Download: Food Sacrificed to Idols
1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 10:14-11:1
Elite Christians with “Knowledge”
- 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 contains a Corinthian slogan, “all of us possess knowledge,” to which Paul responds
- Paul Gardner: “We [the truly ‘spiritual people’ at Corinth] know that we all possess knowledge.” Being “puffed up” (φυσιόω) involves the flaunting of something for one’s own benefit or to stress one’s own status.”1
- 1 Corinthians 8:4 contains two more Corinthian slogans: “no idol in the world really exists” and “there is no God but one.” Like all of their slogans, these two have truth in them, but they were pressing them too far. It is true that idols aren’t gods, but mere statues. It is true that God is the only one over all. Still, Paul believed in other malevolent spiritual powers (Eph 6:12).
- 1 Corinthians 8:5-6 begins with Paul’s agreement that the gods who exist are “so-called gods,” but then he insists that they are quite real. Nevertheless, for Christians we have one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.
Gods in Corinth
- Sisyphus
- Isis
- Serapis
- Diana (Artemis)
- Fortuna (Tyche)
- Bacchus (Dionysus)
- Mercury (Hermes)
- Hercules (Heracles)
- Minerva (Athena)
- Venus (Aphrodite)
- Ceres (Demeter) and Kore (Persephone)
- Neptune (Poseidon)
- Aesculapius (Asclepius)
- Apollo
- Jupiter (Zeus)
On the Temple of Ceres and Kore
- Jorunn Økland: “Ritual dining by women worshippers was central to the cult. It was an activity that celebrated the fruits of the earth and female companionship, as well as one that promoted human fertility. Over 40 dining rooms from the Greek period have been excavated at the site in addition to a theater up the hillside. … Mummius’s sack of Corinth did not result in destruction of the sanctuary, but the period of the city’s abandonment did cause the buildings to deteriorate. … [W]e do not know how this Corinthian sanctuary was used during the two centuries after the official Greek cult finished and before the Roman refurbishment of the sanctuary some time after 77 ce. It is clear, nevertheless, that there was no clear break between the time of the city’s abandonment and the Early Roman period. Finds of pottery and kitchen vessels, for example, in addition to lamps, minor cultic vessels, and coins, indicate that the newcomers to Corinth joined existing activities and may have used the sanctuary’s pre-existing buildings when they resumed cult activity.”2
On the Temple of Aesculapius
- Bronwen Wickkiser: “[I]ndividuals flocked to Asklepia in search of cures for maladies ranging from blindness, deafness, and paralysis to headaches, baldness, and insomnia. Here the sick would sleep, hoping to meet Asklepios in a dream whereby he would treat them with a medical procedure or prescribe a regimen for cure.”3
- Murphy-O’Connor: “It is entirely probable that the wealthier members of Paul’s flock had been wont to repair to the Asclepion for recreation. It was probably the closest the city had to a country club with facilities for dining and swimming. It would have been natural to continue going there after conversion, because even though the converts no longer believed in the healing god, they still would have seen the value of the site.”4
- Bronwen Wickkiser: “Asklepios typically treated chronic rather than fatal ailments and, according to mythic tradition, was prohibited by his grandfather Zeus from bringing individuals back to life. The Christian message about Jesus thus promised a type of cure that Asklepios could not; it promised a cure for death.”5
Other Gods in Corinth: lares, penates, Vesta (Hestia), geniuses
Imperial Persons Receiving Divine Honors
- Julius Caesar (founder of Corinth)
- Augustus (1st emperor)
- Octavia (Augustus’s sister)
- Gaius and Lucius (Augustus’s grandsons)
- Tiberius (2nd emperor)
- Livia (Augustus’s Wife, Tiberius’s mother)
- Caligula (3rd emperor)
- Claudius (4th emperor)
- Julio-Claudian Family
Important Questions
- Should Christians participate in ceremonies honoring gods?
- Can Christians eat at a temple dining room if it’s not during a sacrifice?
- Can Christians eat the meat from the animals sacrificed when it’s sold the next day in the meat market?
- What if you’re at a dinner party and they serve you meat from an idol sacrifice? Should you always ask to find out?
1 Corinthians 8:7-13 Paul’s great concern is causing the weak to stumble by emboldening them to go against their consciences. In fact, that’s his only reason to forbid Christians from eating at temple dining rooms.
- Anthony Thiselton: “Christians in Corinth who perhaps designated themselves as “the strong” (i.e., in knowledge and/or in social and economic influence) claimed that knowledge encouraged a more enlightened attitude toward taking part in festivals and meals in the precincts of pagan temples. …Knowledge informs us that “An idol has no real existence,’” for “There is no God but One’” (8.4). So Christians may on this basis maintain their business and social contacts.”6
Animal Sacrifices Described
Clint Burnett: “[O]fferings would have been offered for the benefit of the entire colony and performed in public view. Sacrifices of wine and incense would have been carried out without much work and need not have occurred on the imperial altars in the aforementioned places but before images, painted or statues, of Julio-Claudian divi, Octavia, Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, and the reigning emperor’s genius set up anywhere in the colony. On the other hand, blood sacrifices would have occurred at the end of sacred processions… This means that imperial flamines would have led in procession local elites, musicians, and victimarii, or special slaves who killed the sacrificial animals, winding their way through the city to the altar that was being used for the ritual in question.
Once the imperial procession arrived at the altar, the imperial flamen would have washed his hands with water, burned incense, and poured a libation of wine to the Julio-Claudian divi, Octavia, Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, or the emperor’s genius. These sacred rites completed, the imperial flamen would have poured wine and some special flour atop the sacrificial animal’s head as well as run his knife down the beast’s back. These acts functioned to transfer ownership of the bull or cow from the imperial flamen and thus Corinth’s populus to the object of sacrifice… At this point, the animal was supposed to nod its head, thereby giving consent to be slaughtered. Whereupon, the victimarius would have struck the animal on its head to stun it, cut its throat, and drained its blood.
Once the beast was dead, a special cultic official known in Latin as a haruspex would have inspected its entrails (liver, lungs, gall bladder, the peritoneum, and heart) to ensure that the [divus]…had accepted the offering. If no abnormalities were found, the object was believed to have been acceptable to the divine being to whom it was offered. After such confirmation, the entrails of the animal would have been boiled in a pot. This finished, the flamen would have dumped them, along with more wine and special flour, onto the fires of the altar where they would have been consumed. Finally, the remainder of the animal would have been divided among the participants and eaten near the imperial altar by the flamen and participants in the procession. …Any meat that was not consumed at such a sacrifice was taken to the macellum or “meat market” and sold (1 Cor 10:25).”7
1 Corinthians 9 is a chapter we’ll come back to later. In it Paul uses himself as an illustration of restraint in exercising his rights for the sake of others.
Demons, Idol Altars, and Communion
- 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Paul points to the negative example of Israel participating in idol worship and the devastating results.
- 1 Corinthians 10:14-19 Those who participate in a religious meal are partakers in in the altar. Do not be partners with demons.
- Paul Gardner: “For the apostle, these types of religious meals, the Lord’s Supper and pagan cult meals, are not mere “meals”—they are religious activities and are eaten in a context in which the presence of the divinity is assumed. These meals therefore speak of allegiance to the god being worshipped by his followers or subjects.”8
- 1 Corinthians 10:21-22 The word “partake” is koinonia (κοινωνία), which means fellowship, sharing, associating with, etc.
Idol Food at the Meat Market (Macellum)
- 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1 Now we return to the slogan mentioned in 6:12, “All things are permitted.” Paul adds two constraints: do what is beneficial and what builds up others. Paul recognizes that the meat itself is not tainted, so Christians can eat it. But he doesn’t want them to eat it if it causes their brother or sister to stumble (other-regard).
- Inscription from Corinth’s meat market: “Quintus Cornelius Secundus, son of [- – -], of the tribe of Aemilia, and his wife Maecia, daughter of [Quintus], his son [- – – Cornelius Secundus] Maecianus, his son Quintus Cornelius Secundus, his [daughter] Cornelia [Secunda, who is the wife of Quintus] Maecius Cleogenes the freedman of Quintus (Maecius), [built (?)] the meatmarket [- – -] along with [- – -] and facilities for fish [- – – – -]”9
- Plutarch talks about attending a fancy dinner (writing about an experience he had between 70 and 90 a.d.): “Aristion’s cook made a hit with the dinner guests not only because of his general skill, but because the cock that he set before the diners, though it had just been slaughtered as a sacrifice to Heracles, was as tender as if it had been a day old. Aristion said that meat cures rapidly if, immediately upon killing, it is hung on a fig tree.”10 (Table-Talk 10.1)
- Murphy-O’Connor: “About the only time that meat came on the market cheaply in Corinth (and elsewhere) was during the great pagan festivals. There were so many sacrifices in a short period that neither the participants nor the priests were able to eat all the meat. Typically, only the thigh bones were the god’s portion. The surplus meat found its way to the marketplace, but in such quantities that the price was forced down to a level that made meat accessible to the poor.”11
Bibliography
Burnett, D. Clint. Paul & Imperial Divine Honors. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2024.
Gardner, Paul. 1 Corinthians. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, edited by Clinton E. Arnold. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2018.
Gill, David W. J. “The Meat-Market at Corinth (1 Corinthians 10:25).” Tyndale Bulletin 43, no. 2 (Nov 1, 1992): 389-93.
Kent, John Harvey. Corinth: The Inscriptions 1926-1950. Vol. 8. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1966.
Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome. St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archeology. 3rd ed. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002.
Økland, Jorunn. “Ceres, Κορη, and Cultural Complexity.” In Corinth in Context. Edited by Schowalter Friesen, and Walters. Leiden: Brill, 2010.
Plutarch. Moralia: Table-Talk 1-6. Translated by Herbert B. Hoffleit Paul A. Clement. Vol. 8. Loeb Classical Library. London, UK: William Heinemann, 1969.
Thiselton, Anthony C. 1 Corinthians: A Shorter Exegetical & Pastoral Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011.
Wickkiser, Bronwen L. “Asklepios in Greek and Roman Corinth.” In Corinth in Context. Edited by Schowalter Friesen, and Walters. Leiden: Brill, 2010.
- Paul Gardner, 1 Corinthians, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Clinton E. Arnold (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2018), 369.[↩]
- Jorunn Økland, “Ceres, Κορη, and Cultural Complexity,” in Corinth in Context, ed. Schowalter Friesen, and Walters (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 204, 07-8.[↩]
- Bronwen L. Wickkiser, “Asklepios in Greek and Roman Corinth,” in Corinth in Context, ed. Schowalter Friesen, and Walters (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 37.[↩]
- Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archeology, 3rd ed. (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002), 190.[↩]
- Wickkiser, in Corinth in Context, 56.[↩]
- Anthony C. Thiselton, 1 Corinthians: A Shorter Exegetical & Pastoral Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011), 13.[↩]
- D. Clint Burnett, Paul & Imperial Divine Honors (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2024), 330-1.[↩]
- Gardner, 450.[↩]
- David W. J. Gill, “The Meat-Market at Corinth (1 Corinthians 10:25),” Tyndale Bulletin 43, no. 2 (Nov 1, 1992): 390-1. See also the earlier translation: John Harvey Kent, Corinth: The Inscriptions 1926-1950, vol. 8 (Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1966), 127-8.[↩]
- Plutarch, Moralia: Table-Talk 1-6, trans. Herbert B. Hoffleit Paul A. Clement, vol. 8, Loeb Classical Library (London, UK: William Heinemann, 1969), 511.[↩]
- Murphy-O’Connor, 186.[↩]
