Morality and Maturity
There was an important moral issue related to the situation in Corinth. But it wasn’t about the food or the dedication of the food to false gods. It was about sanctification and growth in Christ. “But,” said Paul, “take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” (1 Corinthians 8:9). What right was Paul talking about? The right to ignore everything about idols and false worship. The right to participate in Christ’s freedom, the right to participate in the holidays and festivals of false gods (the popular culture of the day) because those gods had no real power.
Paul would later tell the Corinthians, “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:16-17). One of the freedoms granted in Christ was freedom from the Old Testament food laws. The risen Christ instructed Peter, “What God has made clean, do not call common” (Acts 11:9). Later Paul would write to the Romans, “Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats” (Romans 14:20).
In Christ we are free indeed. Yet, our freedom is not a license to confuse those who are not as mature in the faith as we are. Our individual freedom in Christ is bound by our love of and service to the body of Christ. We are free from our bondage to sin in order to become willing servants — slaves — to Christ, and through Christ, to His people, the church, the body of Christ. The mature in Christ are obligated and bound to assist in the sanctification of the immature in Christ, and at the very least, not to become stumbling blocks to