Eating Food Sacrificed to Idols

Beau and I traveled through quite a spectrum of beliefs as we sought to find our doctrinal center during those years of intensive searching. A year or two into our journey we tentatively started to embrace a more literal form of Messianic Judaism, keeping as many of the 613 laws in Torah as we could. Beau stopped cutting his hair and grew a beard. I started being mindful of mixed fabrics and making sure EVERY single bit of leavening was removed from the house at Passover time. We celebrated all of the “Holy Day” Feasts, and tried to stay away from as many customs with pagan roots as possible. We really enjoyed some of the new traditions we were finding, and I have to admit I learned to make really yummy challah bread![1]

The other, not so pleasant side of this was that we were also very challenging to be around, because our belief system was not very tolerant of the customs of others. We would not allow any candles on our birthday cakes because of their origins in pagan custom, and at one point we threw out all of our Christmas tree decorations. We kept our kids home from school on Valentine’s Day because we did not want them to participate in a day honoring a Catholic saint. Looking back, I think we were a bit difficult for our families to live with during that time period, as they saw us as “becoming fanatical”, and didn’t agree with the changes we were making.

Despite the fact that we were at that point indeed swinging a bit far over toward the “fanaticism” side, we tried really hard to understand how to apply the laws that seemed to be more culturally focused toward the customs of the time. One “law” that we really struggled with understanding was the oft-repeated admonition about “not eating food sacrificed to idols”. “What does that mean?” we wondered. “If an unbeliever owns a restaurant and has a statue of Buddha in their restaurant, does that mean I am “eating food sacrificed to idols” if I go eat there?” For years, we avoided going to our favorite Thai restaurant, Tasty Thai, because of the little statue of Buddha they had sitting on their wall. We hated no longer being able to enjoy their delicious yellow curry and crispy egg rolls, but really felt that we had no choice in the matter.

After performing quite a bit of additional research, we learned that in Ezekiel’s day, there were multiple mountain temples dedicated to pagan gods, where all manner of sacrifices were offered (including human sacrifices). The meat of these sacrifices was not wasted; it was sold in restaurant-like fashion at the temple itself. God calls people who were eating at these places “unrighteous” and “sinners”.

In the reality of 21^st century America, Tasty Thai was far from being a temple where all sorts of pagan sacrifices had taken place. Rather, it was an establishment where your food was prepared to order while you waited. Finally satisfied that there was indeed a big difference, we happily resumed our patronage of the little eatery with the delicious food.

Although this issue of “eating food sacrificed to idols” doesn’t seem relevant to today’s Christian, this concern was quite a big problem back in Bible times. The Israelite system of worship run by the priesthood was based on sacrifice, which is also how the opposing “false gods” were worshiped. There was an ongoing battle to see how far you could go in participating in the rituals taking place that were dedicated to other gods. If you married wives from other countries like Solomon did, your problems were exponentially compounded, as these wives and concubines would often bring their own pagan gods and worship customs with them, and then expect you to participate in the worship of their gods as well as your own.

This issue remained a problem in Jesus’ era and even beyond. For example, when Paul visited the Apostles in Jerusalem, the well-known Jerusalem Council, led by James and Peter, took action on some issues that had come up regarding the necessity of Gentiles keeping the TRUE Law of God. After much discussion, filtered by Luke, the final decision came down from James. James proclaimed:

“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses [meaning the TRUE Law of God] has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” (Acts 15:19-21)

This decision, made by Jesus’ brother James and the Apostles of the Jerusalem Council, is also repeated by Luke six chapters later:

As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.[2]

 

Jumping forward in time, we see John (the purported author of Revelation) writing to the various churches. Within this book, John records a vision of Jesus speaking to several of the churches where Jesus admonishes not one but two of the churches for eating food offered to idols. John writes:

“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: … Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.[3]

And again,

“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: … Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.”[4]

So now we have numerous witnesses; Ezekiel, James, Peter, and John, all saying “abstain from food offered to idols”. There is complete unity of thought and belief regarding this fundamental difference between paganism and Judaism. Furthermore, “sexual immorality” is generally mentioned along with “eating foods sacrificed to idols” issue; these two issues seem to be inextricably linked.

Paul of Tarsus, however, decides to promote a different message than that  which has been reflected by the consensus of those who walked with Jesus.  Paul in no uncertain terms declares,

“But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.”[5]

Paul cements his opposing perspective with,

“As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself.”[6]

We need to understand that the ones who actually followed personally with Jesus and were taught personally by him for more than a year are saying the exact opposite! There is a clear and deep contradiction here.[7]

The bottom line from God is—don’t eat food offered to idols! Period. Paul’s contradictory counsel, meanwhile, is essentially, ‘There’s really no such thing as unclean food, it doesn’t matter one way or the other what you do.’

This issue of Paul teaching the exact opposite of the Prophets and the Apostles has not been lost on Bible scholars. The Quest NIV Study Bible actually states within its margin study notes:

“Did Paul later change the prohibition about foods polluted by idols? … Paul declared such meat acceptable for consumption (1 Cor.8:8) …” [8]

Take serious note that this “prohibition” was 1) a Commandment of God that was 2) consistently upheld by the Prophets (Ezekiel 18:6), by the Apostles James and Peter (Acts 15, 21) and later by John (Revelation 2:14, 20). Note also that John wrote his words some 40 years after Paul had died. If all of these witnesses are upholding this prohibition as valid, then Paul has no authority whatsoever to contradict them.

This issue of eating food sacrificed to idols may not be particularly relevant to us in our “non-sacrificing” society, but it speaks volumes about the discrepancies between what Paul taught, and what the Jewish Messiah taught via the Prophets and to the Apostles in Jerusalem.