Wednesday, August 26, 2026
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Historical Context
First Corinthians is a practical letter. Paul wrote it in the mid-fifties AD to the church he had started in Corinth, a Greek port city rebuilt by Rome and dependent on trade. Much of the letter answers questions the Corinthians had sent him.
This sentence closes his answer to one of the hardest questions. Meat sold in that city often came from an animal slaughtered at a temple. Part of it went up on the altar, part was eaten by the worshipper at a meal in the temple dining rooms, and the priest’s share was frequently sold in the market. A believer shopping for dinner had no reliable way to know what he was buying, and an invitation from a neighbor could put the same meat in front of him in a private house.
The church did not agree on it. One group dismissed the whole matter as superstition, since an idol is nothing and food is food. Others had walked away from those gods, and eating that meat felt to them like walking back. Underneath the argument lay something heavier than a menu. Much of the city’s trade, public life, and family celebrations ran through its temples, so a man who refused every such table risked cutting himself off from his work and his relatives.
Two chapters pass before Paul reaches this sentence, and along the way he addresses the exact case his readers faced: what to do when an unbeliever invites you to dinner.
Reflection
Look at where the answer lands. He hands them nothing to check a menu against. He hands them a direction to point everything in, then names the smallest things he can think of: eating, drinking, whatever you do. The most ordinary minutes of the day are pulled in on purpose.
That sounds like heavier demand until you notice what it takes away. A rule about food has to cover every case, and the cases never stop arriving. A direction covers them all at once and asks one question about each: who is this for?
Most of a life is meals, work, errands, and conversations that nobody grades. In this reading, those hours are where almost all of the pointing gets done.