FOOD SACRIFICED TO IDOLS
1 Corinthians 3:1-13
Life Application New Testament Commentary
The discussion regarding whether the
Corinthian believers should eat food that had been sacrificed to idols begins
here and continues through 1Co_11:1. Most likely, this first section deals with meals served in the
pagan temples, and the discussion in 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1 deals with food purchased in the
marketplace and served in private homes. The Corinthians had written to Paul
with questions regarding these issues, but their exact questions are unknown.
The believers concluded that their knowledge of God and the fact that the idols
had no power allowed them to continue to eat meals in the temple. Paul dealt
with that issue in this first section.
1Co
3:1 Dear brothers and sisters, when
I was with you I couldn't talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to
talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the
Christian life. 1Co 3:2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid
food, because you weren't ready for anything stronger. And you still aren't
ready, 1Co 3:3
for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of
one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn't that prove you are controlled
by your sinful nature? Aren't you living like people of the world?
At
some point we were all young Christians. Most of us would read the Bible or get
in a group to further our knowledge of our religion. Even though the Corinthians
did not have a new testament they did have Paul’s teachings. It appears that
those teachings were not used to any useful extent.
1Co
3:4 When one of you says, "I
am a follower of Paul," and another says, "I follow Apollos,"
aren't you acting just like people of the world? 1Co
3:5 After all, who is Apollos?
Who is Paul? We are only God's servants through whom you believed the Good
News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us.
By
following Paul or Apollos they were missing the message that they were supposed
to follow Christ.
1Co
3:6 I planted the seed in your
hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 1Co 3:7 It's
not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What's important
is that God makes the seed grow. 1Co 3:8 The one who plants and the one who waters
work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own
hard work. 1Co 3:9 For we are both God's workers. And you are
God's field. You are God's building.
My
wife is an avid gardener. She plants in the spring and the flowers do their
thing. By June the fruits of her labor have shown their glory. She was Apollo
or Paul, tending the garden. The rain or water was the true converter of the
seed.
1Co
3:10 Because of God's grace to me, I
have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it.
But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. 1Co 3:11 For
no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.
By teaching something other than what
was intended by Paul or Apollos, it could be considered “false witness”.
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