1 cor 8.1 - 11.1 - first century non pauline literature

7/28/2019 1 Cor 8.1 - 11.1 - First Century Non Pauline Literature

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TRINJ23NS (2002) 225-234

THE MEANING AND USES OF

IN FIRST CENTURY NON-PAULINE LITERATURE

AND 1 COR 8:1-11:1:

TOWARD RESOLUTION OF THE DEBATE

E. COYE STILL

I. INTRODUCTION

Traditionally is understood ter mean broadly foodoffered to idols. To be sure might be consumed in apagan temple during a feast permeated with rituals of pagan

worship, but one might also encounter in the macellum,a private home, or a largelysocial meal in temple dining facilities asa food item with a history of use in pagan rituals. Against thetraditional view, Gordon Fee argues that throughout 1 Cor8:1-11:1(i.e., in 1 Cor 8:1, 4, 7, 10, and 10:19) means sacrificialfood eaten at a cultic meal in the temple area.

1Ben Witherington

argues that in the non-Pauline first century sources (as well as in 1Cor8:1-11:1) always means food sacrificed as a part ofpagan worship and consumed in the temple precincts.

2For Fee and

Witherington, therefore, the problem of in 1 Cor8:1-11:1necessarily involves pagan rituals in the temples. Bruce Fisk, writing

before publication of Witherington's study, responded to Fee'sargument in defense of the traditional view.

3

At stake in the debate is whether Paul couldrecognize anauthentic right of the Corinthian knowers in regard to .

4If

consumption of equals participation in idolatrous ritual,then we must conclude on a priori grounds and based on 1 Cor 10:21

*E. Coye Still III currently serves in South Asia as a representative of anevangelical missions organization.


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(cf. 1 Thess 1:9) that Paul abhors and will not tolerate it. Now is anappropriate time for an assessment of the evidence in light of the

various arguments with a viewtoward resolution of the debate.

IT. THEUNCERTAINORIGINOFTHEWORD

The traditional view is that the word is of Jewishorigin and is the polemical equivalent to the pagan .

5Ben

Witherington disputes the claim of Jewish origin. He observes that"in the Greek sources that antedate . . . 1 Corinthians there are noexamples whatsoever of the use of except possibly 4Maccabees 5:2 or Sibylline Oracles 2:96."6 Witherington argues thatboth of these references post-date 1 Corinthians, that isofJewish-Christian origin, and that the term was perhaps coined byPaul himself.

7He is probably correct about the date of one of the

references, but not the other. Sib. Or. 2:96 seems likely to bedependent upon Pseudo-Phocylides 31 which in turn appears to bean interpolation based on Acts 15:29.

8Can we also assign a date later

than 1 Corinthians to 4 Maccabees? Witherington insists on thepossibility, but on quite inadequate grounds. He has misunderstoodAnderson9 and disregarded Bickerman's plausible argument for adating of 4 Maccabees between 18 and 55 A.D.

10There is no reason to

postulate Christian interpolation in 4 Mace. 5:2.

Thus, we mayrender no confident verdict on the question. The term first appears inliterature of the first century and comes more frequently from thepens of Christians. Do James' (Luke's) and Paul's uses of the termpre- or post-date 4 Mace. 5:2? What is the pre-literary history of theterm? Sufficient data for a conclusive judgment is lacking.

5FriedrickBchsel, "," TDNT2:378.

6Witherington, "Eidolothuton,"238, bases this statement on an exhaustive search

ofthe TLG. I searched the TLGand concur with his conclusion.7Cheung, IdolFood, 319, agrees with Witherington's theory of the Jewish-

Christian origin ofthe term, but not with the remainder of Witherington's thesis.8P. W. van der Horst, The Sentences ofPseudo-Phocylides: Introduction, Trans

d C (SVTP 4 L id B ill 19 8) 13 36 id "P d Ph lid A N


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STILL: MEANING AND USES OF 227

///. INNON-PAULINEFIRSTCENTURYLITERATURE

is a compound word composed of (idol)and -s (offered) from (to offer in sacrifice or kill). Assuggested above, primarily at issue in the debate over meaning is thesetting in which might be encountered. Witheringtonargues that in all first centuryA.D. occurrences the word means "ananimal sacrificed in the presence of an idol andeaten in the temple

precincts"12

Fisk, on the other hand, argues that "normallycarries the general sense "meat offered to idols/"

13

We shall assess all of the non-Pauline first century uses of theword: Acts 15:29; 21:25; Rev2:14, 20; Sib. Or. 2:96; and, 4 Mace. 5:2.

14

We shall also consider Did. 6:3 which, although perhaps a secondcentury document, is sometimes dated in the first century andcontains the only occurrence of in the ApostolicFathers.

15

Acts 15:29 and 21:25 are respectively the heart of the ApostolicDecree developed in the Jerusalem Council and the restatement ofthe Decree by James and the Jerusalem elders. Acts 15:29 is closelyrelated to Acts 15:20James' judgment regarding resolution of thecrisis over what to require of Gentile converts. In Acts 15:20 thephrase is used instead of(Acts 15:29). Perhaps the two are, as Witherington implies,synonyms for Luke, but if so, then synonyms for what? Are theysynonyms for food consumed in the temple setting as a part of thesacrificial ritual or simply food with a sacrificial history?

Witherington argues that refers to theblood and gore of slaughtering and the aroma of sacrifice and,therefore, implies a temple setting for the consumption of the meat.16

Thus, for Witherington the Decree prohibits temple mealparticipation. The concept ofmeat coming forth from the temple (i.e.,after its use in sacrifice) with defiling pollution is, however, familiar

12Witherington, "Eidolothuton,"240.

13Fisk, "Eating Meat Offered to Idols," 58, responding, we should again note, to

Fee, although a number of his arguments may be helpfully juxtaposed withWitherington's. We note that Peter D. Gooch, DangerousFood: 1 Corinthians8-10In ItsContext(Studies in Christianity and Judaism 5; Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier UniversityPress, 1993), 53-55, maintains that may not have been meat at all. It does


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to Judaism: "Flesh that is entering in unto an idol is permitted, butwhat comes forth is forbidden" (m.

xAbod. Zar. 2.3).

17James'

statement in Acts 15:20 does not, therefore, demand that be understood in Acts 15:29 as a reference to temple mealparticipation.

18Even ifActs 15:20 is a reference to temple attendance

(as Witherington argues), then the change to (Acts 15:29)may indicate the council's desire to broaden a restriction whichseems too narrow to accomplish its purpose. The pressing question

when the council proceedings have reached Acts 15:20 is unhinderedfellowship between Jew and Gentile.

19Participation in cultic feasts

would certainly be offensive to Jews, but so would consumption of

meat previously sacrificed to an idol (m. lAbod. Zar. 2.3). Wishing toremove both barriers to fellowship, the council may have progressedfrom (Acts 15:20) to (Acts15:29) to communicate: "We prohibit not only temple mealparticipation, but also consumption of food which has been used intemple ritual." In other words, the expressions may not besynonymous in Luke's usage. Thus, the evidence in Acts 15 does notcall for interpretation of narrowly as aprohibition of temple meal attendance.

20Rather, it seems more

prudent to take the reference in the broader sense as to food with ahistory of sacrifice to idols.

In Rev2:14,20 does appear to refer to eating food asa part of idolatrous worship per se, if the details of the OT

background are considered decisive for interpretation. Revelation2:14 charges that some in the church in Pergamum hold to theteaching ofBalaam. The relevant OT passages are Num 25:1-18 and31:16. In Num 31:16 Balaam is revealed as the advisor whoinstructed the Moabite women in how to turn away the Israelites

from YHWH. The actions of the Israelite men included indulgence insexual immorality with the Moabite women, attendance at sacrificesto the Moabite gods, and eating and bowing down before the gods(Num 25:1-2). Use of the Balaam motif in Rev2:14 indicates that theinfraction in Pergamum was of utmost gravity and probablyincluded participation in sacrificial feasts.

21A similar line of

reasoning may reasonably be taken with Rev 2:20 and its OT

17Translation by Herbert Danby, The Mishnah (London: Oxford, 1954), 438.

18Gregor of N ssa ma ha e described h t poll tes food itho t meaning


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Mace. 5:1 reference.30

"A certain high place" (4 Mace. 5:2) translates . Tivo may indeed be intended tocall to mind the idea of pagan worship sites.31 It seems telling,however, that there is no mention in the text of any of the ritualstypically associated with pagan sacrifice.

32More telling still is the

dialogue between Antiochus and Eleazar. Antiochus attempts tocoax Eleazar to eat based on the excellence of the meat and nature's

bestowal of it (4 Mace. 5:8-9). Eleazar's response suggests the actionin view would be a violation of food laws and nothing more: ". . .you must not regard it as a minor sin for us to eat unclean food;minor sins are just as weighty as great sins" (4 Mace. 5:19-20). Couldthe author of 4 Maccabees have placed the words "minor sin" onEleazar's lips in reference to a fuUy idolatrous act? Nothing is said

which suggests an on the spot sacrifice, unless meansmeat eaten at the site of the sacrificial ritual as a part of the worshipevent. That is, of course, the question before us. The phrase "acertain high place" may be taken to support Witherington'sargument. Against it are the absence of a description of a sacrificialact and the dialogue between Antiochus and Eleazar. I cautiouslytake 4 Mace. 5:2 as evidence for the broader definition of.

The final non-Pauline passage to consider is Did. 6:3: "Andconcerning food, bear what you can, but keep strictly from thatwhich is offered to idols [], for it is the worship of deadgods." Fisk observes that the reference is introduced with an"unadorned 'And concerning food'" and that there is no mention oftemples or meals.

33Witherington throws the emphasis onto the

in . : it isthe worship of dead gods.34

Heconcludes that "the issue, then, is not merely food as in the first halfof the exhortation but specifically food eaten in a context where itentails and is an expression of the worship of dead godsi.e., in apagan temple."

35It seems at least as likely, however, that "it is the

worship of dead gods" discloses the Didache's disposition towardfood previously offered to idolsit is fully identified with the idolworship for which it has been used. In this case refers to a class of food from which abstinence is absolutely requiredrather than a location in which it is impermissible to eat.

To summarize this analysis of the non-Pauline first centuryoccurrences of, I recall that only in the case of Rev 2:14and 20 have we determined that the word probably refers to meat


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sacrificed in the presence of an idol and eaten in the templeprecincts. The indication thus far is that meansbroadly

"things sacrificed to idols" and mayreferto food which is offered toan idol and consumed in the context of a cultic meal. It is necessarynow to consider Paul's own uses of the word in 1 Cor 8:1-11:1.

IV. IN1 COR 8:1-11:1

occurs in 1 Cor 8:1, 4, 7, 10; and 10:19. Also occurs in 1 Cor 10:14. As indicated above, Fee arguesthat throughout 1 Cor 8:1-11:1 refers to sacrificial food

eaten in a cultic worship meal in the temple area.36 Fee begins hisargument on this point by observing that "in 10:19 []refers to sacrificial food that is partaken in the idol temple."

371 agree,

based on signals from the context: the subject at hand is (1 Cor 10:14); temple imagery immediately precedesthe reference (1 Cor 10:18); and, as Gill maintains, the reference to is most applicable to the temple setting.

38Based

upon this accurate observation about 1 Cor 10:19, however, Feemakes an unjustified assertion: "since eating the food in the temple is

surely the meaning here, the question is whether shouldcarry another meaning in chap. 8."

39Fisk objects that Fee has, for all

practical purposes, narrowed the semantic range of to"meat sacrificed to an idol and eaten in the temple area" and nowdemands that something from the context indicate a broadermeaning in 1 Corinthians 8.

40Our survey of the non-Pauline

occurrences of the word suggests just the oppositethe word mayrefer to food offered in sacrifice and consumed as part of a templemeal, but meanssimply food with a sacrificial history. Ofcourse, we

cannot count out immediately the possibility that Paul always usesthe word in the narrower sense, but, it is methodologically

backwards, given the indications of our survey, to assume thenarrow sense unless context demands otherwise.

Fee offers reasons that should not be taken in thebroad sense in 1 Corinthians 8.

41First, Gentile converts would almost

certainly have had no difficulty with marketplace food, but aredefiled as they consume the of1 Cor 8:7. Thus, it is morelikely that the food in question is consumed in the temple. Fisk

points out, however, that "acquired conservatism" on the part ofGentile converts is not problematic.

42It seems quite reasonable that


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idolatry. Second, Fee argues that meals eaten in the presence ofdeities in temples were commonplace in pagan antiquity. The point

is granted. Fee then infers that

It is the commonnessof such meals in a city like Corinth, with itsabundance of shrines to the "gods many and lords many," overagainst the lack of "Jewishness" in the text of 1 Corinthians 8-10,that argues strongly for temple attendance as the real concern inthis passage.

43

The point is unconvincing. Although the commonness of the meals

implies opportunity for participation, it would also insure a largesupply of sacrificial meat for sale in the market (1 Cor 10:25) bypriests whose remunerative portions exceeded personal needs.

44

Could such meat be purchased? Could it be served or consumed in aprivate dinner party? This situation would perhaps be problematicfor the scrupulous, both Gentile and Jewish. The commonness oftemple meals, therefore, does not establish that temple meals are thereal issue in view in 1 Cor 8:1-10:22. Third, Fee argues that theidolatry of 1 Cor 10:7-8 is associated with eating and.

45Fee

observes that and are also together in Acts 15:29and Rev2:14, 20. He maintains that in all of these texts sacred mealsand sexual immorality at the temples are at issue.

46I have argued

above that Acts 15:29 does not have the temple setting in view, butthat Rev2:14, 20 probablydoes. Although temple meal participationis a prominent issue in the Pauline argument (see 1 Cor 8:10; 10:1-22),Fee's contention that throughout 1 Cor 8:1-10:22 Paul has in viewonlytemple meals (which are idolatrous in character) is less thanpersuasive.

Two observations support the judgment that the references in 1Cor 8:1-7 are not to the narrowmeaningfood eaten in cult meals inthe temples. First, Paul's reasoning in 1 Cor 8:7 seems to require thathe has something different from the idolatry of 1 Cor 10:14-22 inmind. The consciences of the weak Christians are defiled becausethey . As Fisk observes, the point seems todepend on the capacity of some to eat , that is

43Fee, "," 185.

4 4Aremark from Plinyto Trajan supports this: "... people have begun to throng

the temples which had been almost entirely deserted for a long time; the sacred riteswhich had been allowed to lapse are being performed again, and the flesh of sacrificial

ictims is on sale e er here" (E 96 10) The increase in temple acti it as in this


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without defilement.47

Participation with demons by taking part inthe table of demons (=idols) is objectively defiling (1 Cor 10:20-21).

Thus it seems highly unlikely that Paul is dealing with the samebehaviors in 1 Cor 8-9 and 10:1-22. Second and similarly, Paul's useof the term (1 Cor 8:9) appears to be an affirmation of anauthentic right possessed by the knowers.

48If this is so, then

whatever is happening in the temple in 1 Cor 8:10 is not inherentlysinful (as is the cult meal participation of 1 Cor 10:14-22), but

becomes sinful when it results in the destruction of a brother. Hence,Paul's argument assumes two tiers of temple meals: 1) those notinherently idolatrous and objectively defiling (1 Cor 8:10); and 2)

those inherently idolatrous and objectively defiling (1 Cor 10:20-21).49

V. CONCLUSION

In my opinion the traditional view that meansbroadly food sacrificed to idols and may, of course, refer to foodconsumed in a cultic meal in the temple, must be maintained and

Witherington's and Fee's arguments rejected.This conclusion does not, however, settle the issue of precisely

what Paul intends for the Corinthian knowers to do in regard to. It simply makes meaningful the question, "What doesPaul intend for the Corinthian knowers to do?" The long standingconsensus has been that Paul urges the knowers to use carefully theirright to consume food offered to idols. Alex Chueng agrees that

should be taken in its broader sense, but argues that"Paul considers conscious consumption of idol food a denial of theCorinthians' allegiance to Christ and urges them to avoid idolfood."

50Thus Cheung denies that Paul acknowledges an authentic

47Fisk, "Eating Meat Offered to Idols," 60.

48See my "The Rationale Behind the Pauline Instructions on Food Offered to

Idols: A Study of the Relationship between 1 Corinthians 4:6-21 and 8:1-11:1" (Ph.D.diss.. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000), 107-10; and, "Paul's AimsRegarding : A New Proposal For Interpreting 1 Corinthians 8:1-11:1,"forthcoming in NovT.

49For the strongly social character of some meals which took place in temple

dining facilities see, Wendell Willis, IdolMeatin Corinth: The Pauline Argument in 1Corinthians 8-10 (SBLDS 68; Chico: Scholars, 1985); Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, St.Paul'sCorinth: TextsandArchaeology(GNS 6; Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1983), 165;and Richard E. Oster, "Use, Misuse and Neglect of Archeological Evidence in SomeM d W k 1 C i thi (1 C 7 1 5 8 10 11 2 16 12 14 26) " ZNW83 66 67


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right for the knowers to consume food offered to idols. I have arguedthat Paul does acknowledge the knowers' authentic right to consumefood offered to idols, even in some temple meals (see 1 Cor 8:10), butcalls for complete non-use of the rightabstinence from all templemeals and all food identified as having been offered to idols.

51Of

course, since I have entered the list of participants, I shall have toleave to someone else the article judging the debate over what Paulintends the knowers of Corinth to do regarding food offered to idolsin the temples and elsewhere.


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1 cor 8.1 - 11.1 - first century non pauline literature

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