The prohibition of eating meat sacrificed to idols appears in various passages in the Second Testament and also in the Apostolic Teachings (Aune: 16-32). Paul treated the issue of food sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 and 10:19-22. It was of course essential to the apostolic decrees of Acts 15:20 and 29. The word is also found in Revelation 2:14 and 20. In this article I seek to work out more clearly the social setting of the problem. I argue that the dilemma is not over the idolatry issue only, but over the attitude toward socio-cultural and religious concessions on the part of the Christians in Pergamum.
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