Leaving the Idolatry of Money (Day 20)

Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience… 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. 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 – I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

1 Corinthians 10:25-30

After setting out his principles that we looked at earlier in this series, ‘”All things are lawful”, but not all things are helpful…but not all things build up’, Paul applies it to daily situations. He does not want Christians to be unnecessarily fussy or painstaking. Whatever is sold in the market can be bought without quibble. It was not a desire for wilful ignorance but if it did not matter to others that the food had been sacrificed to idols it should not matter to the Christians buying it.

Paul quotes Psalm 24:1 to support his point. ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…’ Christians are free to enjoy this fullness, and to accept hospitality and eat whatever is put before them without being concerned about whether it had been sacrificed to idols. But if someone mentions that it has been sacrificed, the Christian should not eat it.

It is not a matter of letting another person’s conscience dictate our behaviour but our own conscience not letting us create a problem for the other person. A modern parallel may be our attitude to recovering alcoholics. I have known some who were happy to join others in a pub and to drink fruit juice while everyone else drank alcohol: I have known others, however, who thought it best to avoid the temptation completely and never went into a pub or bar.

If we refrain from tempting into a pub someone in the second group, and take the initiative to meet them elsewhere, it would not be because of their conscience but ours. To push the illustration, if we forego going to a pub ourselves, so they do not witness the ‘strength’ of our position, it would be a commendable choice to forego something lawful out of respect for them.

As Paul decided to practice self-denial, to abstain from what was lawful, with a view to other people’s good, these are the sorts of questions we should be asking ourselves.

• Am I in a line of business, or participating in dubious business practices, that could misdirect other Christians into acting against their own consciences? Are my spending choices based on my own wants and ambitions or with regard for how they are perceived by others? How concerned am I about my choices undermining another Christian’s faith or making it harder for someone to become a Christian?
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Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.  

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