1 Corinthians 10:30Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What then do the words mean, “Why am I blamed for that for which I give thanks?” I, he says, thank God that He has so exalted me and placed me above Jewish abasement that nothing can harm me. But the pagans, not knowing my philosophy, will suspect the opposite and say: Christians desire what is ours. They are hypocrites. They revile demons and turn away from them, yet they flock to their tables. What could be more unreasonable than this? This means they accepted this teaching not for the truth, but from vainglory and love of power. Therefore is it not madness to give occasion for blasphemy because of the very blessings for which thanksgiving is offered? But, you say, the pagan will say this even when he sees that I do not inquire. No, because not everything is filled with idol-sacrifices, so as to give grounds for such suspicion. Besides, you do not eat it as an idol-sacrifice. Therefore do not inquire in vain. On the other hand, do not take part when they tell you that it has been sacrificed to idols. Christ gave you grace, exalted you, and placed you above every harm, not so that you might give occasion for evil report against yourself. Nor did He do this so that, by the very privileges for which you give thanks, you should so offend others that they may blaspheme. Why, you ask, should I not tell the pagan that I eat and suffer no harm from it, and that I do not do this out of attachment to demons? Because you will not persuade him, even if you say it a thousand times, since he is weak and your enemy. If you have not yet persuaded the brother, much less will you persuade the enemy and pagan. If the former is bound by conscience regarding idol-sacrifices, much more is the unbeliever. Why, then, should we resort to such means? But should we also fall away from Christ, whom we have come to know and thank, merely because enemies blaspheme us? May it never be. There is a difference between the two cases. In the former, great gain comes from enduring blasphemy. Here there is no profit. Therefore the Apostle also said earlier, “If we eat, we gain nothing; if we do not eat, we lose nothing” (1 Cor 8:8). Besides, he proved that one must withdraw and abstain from idol-sacrifices for other considerations as well, not for this reason only, but also for the other reasons he stated above.

Therefore, to the rule concerning eating, the Apostle immediately joins this also: “Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the Church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved” (1 Cor 10:32-33). “Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1).

Another matter is eating at home whatever is sold in the market, even if something there happens to have been sacrificed to idols. There everything may be eaten without fear, by virtue of the moral and religious awareness, or conscience, that everything belongs to God and can serve for men’s benefit as His gift. One may be guided by the same awareness while at the table of unbelievers. But when someone there points to something as sacrificed to idols, one must then refrain from eating. This is not because one’s conviction changes about all things belonging to God. It is so as not to give a bad example to a weak Christian. It is also so as not to give a pagan occasion to think badly of Christian convictions and rules, thereby lowering the lofty dignity of Christianity in general. Chrysostom, as though bringing all these thoughts of the Apostle to their proper conclusion, interprets: “What do the words mean, ‘Why am I blasphemed for that for which I give thanks?’ I. He says, thank God that He has so exalted me and placed me so far above Jewish abasement, for among them there is ‘Do not touch,’ and the like, that nothing can harm me. But the pagans, not knowing my philosophy, will suspect the opposite and say: Christians desire what is ours. They are hypocrites. They revile demons and turn away from them, yet they flock to their tables. What could be more unreasonable than this? Therefore do not receive food when they tell you that it has been sacrificed to idols. Christ gave you grace, so exalted you, and placed you above every harm, not so that you might give occasion for evil report against yourself. Nor did He do this so that, by the very privileges for which you give thanks, you should so offend others that they may blaspheme.”

But if you are such, he says, if by God’s grace you have come to the knowledge that an idol is nothing, and that there is no harm for you in eating what has been sacrificed to idols, why do you allow yourself to be reviled? Why allow your faith, and even God, to be reviled through you, and precisely because of the very thing for which you ought to give thanks, having received perfect understanding of things? In his own person the Apostle directs the exhortation to the Corinthians.” Chrysostom says concerning “that for which I give thanks”: “Tell me, what do you receive with thanksgiving? God’s gifts. His grace is such that it makes my soul pure and places it above every impurity. As the sun, touching every impurity with its rays, preserves them pure, so, or even more, we also, moving amid the world, can remain pure if we wish, and all the more because we possess greater power. Why then, you ask, abstain? Not because otherwise we could become unclean, but for the brother, so as not to have fellowship with demons, and so as not to come under condemnation from the unbeliever. Here it is not the nature of foods, but disobedience and fellowship with demons that make me unclean. Defilement depends on the will. What then do the words mean, ‘Why am I blasphemed for that for which I give thanks?’ I, he says, thank God that He has so exalted me and placed me so far above Jewish abasement, for among them there is ‘Do not touch,’ and the like, that nothing can harm me. But pagans, not knowing my philosophy, will suspect the opposite and say: Christians desire what is ours. They are hypocrites. They revile demons and turn away from them, yet they flock to their tables. What could be more unreasonable than this? This means that they accepted this teaching not for the truth, but from vainglory and love of pleasure. Therefore is it not madness to give occasion for blasphemy because of the very blessings for which thanksgiving is offered? But, you say, the pagan will say this even when he sees that I do not inquire. No, for not everything is filled with idol-sacrifices, so as to give grounds for such suspicion. Besides, you do not eat it as an idol-sacrifice. Therefore do not inquire in vain. On the other hand, do not receive food when they tell you that it has been sacrificed to idols. Christ, having given you grace, so exalted you and placed you above every harm, not so that you might give occasion for evil report against yourself. Nor did He do this so that, by the very privileges for which you give thanks, you should so offend others that they may blaspheme.”