2:20
We now come to the “I have this against you ...” This time it involves “that woman Jezebel”. It seems that Jezebel was part of the church, and the implication is that she should be thrown out. Now the “Jezebel spirit “ concept is often misused or overused in the church, especially in the charismatic church. However, the “Jezebel” thing is mentioned in the Bible and can be a serious problem and must not be tolerated. The particular issue is sexual immorality and eating food offered to idols. We will look at the latter aspect first. The New Testament seems to take a varying approach to food offered to idols. Here it is a definite no-no, yet in 1 Cor 8 Paul takes what seems to be a much more lax approach. So what is going on? Well we need to consider two things. The first is that food offered to idols was ubiquitous in the society of the day. If food was bought in a market there was a very good chance that it had been offered to idols at some point. It is to this scenario that 1 Cor 8 is directed. Here Ecclesiastes injunction to not try to be over righteous applies (Eccl 7:16-18). If you want to find something wrong you can find it. The other scenario is that it is directly involved in idol worship, this is the situation where it is an absolute no-no. We also need to appreciate the economic system. There were trade guilds, and trades tended to have their own idols, a bit like a patron saint. In order to carry out one’s trade you needed to be in a guild, and if you refused to eat food offered to idols you would not be able to. So the temptation to compromise would be very great. Today we can face a similar situation with regard to LGBTQ issues, with some work places demanding a very “woke” attitude from staff. And there are those within the church who advocate a very affirming approach. We should be very clear that what these people are doing is advocating a sin-affirming approach.
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