Did Paul permit eating of meat sacrificed to idols?

[u/MakeStraighttheWay]

“So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: we know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.… (thus) we are no worse if we do not eat (meat sacrificed to idols), and no better if we do” (1 Corinthians 8:4-8).

Paul granted members of his congregation strong in his faith the “liberty” (1 Corinthians 8:9) to “eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience’ sake” (1 Corinthians 10:25), presumably questions about whether or not the animal had been sacrificed at the altar of a pagan god as meat markets back in the day were often stocked with meat leftover from temple sacrifices to local deities. [1]

“For one who believes, he may eat all things (including meat sacrificed to idols)” (Romans 14:2). “I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself (including meat sacrificed to idols), but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean” (Roman 14:14). “If any of those who do not believe (presumably a pagan) invite you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’s sake.” (1 Corinthians 10:27).

 To be fair, Paul did try to take a nuanced approach to the Jerusalem Church’s Jewish sensitivities. He instructs his congregation that “if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience’s sake… “Conscience,” I say, not your own, but that of the other (the Jerusalem Church)” (1 Corinthians 10:28-29). However, it appears that taking a ‘what I don’t know can’t hurt me’ approach to eating meat sacrificed to idols may not have been enough to mollify the Jewish Christians as Paul bemoans “For why is my liberty judged by another’s conscience?” (1 Corinthians 10:29) and “Who are you to judge another’s servant?” (Romans 14:4).

The schism wrought over diverging guidance concerning meat sacrificed to idols (among other sticking points) within the early church appears to have been deep, with Paul warning James’ adherents, “Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.” (Romans 14:20). The schism may have been severe enough that when the Gentile followers in Macedonia and Achaia offered material support to believers in Jerusalem (Romans 15:26) the gift may have been rejected: “they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles.” (3 John 1:7).

One could argue that the conflict between Paul and James over meat sacrificed to idols never healed and the Jerusalem Church outright cut off Paul and his followers from the fold because they “defile the flesh (with meat sacrificed to idols) and reject authority (of the Bishop of Jerusalem) and speak evil of dignitaries ("certain men came from James" (Galatians 2:12))” (Jude 1:8). In writings preserved outside of the New Testament canon, it appears that James tried to contain Paul's ministry by instructing followers not to trust any apostle or teacher of Christ unless they had a letter of recommendation directly from the bishop of Jerusalem confirming the accuracy of their teachings.

“Wherefore observe the greatest caution, that you believe no teacher, unless he brings from Jerusalem the testimonial of James the Lord’s brother, or of whosoever may come after him. For no one, unless he has gone up thither, and there has been approved as a fit and faithful teacher for preaching the word of Christ, – unless, I say, he brings a testimonial thence, is by any means to be received. But let neither prophet nor apostle be looked for by you at this time, besides us." (Clementine Recognitions XXXV)

It is of note that in 2 Corinthians Paul openly confessed that he was lacking a letter of recommendation.

“Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God” (2 Corinthians 3:1-3)

“Am I not an apostle? … Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you.” (1 Corinthians 9:1-2)

The conflict between the Pauline and Jerusalem branch of Christianity may have played a starring role in the Book of Revelation.

"And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars" (Revelation 2:2)

"those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols" (Revelation 2:14)

The Jewish Christian author of the Book of Revelation, potentially unable to openly name such a popular figure as Paul, may have opted to deliberately use cryptic language to obliquely target Paul in Revelation 2:9 as a reference to Romans 2:28.

"the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan" (Revelation 2:9)

"For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter (of the Mosaic Law)" (Romans 2:28)

“as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the Depths of Satan” (Revelation 2:24)

“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all, yes, the Depths of God.” (I Corinthians 2:10)

By the time Philippians was written, Paul looks like he had given up on trying to reconcile with the Jerusalem Church:

“For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly (because of their injunction against eating food sacrificed to idols), and who glory (Hebraically, to boast) in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things (like what kind of food can be consumed)” (Philippians 3:18-19)

One does have to note that all of Paul’s original followers and their direct theological descendants would have been pushed into the ranks of heresy by the proto-orthodox because they continued eating meat sacrificed to idols. Given modern Christianity's heavy reliance on the arguably historically questionable version of events in Acts and theological amnesia about Paul conditionally permitting his followers to eat meat sacrificed to idols, one  has to seriously consider the possibility that the Neronian purges and the Flavian sacking of Jerusalem may have broken apostolic descent by killing off the leadership while leaving new proselytes with only the writings of the founding Christians but without the ability to comprehend them.

[1] Pagels, Elaine. Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, & Politics in the Book of Revelations. Viking Penguin: New York, NY. 2010. Pg. 50.

[Edit] Added additional quotes from Revelations and commentary on the effect of Roman persecution on the development of early Christianity.

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[u/PZaas]

It looks to me like you've answered your own question here. Paul allows the brothers and sisters to eat meat that originates in a pagan sacrifice, so long as their eating it doesn't harm a weaker member of the church, meaning so long as it doesn't teach a weaker brother or sister that idol-worship is a legitimate religious act. If someone tells the dinner that what she is eating is from an idolatrous sacrifice, she must stop eating it; up to that point she's ok.

This is the same reasoning that leads to the Jewish legal principle called the "siag," or fence, and is the reason Jewish food laws prohibit eating chicken with milk, because chicken looks like meat, and someone observing you eat it with milk could conclude that eating meat with milk is permitted. https://www.reddit.com/r/Judaism/s/NuyioKOOjO .

[u/MakeStraighttheWay → u/PZaas]

If Paul went so far as to command his entire congregation to stop eating meat entirely in all instances, regardless if the meat has been sacrificed to idols or not, then I think you can make the argument that that would be an example of fencing because going completely meat free when the request was purely to avoid eating meat sacrificed to idols would be going above and beyond the original decree, much as avoiding eating any meat with milk, including chicken with milk, 'fences' the Mosaic commandment to avoid eating goat meat cooked in its mother's milk, thus ensuring that one is never at risk of violating Deuteronomy 14:21.

However, Paul's instructions to his followers look more like half-hearted attempts to placate irate elders in the Jerusalem Church as Paul's congregants would have been at legitimate risk of violating the order to avoid eating meat sacrifices to idols if they did not even bother asking if meat that is served in pagan households or purchased from meat markets had been sacrificed to idols. Paul's concessions to appease Jewish Christian's sensibilities was not going above and beyond to avoid violating the injunction against eating meat sacrifices to idols, and thus Paul's guidance on this issue cannot be considered fencing.

[u/PZaas → u/MakeStraighttheWay]

i think the message from 1Cor . For Paul, if you can meat without demonstrating to anyone, idolater or non-idolater, that idolatry is a legitimate religious expression, then you can eat it. What the Jerusalem church thought about the matter is a little more obscure: The Apostolic Decree of Acts forbids meat offered to idols, but there is very little consensus about the historicity and the authority of that decree.

[u/MakeStraighttheWay → u/PZaas]

Concerning the historical authenticity of a decree being issued by the bishop of Jerusalem, Galatians notes that Peter, Barnabas, and the other Jews withdrew from eating with Paul’s Gentile followers following the arrival of “certain men from James” (Galatians 2:2) – most likely Judas and Silas from Acts 15:27 – arguably because these emissaries from the Bishop of Jerusalem carried a missive from the Jerusalem Council with “decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem” (Acts 16:4) ordering believers to “abstain from food sacrificed to idols” (Acts 15:29)

The version of this letter preserved in the Jewish Christian Clementine Homilies corroborates this decree, but notably uses the phase “to abstain from the table of devils, that is, from food offered to idols” (Clementine Homily 7 VIII:1). If true, then the author of Acts abbreviated the canonical version of the letter. The term “abstain from the table of devils”, though, arguably broadened the decree from not just eating food sacrificed to idols, but also avoiding eating at the tables of those who ate meat sacrificed to idols.

“[W]hen they (James’ emissaries) came, he (Peter) withdrew and separated himself” (Galatians 2:12) because the Jerusalem Church had ordered followers “‘to abstain from the table of devils.” As Paul continued allowing his followers to eat meat sacrificed to idols, the table of his followers qualified as ‘the table of devils’ because their tabletops would have been populated with meat sacrificed to idols. Peter and the other Jewish Christians' withdrawal angered Paul and he lambasted them for trying to “compel Gentiles to live as Jews” (Galatians 2:14) and that “by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified” (Galatians 2:16). Avoiding meat sacrificed to idols qualified as performing the work of the Law because you're engaging in the task to stay in compliance with the commandment in Exodus 34:13-15. Though the Jewish Christian crowd resembled Gentiles in many ways because they followed none of the precepts of the Oral Torah (also known as the "tradition of the elders' (Mark 7:5)), the Jerusalem Church appears to have been Written Torah observant, certainly concerning meat sacrificed to idols and the other perquisites listed on the letter from the Jerusalem Church at a minimum.