier passages
on the foolishness of idols. Isaiah chapter 44 and find verse
nine, if you would, all who fashion idols are nothing. And the things
they delight in do not profit their witnesses neither seen
or know that they may be put to shame. Who fashions a God
or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Why would you do
this? Behold, all his companions shall
be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all
assemble. Let them stand forth. They shall
be terrified. They shall be put to shame together. The ironsmith takes a cutting
tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and
works it with his strong arm. In other words, you won’t even
begin to have a God until you make tools to make the God. He becomes hungry and his strength
fails. He drinks no water and is faint.
This is the guy who’s supposed to be making a god. The carpenter
stretches a line. He marks it out with a pencil.
It’s totally arbitrary. He shapes it with planes, marks
it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure
of a man. With the beauty of a man to dwell
in a house, he cuts down cedars. He chooses a cypress tree or
an oak, lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants
a cedar and the rain nourishes it. You would have no idol if
it weren’t for rain, which God gives. Then it becomes fuel for
a man. He takes part of it and warms
himself and kindles a fire and bakes bread. He doesn’t even
have the sense to realize that only one of this piece of tree
becomes his God. The rest of it is cooking his
lunch. He also makes a God and worships
it. He shapes, makes an idol and
falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire.
Over half he eats meat. He roasts it and is satisfied.
And he warms himself and says, aha, I am warm. I have seen the
fire. The rest of it he makes into
a God, his idol, and falls down to it in worship, and he prays
to it and says, deliver me, for you are my God. They know not,
nor do they discern, for you shut their eyes so they cannot
see, and their hearts so they cannot understand. No one considers,
nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, half of it I burned in
the fire, I also baked bread on its coals. I roasted meat,
and I have eaten, and shall I make the rest of it an abomination?
Shall I fall down before a block of wood? He feeds on ashes. A deluded heart has led him astray,
and he cannot deliver himself or say, Is there not a lie in
my right hand, this tool that carves the idle? Well, Paul says the first truth,
the illegitimacy of idolatry. We know that there is no such
thing as an idol in the world, nothing real behind them. And
he proves that in verse five. We know that it’s proof because
he says four, here’s your proof. As promised, Paul moves to provide
proof for the strong statement that there is no such thing as
an idol in the world. There are certainly statues considered
as idols, but Paul needs to clarify here and support his very strong
statement of verse four. And he begins by saying, even
if. It’s not a concession on his part. that idols may, after
all, really exist, that Paul’s not conceding this. This is an
argument purely from the point of hypothetical. He only assumes
it as a possibility for the sake of argument. And when he says,
even if, it’s as if to say, let’s pretend. Remember that game as
a kid? That kind of thing. When he says,
Let’s pretend, let’s imagine that such a God really exists. But he’s quick to keep these
ideas in check because he quickly identifies them as, look at this,
so-called gods. The heathen think of them and
even refer to them as gods, but they are gods in name only. And Paul adds here that even
if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth,
here he’s referring to supposed heavenly beings, or the more
earthbound deities like Poseidon, deep in the ocean, wherever it
is their idolatrous reign claims that they reside, for the sake
of argument, Paul says, even if. The being that they supposedly
represent does not exist. And so the statue is null and
void. It’s nothing more than a block
of wood or a chunk of marble, whatever. This thing is no God
at all. But when Paul says here, even
if there are so-called gods, as indeed there are many gods
and many lords, By that phrase, indeed there are. Paul takes
his readers, he takes us, behind the idol to a spiritual reality. The idol, in a sense, is real. It’s a real, physical, tangible
thing. But the supposed God that the
idol represents is not real. There is no Zeus, there is no
Aphrodite, there is no Buddha. But there is indeed a spiritual
reality behind such idols. Demons. Demons are behind these so-called
gods. And so these religious rituals,
including many sacrifices, were offered to actual beings, even
if their identities were misunderstood. They thought that they were having
a ritual to Aphrodite. In reality, they’re offering
up a sacrifice to a demon. In chapter 10 of this epistle,
Paul will return to this discussion, and there he uncovers this reality. If you flip over to chapter 10,
1 Corinthians 10, just briefly. Glide down to verse 19. Still
speaking of idols, Paul says, what do I mean then? That a thing
sacrificed to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything?
No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice,
they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you
to be shares in demons. Back to chapter eight. No, an
idol is not real, not in the sense of truly representing a
so-called God behind it. The so-called God is not real,
but the demon behind this false worship is indeed very real.
When Paul speaks of many gods and many lords, he’s not going
back on his position that these idolatrous statues do not represent
real gods. but there are spiritual beings
behind them. And he refers to them here as
many gods and many lords, referring to the different levels of authority,
different tiers. Satan being, even as Jesus referred
to him, the God of this world. John 12, 31, 14, 30. Paul also
refers to the devil in the same terms, 2 Corinthians 4, 3, and
4. Even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the
God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.
My point is that Satan himself is called a god and is supporting
lords. His henchmen are the demons. They function as so many lords
over so many territories. He’s not referring here. When
Paul says many gods and many lords, he’s not referring to
Buddha or Apollo. Apollo or Dagon or angelic. He’s referring to angelic beings,
the devil and his henchmen. And it’s these demons who turn
the hearts of men and women away from the true and living God
to a false, lifeless, dead idol. These are the malignant forces
behind idolatry. And this is precisely the scenario
presented when Moses in his song recorded in Deuteronomy chapter
32, he laments Israel’s participation in the heathen nation’s idolatry. Deuteronomy 32, 17, they sacrifice
to demons who were not gods, to gods whom they have not known,
new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread. False
gods. Deuteronomy 32, 21, they have
made me jealous with what is not God. They have provoked me
to anger with their idols. You see, the idea is captured
earlier in Deuteronomy where God is pictured in contrast. Now God is seen in competition
with these idols. The Lord God, the Lord your God
is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. Pretend whatever you
will about the unseen spiritual realm, that there are other gods,
there are other lords, if you will, but God is the God of them
all and the Lord of them all. And Paul speaks to the Ephesians
in similar terms. When Paul speaks to the Ephesians,
he speaks of spiritual warfare and he takes the spiritual warfare
that takes place in this world, but he uses completely different
terms to refer to this spiritual realm of gods and lords. In Ephesians chapter six, Paul
tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but it’s against the rulers, against the powers, against the
world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces
of wickedness in the heavenly places. These rulers and powers and forces
of darkness and wickedness, he simply refers to in 1 Corinthians
8, 5 as gods and lords. And this only serves to reinforce
Paul’s point that these idols are nothing at all, while uncovering
the evil and devilish mechanism behind idolatry. And so the entirety of heathen
worship, their so-called gods and their idolatrous practices,
it’s all a sham. There’s nothing legitimate to
it, fables, myths, men’s imaginations, it’s all a fraud, but the demons
behind such gods are indeed real. And I just love this, that in
Paul’s classic style, he doesn’t really even conclude his thought
here. Did you realize that? He doesn’t
even conclude his thought. And he doesn’t really have to,
because he begins the sentence so strongly, we kind of fill
in the gap. We might expect that Paul should
say something at the end here, the end of verse five, that offers
somewhat of a conclusion to the argument about idols. It might
go something like this. For even if there are so-called
gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many
gods and many lords, but in reality, an idol is nothing. what Paul will argue is that
regardless of the issue at hand, that we would make an idol, that
we would basically divide with our brothers and sisters in Christ
over a non-issue, over a phantom, over something that doesn’t even
really exist, Paul says is the most unloving
approach of all. We’ll pick up the latter part
of that in the weeks to come. When we return, we’ll look at
not only the illegitimacy of idolatry, but the legitimacy
of the one true God. Paul wants to drive that point
home. Idols are illegitimate. God is real. Would you humble
yourself before him? O merciful God.