Why did the Corinthians ask Paul whether they could eat meat that had been offered to idols?
They asked Paul because they knew the meat sold in the market or served at a friend’s wedding feast had first been offered to a pagan god or blessed by a pagan priest. They wanted Paul to say what they should do and whether they could eat it.
Les explains that after an animal was sacrificed in a pagan temple, the priest might sell the remaining meat to a butcher shop, which then sold it in the market. Christians buying that meat knew it had already been taken up to a pagan temple. The same issue arose if they were invited to a friend’s wedding feast, where the meat had been blessed by a pagan priest. So they wrote to Paul asking what to do and whether they could eat it. Paul’s answer in verse 8 is that meat does not commend us to God: eating it does not make us better, and not eating does not make us worse. Scripture never demands that a believer be a vegetarian. Paul then adds in verse 9 that their liberty must not become a stumbling block to the weak. A mature Christian may know it will not hurt him, but a young, weak believer may be shaken by seeing it. Therefore, rather than cause problems for a new believer, Paul says don’t eat the meat for his sake. Verse 10 pictures someone with knowledge sitting at meat in the idol’s temple.