“It is not everyone
Who has this knowledge.
But some have become
So accustomed to idols
Until now.
They still think
Of the food they eat
As food offered to an idol.
Their conscience,
Being weak,
Is defiled.”
ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐν πᾶσιν ἡ γνῶσις· τινὲς δὲ τῇ συνηθείᾳ ἕως ἄρτι τοῦ εἰδώλου ὡς εἰδωλόθυτον ἐσθίουσιν, καὶ ἡ συνείδησις αὐτῶν ἀσθενὴς οὖσα μολύνεται.
Paul said that it is not everyone who has this knowledge (ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐν πᾶσιν ἡ γνῶσις) about the one God. But some have become so accustomed to idols until now (τινὲς δὲ τῇ συνηθείᾳ ἕως ἄρτι), that they eat food as offered to an idol (τοῦ εἰδώλου ὡς εἰδωλόθυτον ἐσθίουσιν). Their conscience (καὶ ἡ συνείδησις αὐτῶν), being weak (ἀσθενὴς οὖσα), is defiled (μολύνεται). Paul pointed out the problem. Not everyone had the full knowledge about one God the Father and his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Some people ate the food offered to the idols because they had habitually done this until the present time. As their conscience was weak, they were defiled. Greek society had so many gods with festivities and sacrifices to various idols that they just naturally ate the food offered as a sacrifice to these idols. However, there were two groups of Christians. Those strong in the Christian faith and knowledgeable about Jesus knew that these idols were worthless. However, the weak in the Christian faith saw this food offered to the pagan idols as still linked to divine beings, so that they wanted to stay away from it. They feel that they were defiling themselves by partaking in this idol food. The strong ones realized that the various idols had no power, so that they saw nothing wrong with this idol food. However, this was difficult for the newly converted weak non-Jewish people. What do you think is the value of food offered to pagan idols?
