Freedom, Conscience, and Doing All to the Glory of God

Paul returns to the slogan “all things are lawful” and adds the question of benefit and edification. Meat sold in the market can be eaten without anxious investigation because “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” a quotation from Psalm 24:1.

At a private meal, believers may likewise eat what is served. The situation changes if someone explicitly identifies the food as sacrificial; then love for the other person’s conscience may require abstaining. Paul refuses both superstition and selfishness.