One True God
In the book of First Corinthians we can see the apostle Paul writing to the early church
about using their Christian freedom to eat meat once sacrificed in the pagan temples to false
gods. The Corinthian culture was filled with pagan worship because both the Greek and
Roman culture was polytheistic, meaning they worshiped many different “gods.” They had a
god for just about everything, including a god of war and a goddess of love.
As much as the people of these cultures believed in the various gods, they also believed
there were many evil spirits as well. They believed these evil spirits would try to make their
way into the bodies of humans by attaching themselves to food prior to it being consumed.
The way they chose to deal with this was to offer up sacrifices to their pagan gods, mostly in
the form of meat. They believed by doing this it would cleanse the meat from any evil spirit,
making it clean to eat. The meat would then be cut in three sections: one to be used for the
burnt offering, one for the priest who would be making the sacrifice, and one was given
back to the person who had brought it in to be sacrificed.
The priests had so much meat being offered they couldn’t possibly eat it all, so they would
usually sell off much of this meat in the marketplace and collect the money for themselves.
There were some believers who were new in their Christian faith and they had a problem
with eating this meat. Some of them had lingering superstitions regarding potential evil
spirits once being within the meat and they didn’t like the fact it was food once associated
with another god or goddess.
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church to clarify some things concerning this very issue,
saying, “Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is
nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called
gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us
there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” (1 Corinthians 8:4-6,
NKJV)
We live in a very diverse multi-cultural society here in America; therefore, we will
encounter many different types of people who have grown up with uniquely different
beliefs—some will even worship false gods or idols. But we must understand there is no
statue, cut stone, or any fashioned piece of wood worthy of being worshipped. None of these
things will ever bring anyone spiritual life. In fact, Satan will use these false pagan idols to
keep people in spiritual darkness and death. Satan doesn’t just use idols to deceive people;
Copyright © 2012 Wildwood Calvary Chapel
he has also created cults to be counterfeits of the real Christian faith. Within these cults
Satan has cleverly crafted another version of Jesus—one lesser than what the Bible teaches.
With this in mind, it is so important for us to understand the scriptures contained within the
Bible because they hold absolute truth that will reveal every lie. God is not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), and whoever believes in
His only begotten Son, Jesus, these shall not perish but they will have everlasting life (John
3:16). These are the people who will have a real meaningful relationship with the one true
God.
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we
may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is
the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20, NKJV)
I want to encourage you to meditate upon these things.
Pastor Scott Wright
Copyright © 2012 Wildwood Calvary Chapel