Can Anything a Human Does Be Morally Neutral? A Look at 1 Corinthians 8:8 (Part 1)
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In a recent exchange here at SharperIron, I was asked what I thought 1 Corinthians 8:8 meant. I had just asserted that a being bearing the image of God could not possibly do anything that is morally neutral — neither right nor wrong, because such a being must either express that imago dei, or in some way insult it (or both at once, in different ways).
1 Corinthians 8:8 seems to say otherwise.
After offering a brief explanation of how Paul’s meaning there could be understood as consistent with the view that human actions are always moral, the question continued to nag me. My answer felt inadequate. And, since any answer to the question could have a lot of implications, it seems important to be confident.
Hence, this brief study.
The Passage
First, a bit of context. The apostle Paul is helping the Corinthian congregation work through how to behave in the matter of consumption of meat that had been offered to idols. He has just asserted that idols are not really real (1 Cor. 8:4), in the sense of representing or connecting to some deity (but cf. 1 Cor. 10:21, another study for another day). He then points out that not everybody understands this (1 Cor. 8:7), and 8:8 comes as further explanation of the true nature of eating this idol-associated food.
Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. (ESV, 1 Cor. 8:8)
Three variables require a closer look here, though the second and third tend to collapse into one for all practical purposes:
- Commending (παρίστημι, paristemi) to God
- Being worse off (ὑστερέω, hustereo)
- Being better off (περισσεύω, perisseuo)
The key words are all verbs. “Will (not) commend” is a straightforward future active indicative. “Being worse off” and “being better off” are both present participles (something like “we are (not) worse-off ones” and “we are (not) better off ones”), though “being worse off” here is passive (or middle) and “being better off” is active.
A Few Views
1. It’s about the idol
Richard Pratt takes the view that commending here refers to “the god,” as in, the idol.
[I]t is also possible (and more literal) to translate, “Food does not bring us near to the god” (i.e., the idol to which the food in question was offered). In light of the preceding context, this seems to be the better option.1
He continues:
The phrase we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do probably expands the meaning of bring us near. It probably refers to the lack of prosperity an idol worshiper might anticipate if he failed to eat of the sacrifice, and to the abundance he would expect to receive if he did eat.
(In all of these excerpts, bold type is original and usually represents quotation from an English translation of the text.)
In this view, believers defending their freedom to eat this food defended their conduct with the claim that eating didn’t give them some kind of connection to a god. Paul either extends his reference to their defense in the rest of the verse or agrees with it and adds his own observation that eating also has no result one way or the other from a prosperity standpoint.
I haven’t yet found anyone else who takes this view of the passage.
2. It’s about God’s judgment
Focusing on the first verb, Anthony Thiselton takes exception to how most English translations handle this part of the verse.
The AV/KJV, RV, and RSV, followed by Barrett, translate: Food will not commend us to God. This is too restrictively positive for the verb; Senft, Maly, and Schrage note that had the word meant commend we should expect συνίστημι rather than παρίστημι, for these two verbs are not usually synonymous.2
After a very compressed (and helpful) survey of many views on the meaning of paristemi, Thiselton settles on a judgment focus, agreeing with Murphy-O’Connor and others:
Murphy-O’Connor and Jeremias take up the emphasis reflected in our proposed translation “Food will not bring us to God’s judgment,” viewed as both a negative or pejorative allusion to being judged and as a slogan or catchphrase of “the strong.” This allusion to judgment already finds expression in Weiss, Robertson and Plummer, and BAGD. In 2 Cor 4:14 the verb presupposes an allusion to God’s judgment, and some stress the eschatological reference which is implied in v. 8a. Similarly, Heinrici has little doubt that the issue concerns divine judgement.3
Thiselton seems less confident about the rest of verse 8, but prefers to see it as a response to a quoted slogan of the “strong” in the broader context, who were using it to justify themselves. However, he does see Paul’s response as a statement of principle for everyone in Corinth. In that context, he translates the verse as follows:
“Food will not bring us to God’s judgment”; neither if we abstain from food do we lose any advantage, nor if we eat do we gain any advantage. 4
3. It’s about indifference
Some interpreters summarize the verse as an expression of spiritual indifference, though it’s unclear what their concept of “spiritual indifference” is, exactly. Harold Mare observes,
First, as in 8:1, we should know that there is nothing inherently wrong with sacrificial meat and that in itself food neither enhances nor minimizes our standing before God. Second, since the eating of meat is of no spiritual importance and so is a matter of indifference, the Corinthians should realize that to eat sacrificial meat is not a practice to be insisted on for maintaining Christian liberty.5
As far as the question of whether any action can be morally neutral, John MacArthur is similarly vague.
[E]ating or not eating food has no spiritual significance in itself. Neither act will commend us to God. Commend (paristēmi) means “to place near, bring beside, present to.” Neither eating or not eating food will bring us closer to God or make us approved by Him. The general point is that doing things not forbidden by God has no significance in our relationship to Him. They are spiritually neutral. Food is an excellent illustration of that fact.6
It’s hard to see how a moral act can have “no spiritual significance,” but since this is not the question either Mare or MacArthur are trying to answer here, it probably wouldn’t be fair to say they see Paul as teaching the possibility of morally neutral action.
In their defense, John Calvin’s view is quite similar.
Meat recommendeth us not to God. This was, or may have been, another pretext made use of by the Corinthians — that the worship of God does not consist in meats, as Paul himself teaches in his Epistle to the Romans…. In this he tacitly acknowledges, that in the sight of God it matters not what kinds of food we partake of, because he allows us the free use of them, so far as conscience is concerned; but that this liberty, as to the external use of it, is made subject to love.7
On the “not better” and “not worse” language of latter part of the verse, Calvin says,
[H]e means, that we have neither more nor less of righteousness from eating or from abstaining. Besides, he does not speak of every kind of abstinence, or of every kind of eating. For excess and luxury are in themselves displeasing to God, while sobriety and moderation are well-pleasing to him. But let it be understood by us, that the kingdom of God, which is spiritual, does not consist in these outward observances, and therefore, that things indifferent are in themselves of no importance in the sight of God.8
Where We Are So Far
In this brief, somewhat random survey of views, we have two that are easily consistent with the idea that everything humans do is, in the final analysis, morally good or morally bad to some degree. We have one view that at least seems incompatible with that. Does the indifference view suggest, or require, that there is a category of human action that is genuinely amoral?
What I hope to do next is dig a bit into the positive case for “everything we do is moral,” and see how that affects the light in the room, so to speak, when we’re looking at 1 Corinthians 8:8.
Notes
1 Pratt, Richard L., Jr. I & II Corinthians. Vol. 7. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000. Print. Holman New Testament Commentary.
2 Thiselton, Anthony C. The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000. Print. New International Greek Testament Commentary.
3 Thiselton, Anthony C. The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000. Print. New International Greek Testament Commentary.
4 Thiselton, Anthony C. The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000. Print. New International Greek Testament Commentary.
5 Mare, W. Harold. “1 Corinthians.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Vol. 10. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976. 240. Print.
6 MacArthur, John F., Jr. 1 Corinthians. Chicago: Moody Press, 1984. Print. MacArthur New Testament Commentary.
7 The Calvin Commentaries, courtesy of The Bible Hub: https://biblehub.com/commentaries/calvin/1_corinthians/8.htm
8 Ibid.
Aaron Blumer 2016 Bio
Aaron Blumer is a Michigan native and graduate of Bob Jones University and Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN). He and his family live in small-town western Wisconsin, not far from where he pastored for thirteen years. In his full time job, he is content manager for a law-enforcement digital library service. (Views expressed are the author's own and not his employer's, church's, etc.)
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[Don Johnson]RajeshG wrote:
Paul is very clear that anything that I do must be done to the glory of God, which means that it is a moral imperative:
1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Whenever I eat, I either glorify God or I do not. To do the former is to act morally; the latter, immorally.
Whenever I choose not to eat, I either glorify God or I do not. To do the former is to act morally; the latter, immorally.
Whatever 1 Corinthians 8:8 may be teaching, it is not teaching that establishes the legitimacy of the view that eating and not eating are morally neutral actions.
Rajesh, you are misunderstanding the context. 1 Cor 10.31 is not referring to all kinds of eating, just the specific kind of eating discussed in the preceding passages, ie, eating meat offered to idols. To apply it to everything you do is to take it out of context (as many, many believers do). I wrote an article on this years ago, I’ll post the link later.
Don, please look again at what I wrote. I based my statements on Paul’s command that everything we do must be done to the glory of God. That is an all-encompassing mandate that includes whenever we eat or do not eat, etc.
I just disagree. I think you are misreading the passage. You are not alone, most people do misread it because they take it out of context and use it as a slogan.
Here is the link I mentioned earlier: http://oxgoad.ca/2006/11/02/on-the-popular-misuse-of-1-cor-1031/
There is a dead link in the article to a more full article I wrote on the topic, unfortunately that place that is hosted doesn’t exist anymore. I’m pretty sure I have the full file somewhere, but the computer where it sits is acting up on me, so the abbreviated version at the link above will have to do.
I agree with the principle that our whole life should glorify God. What I disagree with is 1. That this principle is taught in 1 Cor 10.31 and 2. That forcing this principle into 1 Cor 10.31 adds to the misunderstanding and misinformation that swirls around 1 Cor 8, 9, and 10.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
This idol-meat discussion spans ch. 8-10. There are those who eat idol-meat (εἰδωλόθυτος) and those who do not.
The viewpoint of “strong” was that the Shema (“God is One”) teaches that false Gods are nothing AND implies that eating idol-meat is fine to eat. They meant no worship of the idol and therefore felt able at the idol table and eat.
The “weak” were conscious of the idol as a worshipped thing and therefore they believed that eating idol-meat would be defiling (8:7).
In this section (ch.8), Paul introduces the views (vv.1-7) and then speaks most directly to those who had the “strong” view (vv.8-13).
So, to the OP, Paul begins addressing how to live with the strong view by asserting (8:8) that expression of one’s “strength” is not spiritually beneficial. In other words, Paul is saying, “If you have faith to eat, great. But realize that eating is not a matter of obedience. God isn’t demanding that you eat.”
I think we have this same issue every time we apply this sort of thing. Assume:
- Bob grows up in a no-alcohol family.
- Later he realizes that the Scriptures don’t teach total abstention.
- Does this mean that he has to have a beer in order to please God? No. It just means he can. And sometimes it might mean that, depending on the situation. But also sometimes he better not, depending on the situation.
I apologize in advance if this turns into an alcohol thread! Sorry. But I think we’ve all seen expressions of the natural human sense that discovering a freedom means that we are somehow obliged to exercise it. And there are times when God positively wants us to use a freedom in a particular situation. I see God’s command to Peter to “Kill and eat” like that. Peter was directly told not only that he had freedom, but also to use it - that day.
[Don Johnson]I read your article and do not find your argumentation convincing. It’s significant that you have not found any commentators who support your view.I just disagree. I think you are misreading the passage. You are not alone, most people do misread it because they take it out of context and use it as a slogan.
Here is the link I mentioned earlier: http://oxgoad.ca/2006/11/02/on-the-popular-misuse-of-1-cor-1031/
There is a dead link in the article to a more full article I wrote on the topic, unfortunately that place that is hosted doesn’t exist anymore. I’m pretty sure I have the full file somewhere, but the computer where it sits is acting up on me, so the abbreviated version at the link above will have to do.
I agree with the principle that our whole life should glorify God. What I disagree with is 1. That this principle is taught in 1 Cor 10.31 and 2. That forcing this principle into 1 Cor 10.31 adds to the misunderstanding and misinformation that swirls around 1 Cor 8, 9, and 10.
You hit the bulls eye on this passage, and did so with brevity and clarity. Bravo!
G. N. Barkman
Going back to the titular question… I had a eureka/face-palm moment in the car this morning. In my puzzlizng over how choosing uncommanded/nonprohibited things could always be moral without being spiritually significant, I had been focusing on an individual act and thinking the act had to be either wrong or not-wrong, therefore, spiritually significant.
This is true as far as it goes, but what I’d left out was this now-obvious to me point: mutually exclusive behaviors could still both be not-wrong, even equally glorifying to God (on balance).
So in the blue socks vs. black socks example, it’s not that the act of wearing one color or the other is amoral or that the choice is amoral, but that—as far as anyone can tell—they are are equally moral. One is not clearly superior.
So there are some category issues in how I’ve been thinking about this (and I’m not alone).
Taking it back to 1 Cor. 8, the choice to eat idol-dedicated food or eat some other food is not an “amoral” choice, or even a “spiritually neutral” choice in the sense of “a choice that has no moral or spiritual meaning/importance,” but rather it’s only “neutral” (not a term I would use!) in the sense of “a choice between two options, both of which are—as far as we know, and for all practical purposes—morally and spiritually equal. One is not better than the other.
(Except, of course, when doing so is harmful to another believer or contrary to one’s conscience.)
So with that, I think I may not have any “Part 2” to write on this one! (Unless you all can give me some meaty counterarguments to answer :-) )
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
[Aaron Blumer]I have thought of this at least once (maybe twice) during my pondering over this discussion but for some reason I never thought it was the time to post it. Since you have now independently come to the same viewpoint, I would like to say that this is a much better way to approach the issue than trying to say that eating food or not eating food is a morally or spiritually neutral matter.Going back to the titular question… I had a eureka/face-palm moment in the car this morning. In my puzzlizng over how choosing uncommanded/nonprohibited things could always be moral without being spiritually significant, I had been focusing on an individual act and thinking the act had to be either wrong or not-wrong, therefore, spiritually significant.
This is true as far as it goes, but what I’d left out was this now-obvious to me point: mutually exclusive behaviors could still both be not-wrong, even equally glorifying to God (on balance).
So in the blue socks vs. black socks example, it’s not that the act of wearing one color or the other is amoral or that the choice is amoral, but that—as far as anyone can tell—they are are equally moral. One is not clearly superior.
So there are some category issues in how I’ve been thinking about this (and I’m not alone).
Taking it back to 1 Cor. 8, the choice to eat idol-dedicated food or eat some other food is not an “amoral” choice, or even a “spiritually neutral” choice in the sense of “a choice that has no moral or spiritual meaning/importance,” but rather it’s only “neutral” (not a term I would use!) in the sense of “a choice between two options, both of which are—as far as we know, and for all practical purposes—morally and spiritually equal. One is not better than the other.
(Except, of course, when doing so is harmful to another believer or contrary to one’s conscience.)
So with that, I think I may not have any “Part 2” to write on this one! (Unless you all can give me some meaty counterarguments to answer
)
One qualification that I would make is that this approach would only inherently apply to things (or practices) of unquestioned divine origin.
I can’t see how origin would be relevant. You can explain?
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
[Aaron Blumer]God created foodstuffs for human consumption and says that it is morally good to eat them. For various reasons in certain settings, it may yet be morally good to refrain from eating certain things.I can’t see how origin would be relevant. You can explain?
When a practice of human origin uses things of human origin, there is no necessity that using those things in those specific ways for those specific purposes would be morally good. It may be or it may not be.
[RajeshG]Don Johnson wrote:
I just disagree. I think you are misreading the passage. You are not alone, most people do misread it because they take it out of context and use it as a slogan.
Here is the link I mentioned earlier: http://oxgoad.ca/2006/11/02/on-the-popular-misuse-of-1-cor-1031/
There is a dead link in the article to a more full article I wrote on the topic, unfortunately that place that is hosted doesn’t exist anymore. I’m pretty sure I have the full file somewhere, but the computer where it sits is acting up on me, so the abbreviated version at the link above will have to do.
I agree with the principle that our whole life should glorify God. What I disagree with is 1. That this principle is taught in 1 Cor 10.31 and 2. That forcing this principle into 1 Cor 10.31 adds to the misunderstanding and misinformation that swirls around 1 Cor 8, 9, and 10.
I read your article and do not find your argumentation convincing. It’s significant that you have not found any commentators who support your view.
First, unfortunately you only have an abbreviated version of the article.
Secondly, it is not that I didn’t find any who agree with me, but it is true that most do not. But that signifies nothing. What matters is what the text means.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
[Don Johnson]Thanks for the clarification. Of course, what matters is what the text means. Who did you find that agreed with your interpretation?First, unfortunately you only have an abbreviated version of the article.
Secondly, it is not that I didn’t find any who agree with me, but it is true that most do not. But that signifies nothing. What matters is what the text means.
Don, if you find a copy of that article, I might want to post here, if that’s of interest to you.
Rajesh, I’m a bit puzzled by your use of the word “origin” … but I think maybe I get what you mean, maybe.
Of course, if God commanded it there would be no question that it’s right. And if He didn’t, the ethics would depend on a variety of factors. But I believe I identified the behaviors I was talking about as neither commanded nor forbidden.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Thanks Don,
Next you’re going to tell me that Philippians 4:13 isn’t saying I can run a marathon or win the big game with God’s help. Too bad, I like that slogan!
[Aaron Blumer]Going back to the titular question… I had a eureka/face-palm moment in the car this morning. In my puzzling over how choosing uncommanded/nonprohibited things could always be moral without being spiritually significant, I had been focusing on an individual act and thinking the act had to be either wrong or not-wrong, therefore, spiritually significant.
This is true as far as it goes, but what I’d left out was this now-obvious to me point: mutually exclusive behaviors could still both be not-wrong, even equally glorifying to God (on balance).
Aaron, I’m glad you came to this realization. That is what I was trying to convey in my original comment to this thread (apparently not so effectively, since you didn’t get it reading it then). Likewise, I think there are levels of actions that do not glorify God, such that some may be equally unglorifying to Him, while others are more or less unglorifying. So both on the glory and non-glory side, there are levels within them on actions to take, but that also means that some things will be equal.
Scott Smith, Ph.D.
The goal now, the destiny to come, holiness like God—
Gen 1:27, Lev 19:2, 1 Pet 1:15-16
God created foodstuffs for human consumption and says that it is morally good to eat them. For various reasons in certain settings, it may yet be morally good to refrain from eating certain things.
I’m not sure that I agree the bolded section is true. God specifically identifies foods that the Israelites were not to eat in the OT (making it a sin to eat those foods) although that prohibition is largely lifted now.
Furthermore, how are you defining “foodstuffs”? Is a Twinkie or Krispy Kreme a God- created foodstuff?
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
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