Can pagan gods actually taint or affect meat sacrificed to them?
Pagan gods have no power and cannot taint or affect meat sacrificed to them. The animal remains unaffected by the false deity. Yet if a person believes such meat has somehow been tainted, the instruction is to avoid eating it rather than violate conscience.
Les explains that when the Jerusalem leaders agreed Gentiles could be saved by Paul's Gospel apart from Judaism and the Law of Moses, they still asked Gentile believers to abstain from pollution of idols. In Paul's day, rank idolatry and pagan temples were everywhere, and meat from animal sacrifices often ended up in the marketplace. Paul said it did not bother him, because one had to recognize that those pagan gods had no power and could not affect the meat. However, if a person had any idea that meat sacrificed to a pagan god had somehow been tainted, then he should not eat it.