Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge ...

-- I Corinthians 8: 1

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.

-- I Corinthians 8: 4

However not all men have this knowledge ...

-- I Corinthians 8: 7

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.

-- I Corinthians 8: 8

But take care lest this liberty of yours 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?

-- I Corinthians 8: 9, 10

Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, that I might not cause my brother to stumble.

-- I Corinthians 8: 13

SUMMARY

What Paul has said in these passages is that it is alright to eat the meat sacrificed to an idol, since after all the idol is not real. This privilege, however, is only allowed if the person who eats the meat sacrificed to an idol is fully aware that there is only one God. He has taken special care to tell them not to do this in the presence of anyone who might not understand that there is only one God. He has even gone so far as to state that if his actions should cause his brother to stumble that he would never eat meat again.

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? ...

-- I Corinthians 9: 1

Do we not have a right to eat and drink?

-- I Corinthians 9: 4

If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we should reap material things from you?

-- I Corinthians 9: 11

Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share with the altar? So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.

-- I Corinthians 9: 13, 14

Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?

-- I Corinthians 10: 18

SUMMARY

He then begins to lament that he has a right to partake of the meat sacrificed to an idol, after all, he is an apostle of the Lord.

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; and I do not want you to become sharers in 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.

-- I Corinthians 10: 19 - 21

Eat anything that is sold in the meat market, without asking questions for conscience' sake;

-- I Corinthians 10: 25

... eat anything that is set before you, without asking questions for conscience' sake. But if anyone should say to you, "This is meat sacrificed to idols," do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience' sake; I mean not your own conscience, but the other man's; for why is my freedom judged by another's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?

-- I Corinthians 10: 27 - 30

SUMMARY

What Paul is saying in these passages is that the meat that the Gentiles have sacrificed is to demons and that one cannot partake of both the kingdom of the Lord and the kingdom of demons. He then goes on to instruct them not to ask about the status of the meat that is offered to them. But, should they come to learn that the meat has been sacrificed to an idol, he tells them not to eat it for the sake of the one who has placed it before them. So what Paul is actually saying is that it is alright to eat the meat that is sacrificed to demons, as long as one is ignorant of that fact. And, that it is fitting for ignorance to abound as long as one is thankful for their feast.

'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;

-- Revelation 2: 2

'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. 'Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 'Repent therefore; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

-- Revelation 2: 14 - 16

'But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

-- Revelation 2: 20

I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book (The Revelation to John); and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book (The Revelation to John).

-- Revelation 22: 18, 19

Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

-- II John 1: 9