For if any man sees you who have knowledge eating in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him who is weak be encouraged to eat those things which are offered to idols;
Read Chapter 8
Ambrosiaster
AD 400
Paul is afraid that the weaker brother may be tempted to eat meat sacrificed to idols, not because he also possesses the knowledge that there is no such thing as an idol but because he might think that there is some spiritual power in such food, which he will acquire if he eats it. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
There are two sorts of food, one ministering to salvation, and the other which is fitting to those who perish… . We ought not to misuse the gifts of the Father, then, acting the part of spendthrifts like the rich son in the Gospel. Let us, rather, make use of them with detachment, keeping them under control. Surely we have been commanded to be the master and lord, not the slave, of food.
Sit at meat in the idol"s temple. Erasmus takes the word which we have idol"s temple to mean idol"s feast. The text, however, gives the better translation. S. Paul speaks of their siting at meat in an idol"s temple, or at a table consecrated to idols. Those who were about to partake of the idol-sacrifices were wont to have tables set out in the temple, as Herodotus says in Clio, and Virgil (Æn. viii283), in his description of the sacrifice of Evander and the subsequent feast with the Trojans. So too did the Jews eat of the peace-offerings in the court of the Temple ( Deuteronomy 16:2).
It hence follows that to eat of things offered to idols in an idol temple is not only an evil because of the scandal it causes, but also is an evil in itself, because it is a profession of idolatry, as will be said at chap. x.
Anselm says tropologically: "The knowledge of idol-offerings is the knowledge of the vanity of heathen philosophy, poetry, and rhetoric. This must be guarded against. Far be it ...
In the idol's temple. It does not seem likely that any Christians would go to eat with idolaters in their very temples, of things offered to their idols: so that we may rather understand any place where infidels and Christians eat together, and where it happened that some meats were brought which had been first offered to idols, which the well-instructed Christians regarded not, nor asked any questions about, but the weak scrupled to eat them. (Witham)
Shall not his conscience. The meaning of St. Paul's words is this: Will not your weak brother, who is not endowed with so great a knowledge as you, be induced, from your example, to eat these meats offered to idols, believing that he will derive therefrom some benefit. (Estius)
After having said, Take heed lest this your liberty become a stumbling-block, he explains how and in what manner it becomes so: and he continually employs the term weakness, that the mischief may not be thought to arise from the nature of the thing, nor demons appear formidable. As thus: At present, says he, a man is on the point of withdrawing himself entirely from all idols; but when he sees you fond of loitering about them, he takes the circumstance for a recommendation and abides there himself also. So that not only his weakness, but also your ill-timed behavior, helps to further the plot against him; for it is you who make him weaker.
Let us expand this thought so as to say: “If someone sees you who have knowledge of piety passing the whole day in those senseless and harmful associations, will not the conscience of the weak man be emboldened to pursue such actions more earnestly?” That blessed apostle said this to keep in check those who were heedless, even after having knowledge of piety, who were exposing themselves to places of idolatry and causing scandal to the rest.
Will yet frequent the Quinquatria? The very first payment of every pupil he consecrates both to the honour and to the name of Minerva; so that, even though he be not said "to eat of that which is sacrificed to idols".
Part in the battle when it does not become him even to sue at law? And shall he apply the chain, and the prison, and the torture, and the punishment, who is not the avenger even of his own wrongs? Shall he, forsooth, either keep watch-service for others more than for Christ, or shall he do it on the Lord's day, when he does not even do it for Christ Himself? And shall he keep guard before the temples which he has renounced? And shall he take a meal where the apostle has forbidden him?
Give nothing and take nothing from an idol! If it be against the faith to recline at table in the temple of an idol, what would you call it if one wore the garb of an idol? The Chaplet
