Continuing in our series examining the Apostle Paul, in this video we will explore two aspects of Paul’s letters that have sparked theological discussion: his views on food offered to idols and the admonition to call no man Father.
We will examine the cultural and religious background of idol worship in Paul’s time, analyzing key passages from from his writings where Paul addresses this issue. We will look at how Paul balances Christian liberty with the responsibility not to cause others to stumble and what these teachings mean for Christians today in a diverse and pluralistic society.
We will also look at Yahushua’s command in Matthew 23:9 and its interpretation by Paul. Be prepared to distinguish between respect for spiritual leaders and the misuse of titles. Learn how this teaching is applied in contemporary Christian practice and leadership and our lives today.
Join us as we unravel the complexities of these teachings, offering both historical insight and practical guidance. Join us as we learn the God Honest Truth about the Apostle Paul in relation to food offered to idols and calling no man “father”.
Transcript
Did the Apostle Paul tell us it’s okay to eat food offered to idols? And did he go around calling himself everyone’s father even though Yeshua our Messiah said call no one father? We’re going to be examining these two points in this teaching in our continued series on examining the Apostle Paul, whether or not he was a true or a false apostle. Both of those points coming up in this teaching. So this Draws Your Teaching is going to be another video in our series examining the Apostle Paul.
Was he a true apostle or was he a false apostle? Now continuing in this series, let’s go ahead and recap what we have covered so far. In our first episode, we’ve done just a basic scripture or dossier on Paul. Who he was, where he came from, his life and times, the basic information to let you know about the person we are speaking of. In episode two, we did an introduction and a foundation setting up what we’re going to be doing for this series.
In episode three, we actually started testing some of the objections that are brought against the Paul of Tarsus. We examined whether to be only 12 apostles and was Paul rejected by those in Asia and the other apostles. In episode four, we went on to examine a little bit more about the criteria for actually being an apostle and whether or not Paul met that criteria. We took another or we actually took a close examination of Paul’s conversion story regarding or examining some of the elements contained within that.
And in our last episode, episode five, we test or examine the aspect of Paul being a Benjamite, whether or not Yeshua was warning us about the Benjamites, the tribe of Benjamin when he spoke about the wolf in sheep’s clothing. And we also examined some of Paul’s teachings on marriage and how that related to other teachings in scripture regarding marriage itself, whether you should be single or whether there was a command to get married. All of that was covered in the last episode, episode five.
So now we’re getting to episode six, tonight’s drosh. And if you would like some more information on this, you can go down below in the description and we’ll have a link that goes directly to the article post for this teaching. And there you’ll be able to find the on-demand video, the drosh slides that you see here on your screen. You’ll also find the transcript and the notes that we took for this particular subject and this series, all conveniently located for you down there in the description box.
Just click on that link or you can always go to www.GodHonestTruth.com and you should be able to find the post right there on the front page or a convenient search from the top. So, episode six and continuing our examination of Paul of Tarsus, whether he was a true or a false apostle, tonight we’re going to be looking at two more objections that are brought against Paul. And the first one we’re going to be examining tonight is the subject of food offered to idols.
Now, the objection that’s brought up goes as such by Justin Best, and this is who we are basing this series off of, his 50 points. And Justin Best writes, Paul taught that if you don’t know whether or not food has been sacrificed to idols, don’t ask, it’s fine for you to eat. If we apply this kind of logic to something like clean eating, it becomes obvious it’s sin. Would you eat a hot dog you weren’t sure was all beef or not? Everywhere I go, I am constantly asking questions like, what kind of meat is in the chili or is that pastrami made of pork or beef? These questions I ask because I want to be careful to be obedient to follow Yah’s commandments.
Don’t ask, don’t tell does not sound very scripturally sound to me. So here he’s kind of making the objection that Paul is teaching that it’s okay to eat food offered to idols when in actuality we shouldn’t, and therefore Paul is a false apostle or a false teacher. He goes on in his video, 50 Reasons to Never Quote Paul Again, and he references 1 Corinthians 8, 4-9 and Revelation 2.14. In the Paul paper he wrote that we just read from that objection, he lists very much the same thing.
Two references, 1 Corinthians 8, 4-8 and Revelation 2.14. Now we’re going to go on to examine these to see whether or not this objection holds up and what Paul is actually teaching, but just let it be known there’s a lot more verses even from Paul himself regarding food offered to idols. Not just this one in 1 Corinthians 8. So first off, 1 Corinthians 8, 4-13. However, not all have this knowledge, but some, being aware of the idol, until now eat it as having been offered to an idol, so their conscience being weak is defiled.
But food does not commend us to Elohim, for we are none the better if we eat, nor any worse for not eating. But look to it, lest somehow this right of yours becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s place, shall not his conscience, if he is weak, be built up to eat food offered to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Messiah died, shall perish through your knowledge.
Now sinning in this way against the brothers and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Messiah. For if food makes my brother stumble, I am never again going to eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. Now this is just from chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians. There’s other ones we’re going to get to in just a moment. But here we can see that he starts off saying that an idol is no matter at all in this world and that food really has no consequence.
Now keep this in mind, the context we’re talking about here. When those of scripture write about food, that’s what scripture describes as food. Camels are not food. Pigs are not food. Scripture does not consider them food. And so neither does the writers of scripture. So when he’s talking about food, he doesn’t include or mean non-kosher animals. Make sense? He’s not including unclean meat. So we’re not talking about the same thing when we’re talking about food offered to idols and unclean meat.
So back in his objection that we read, he’s really conflating the two issues, trying to make them one and the same when they’re two different things. Here Paul is writing about food offered to idols. This would be actual food, what scripture considers to be food, things like beef or chicken or anything that is allowable to eat according to scripture. So they’re not the same thing. We all know that it doesn’t matter if it’s offered to an idol or if it’s not offered to an idol.
If it’s pork, we don’t eat it. Clear as day. But Paul is teaching, and we’ll see this more in a later section that we’re going to examine, he’s talking about if you just eat it and you don’t know it’s offered to an idol, that beef is still beef. It’s not going to do anything against you, to you, or for you than it otherwise normally would. However, if you know it’s been sacrificed to an idol, then that’s where the issue really comes into being.
But if you don’t know, if you just go out in the market and you buy it, that is no consequence. So he’s not telling you to go out and seek food offered to idols, no. This is just harmless, pretty much ignorance of where the food came from, but you still know it’s actually food according to scripture. That’s okay. So he’s not telling us to go out and find food sacrificed to idols, but if you eat it, that’s fine.
However, if you do have the knowledge, then you could cause a weaker brother to go back to idolatry, as he sees here, or I’m sorry, as he says here, for if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s place, shall not his conscience, if he is weak, be built up to eat food offered to idols. So you could cause your brother to stumble back into pagan ways, back into idolatry, and we don’t want to do that.
So if we know it’s been offered to an idol, don’t eat it. But if we don’t know, or if it’s not, then you’re absolutely fine. This is also a good principle for other things in life as well. If you know you have a brother or a sister who has an issue with alcoholism, then maybe you should not consume alcohol in front of them. We know, if you’ve examined our teaching on alcohol that we’ve done previously, we know that the scripture does not prohibit the consumption of alcohol.
It does not command it, but it does not prohibit it. However, there should be discretion that is used there. If you know someone in your presence has an issue with alcoholism, don’t offer them alcohol, and I’ll go so far as to say, do not even consume it in front of them. Again, it’s not commanded. You don’t have to consume alcohol, and it would be better for your brother or sister to refrain from that. It’s not going to hurt you.
Same thing goes here for food offered to idols. Now another verse that he brought up in both his video and the paper that he wrote is Revelation chapter 2, verse 14. But I hold a few matters against you, because you have there those who adhere to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat food offered to idols and to commit whoring. Now here again, it’s talking against the eating of food offered to idols, but in this context, they know it was food offered to idols.
That’s the difference we’re talking about here. But again, Paul is telling us, if you know, don’t do it. But if you don’t know, and no one else knows, it’s no consequence. There’s no issue there, because an idol is nothing at all. Now I mentioned there’s more about food offered to idols than just the two that Justin Beth presented in his paper and his video. Another one is on down in the same chapter of Revelation, Revelation chapter 2, verse 20.
But I hold against you that you allow that woman Isabel, or Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess to teach and lead my servants astray to commit whoring and to eat food offered to idols. Again, this is another situation that if we take it into context and understand it, it’s known that the food was offered to idols. That’s where the problem comes in at. Paul is participating knowingly in this food offered to idols. They knew in this verse here that they were going to commit whoring, and they were led astray into committing whoring.
They also knew the food was offered to idols, and they were led astray to eat this food offered to idols. They had full knowledge of what they were doing and what they were consuming. That’s not what Paul’s talking about. In fact, when it comes to knowing it was offered to idols, Paul says, don’t do it. But if you don’t know, don’t ask. Acts chapter 15, verse 28 and 29, this is where the Jerusalem council sets out the first steps for a new believer to adhere to, to get going.
You don’t go through and automatically memorize the entire Torah in a weekend. That’s not your first step into the faith when you first become a believer in Yeshua. They set out the four things that a new believer is supposed to do, and Paul was there at this meeting, and he was actually sent out with this decree to spread the word. So he knew about this already. He agreed to it. Acts chapter 15, verses 28 through 29, for it seemed good to the set-apart spirit and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessities, that you abstain from what is offered to idols, and blood, and what is strangled and whoring.
If you keep yourselves from these, you shall do well, be strong. Now for those of you who know this passage, you know it also goes on to tell the new believers that the word, or I’m sorry, I’m trying to remember the exact phraseology, but that Moses was taught every Sabbath in the synagogue, in the temple. So as they continued going every Shabbat to temple, they would continue to learn and grow in the faith. They would know more and more each week about what they should and should not be doing.
But starting out, one of the things that you start out by doing is to refrain from what is offered to idols. Not eat food that is offered to idols. And especially knowing that it’s food offered to idols. So Paul already knew this. He’s not contradicting or going against this decree from the Jerusalem council. Let’s go on and examine what he has to say further about this issue of food offered to idols. First Corinthians chapter 10 verses 18 through 28.
Look at Israel after the flesh. Are not those who eat of the slaughtering sharers in the slaughter place? What then do I say? That an idol is of any value? Or that which is slaughtered to idols is of any value? No. But what the nations slaughter, they slaughter to demons and not to Elohim. And I do not wish you to become sharers with demons. You are not able to drink the cup of the master and the cup of demons.
You are not able to partake of the table of the master and of the table of demons. Do we provoke the masters of jealousy? Are we stronger than he? All is permitted me, but not all do profit. All is permitted me, but not all build up. Let no one seek his own, but each one that of the other. You eat whatever is sold in the market, asking no questions because of conscience, for the earth belongs to Yahweh, and all that fills it.
And if any of the unbelievers invite you, and you wish to go, you eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions on account of the conscience. And if anyone says to you, this was slaughtered to idols, do not eat it, because of the one pointing it out to you, and on account of the conscience, for the earth belongs to Yahweh, and all that fills it. So here we get some further clarification about what Paul is teaching on food offered to idols.
He says that when you go to an unbeliever’s house, you’re going to supper, you’re going to eat with him, break bread with him, as it were. And they put meat down before you. Don’t ask where it came from, just eat it on account of your conscience. However, he specifically says that if anyone tells you that this food was offered to idols, then Paul specifically says, do not eat it, because you know then it was offered to an idol.
And once again, I’ll remind you that when he’s talking about food, he’s not talking about pigs, and camels, and rabbits, things that are not food as the Bible considers it. This is concerning things like beef, and chicken, and kosher fish, et cetera, et cetera. Once again, just to recap, Paul specifically states, is that food in front of you? Don’t ask where it came from, it’s okay to eat it, if you’re eating it with ignorance of the origin of it.
But he also says specifically, that if they tell you that this was food offered to idols, then do not eat it, because of the one pointed out to you. Now, notice it right there, it says, because of the one pointed out to you. That’s a very interesting way to phrase it. A, if we knowingly, or if we know that it’s food offered to idols, we shouldn’t be eating it. But it’s also, he says here, because of the one pointed out to you, it’s for their benefit.
This unbeliever that he’s talking about here, is going to know that you have nothing to do with idolatry, nothing to do with paganism, even if you have to skip a meal. It’s for their benefit, to show them your faith, and your commitment to your faith. As Tim Hegg writes in All Things to All Men, he states, The possibility existed that meat purchased from the market could have originated in the pagan temples. But unless one was specifically made aware of this, it was not to ask, since from Paul’s point of view, the profane status of idolatry did not adhere to the meat.
If, however, one was specifically notified that the meat had come from the pagan temple, one should not eat it in order to guard the conscience of the one who served it. In short, believers should always present the life message that they have nothing to do with the idolatry. So it’s almost like a testimony to the person who’s serving you this food. They’re an unbeliever, maybe a pagan, they’ve been to the temple or what not, whatever god they’re serving.
And they bring back this food, and they tell you, this was sacrificed to an idol. Then they see your resolve, they receive your faith, your commitment to your faith, that you are going to serve the one God, as he told us in that previous passage. We have one God, the Father, and our commitment to him is absolute, should be absolute. Not to multiple gods, just the one God. And when an unbeliever who says this food offered to idols in front of us and tells us this is food offered to idols, maybe that will be a witness to them to come on over or at least examine and ask more questions to come into the faith themselves, so that they would leave their idolatry and their paganism.
Going on, the ESV study Bible states this on 1 Corinthians 8, 4-6. Paul agrees with what the Corinthians know, that idols do not represent real gods and lords. There is only one God, and since he is the creator of the animals that pagan priests offer to non-existent gods, no problem should be attached to the consumption of the meat itself. Paul will later distinguish between eating at a temple dinner, which as a religious event is idolatry, and eating meat bought in the marketplace.
So far in this passage, he is concerned only with the food itself, not the setting in which it is eaten. So once again, just to recap, Paul is not telling us to go out and knowingly seek to eat food offered to idols. However, if we buy it in the market or someone sets it in front of us at a supper and we don’t know where it came from, then just eat it. If your conscience is fine, the food is not going to hurt us, there is no special significance to that particular food, just eat it.
But if we know, if we are told that it was food offered to an idol, we are not to eat it. Both because we don’t want to engage in idolatry knowingly, and also for the conscience of the people who gave us that food, so that they might see our commitment to the one God, our absolute commitment, and hopefully that will be a witness to that person that they will then, or at least maybe later, become a believer themselves because of what we showed them of our faith.
So no, eating food offered to idols is not the same as eating kosher, because Paul is not referencing here non-kosher food, or non-kosher items that some people consume. And yeah, it’s not the same thing, I don’t know where I was going with that, but anyways. Our second point for this teaching, call no man father. In his video, 50 Reasons to Never Quote Paul Again, Justin Best states, Paul calls himself a father contrary to Messiah’s teaching. And this particular section in that video only lasted about two minutes, and he references Matthew 23, 9, and 1 Corinthians 4, verse 15.
Now at the onset, if you’re going to bring down someone who has historically and traditionally been held in high esteem like Paul of Tarsus, and you’re going to present these points and objections against such a man, you’d want to do more than just a two-minute commentary. You’d want to put in a lot more than just two verses and a lot more than just two minutes on a single point. But let’s examine it anyways, just to see if there is any validity here whatsoever, because that’s what we’re doing in this series anyways.
Matthew 23, verse 9, and do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father, he who is in the heavens, that’s the words of Yeshua. And then going on to 1 Corinthians 4, verse 15, for though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Now, in his video, Justin Best uses the ESV, so that’s what I’ve presented for you here.
And there’s a reason for that. And I don’t know if Justin actually picked up on this or not, because if you look in Matthew 23, verse 9, when Yeshua is speaking this, and he says, call no man your father on earth, for you have one father who is in heaven, both of the Greek words used here for father and father, it’s the same Greek word, Strong’s G3962. And for this, Josh, we’re not going to get into the weeds on that, but you can look that up for yourself.
That word there literally means, like, your parent, your genetic authority, your father, the one who sired you, pretty much, what you would think of as your dad, normally, right? Then in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 15, Paul writes, for though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers, and that’s the same Greek word that Yeshua used back in Matthew 23, verse 9. But Paul goes on to state, for I have become your father, and that’s a different Greek word, that’s Strong’s G1080, for I have become your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Now this, like I said, is a different word, and it doesn’t mean a parent, it means someone who brought you into something, who engendered you, who brought you forth, who signed you up if you’re in a club or something like that. It’s not like we would think of as a dad, as a parent, like the word used back when Yeshua was speaking. If we look at different translations of 1 Corinthians 4, verse 15, in the ESV, I’ll read it one more time, for though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Now in the Scriptures 2009 translation that we use here at God on His Truth, it translates it as such, for if you should have 10,000 instructors in Messiah, yet not many fathers, for in Messiah Yeshua, I have brought you forth through the good news. See that there? Then we look at the King James Version, for though ye have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
And in the Wycliffe Translation, the first ever English translation, they do it as such, for why if you have 10,000 of undermasters in Christ, but not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have engendered you by the gospel, for why in Christ Jesus I have engendered you by the gospel. So in all actuality, when you start looking at these various translations, it’s not speaking about the same thing that Yeshua was talking about back in Matthew 23, verse 9.
Paul is not saying he’s the literal father of these people, he’s just saying that he helped bring them into the faith. However, it gets a lot more involved than this. Go back to look at Matthew chapter 23, and this time for a broader, more involved context, we’re going to read Matthew 23, verses 1 through 12. Then Yeshua spoke to the crowd and to his taught ones, saying, Describe when the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moshe.
Therefore, whatever they say to you to guard, guard and do, but do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do, for they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but with their fingers they do not wish to move them, and they do all their works to be seen by men, and they make their tefillin wide, and lengthen the zizek of their garments, and they love the best place at feast, and the best seats in the congregation, and the greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
But you, do not be called Rabbi, for one is your teacher, the Messiah, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father, he who is in the heavens. Neither be called leaders, for one is your leader, the Messiah. But the greatest among you shall be your servant, and whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. That last sentence right there by Yeshua really sums up what he’s actually teaching right here about those, here he’s speaking about the Pharisees, but about those kinds of people who like to be recognized, who like to be lifted up on a pedestal, who like to exalt themselves.
Yeshua is referencing the Pharisees here, but we can already think of people nowadays who do the exact same thing, who get on TV in these big mega churches, and they exalt themselves and say, look at how great I am. They may not say that explicitly, but their actions and their words pretty much say the same thing. They love the attention, they love the fame, they love the glory that comes along with it. That’s the kind of thing that Yeshua is talking about here.
He’s not saying, do not ever literally say the word father about anyone else. That’s not what he’s saying. He’s saying, do not exalt yourself and do not see anyone else as your father over and above or in place of Yahweh. Do not exalt anyone else as your teacher or authority over and above or in place of Yeshua as your rabbi. Your rabbi, our rabbi, ultimately should be Yeshua. No one else, our ultimate teacher, our ultimate father in authority should be Yahweh, not anyone else.
No Pope, no president of whatever denominational organization, nothing like that. It should be Yahweh and Yeshua. Again, he’s not literally forbidding the use of the word father. It’s how you see other people. You should not exalt another human being like that. The people you look up to should be the humble people. That’s it. He’s not literally saying, again, he’s not literally saying, do not ever use the word rabbi. Do not ever use the word father. In fact, you can go on and look in the rest of the teachings of Yeshua and he goes on to use those very words, calling other people a father or father.
If you look in Matthew chapter 10, verse 21, and brother shall deliver up brother to death and a father, his child and children rise up against parents and shall put them to death. Now here, Yeshua himself is using the word father and he’s not referring to Yahweh. So if we go back to the hyper literal understanding that people like Justin Best are trying to use in this proof texting, then Yeshua would be going against his own teachings.
But when we understand what Yeshua is saying in context, it all starts to make sense. Again, Matthew chapter 10, verse 35, for I have come to bring division, a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Matthew chapter 10, verse 37, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Luke chapter 15, verse 17, and he’s talking about the parable of the prodigal son.
Luke chapter 15, verse 17, but having come to himself, he said, how many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I am perishing with hunger. So Yeshua had zero problem with referring to other people as father, as a father. Because once again, he’s not saying to literally never use the word father of anyone else except Yahweh. That’s an over-literalization of what Yeshua is saying and a misunderstanding. No, he’s saying that those who exalt themselves will be humble and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Not to be puffed up and exalt yourself and to love the glory and the fame and the words of accolades and things like that. Not to say, look at my PhD, look at all my degrees that I got or the university or college that I went to, look at me, look how authoritative I am. That’s exalting yourself. That’s the kind of people that you should really take with a small grain of salt. Do not call them your spiritual father because you have one spiritual father, that is Yahweh.
You have one spiritual teacher, that is Yeshua. Other people have benefit, no doubt, but they should not be your ultimate final authority. So to wrap this up and in summary, Paul does not teach believers to intentionally eat meat offered to idols. That’s just a misunderstanding of what Paul was telling us to do. And Paul teaches believers to not knowingly eat meat offered to idols. To recap, Paul is telling us that a food is set before you, ask no question about where it came from, just go ahead and eat it.
However, if you’re told that food was offered to idols, then do not eat it because you don’t want to participate in idolatry and you also want to be a witness to the person that set it in front of you to show them your commitment to the one true God. Yeshua does not teach believers to refrain from using the word father at all. He’s not saying don’t ever use that word again except in reference to Yahweh. Don’t hopper literalize what Yeshua was saying, understand what he was actually teaching.
And Paul in 1 Corinthians 4.15 is not literally calling himself a father to the Corinthians. As we saw, you can go on and check that Strong’s Word for yourself, he’s actually using a word that means he brought them into the faith, he brought the word to them, he helped them to see the light and become believers. He’s not actually calling himself a father to them, he’s not calling himself a parent to them. He’s just saying that he helped to bring them in using the gospel, the good news of Yeshua.
And that’s just the God honest truth.
