Skip to content

Add your phone number?

Optional. Nothing is sent unless you choose it.
The Historic Faith
Sign in

Jumpstarter 5 of 10

Ideas to help restart your discussion
Bible and Early Church History  /  Who Were the Nicolaitans and the Gnostics?  /  Discussion Questions
All Questions
Question 5
The Didache calls idol-meat “the service of dead gods,” and Bercot connects this with Paul’s warning about “fellowship with demons” (1 Cor. 10:20–21); what categories do these early Christian statements challenge in modern Christianity’s tendency to treat certain practices as merely “cultural” or morally neutral?
Another way to ask: If idol-meat is called “the service of dead gods” and linked to “fellowship with demons,” how does that challenge the way we label some practices as “just cultural” or morally neutral today?

Direct Answer These statements challenge the modern category of “morally neutral participation” in idolatrous settings; the early sources treat it as spiritual fellowship, not just culture. Bercot’s point is that some acts carry unseen spiritual allegiance, even if they seem ordinary.

Support from Transcript:

  • The Didache warns: “Against that which is sacrificed to idols, be exceedingly on your guard, for it is the service of dead gods.”
  • Aristides says Christians “do not eat the food that is sacrificed to idols, for they are pure,” showing early Christian identity included separation from idol practices.
  • Bercot quotes Paul: “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons… You cannot partake… the table of demons” (1 Cor. 10:20–21).
  • He highlights how surprised he was because he’d been told it was harmless; early Christians “mentioned so much the error” of it.
  • Irenaeus describes Gnostics eating idol-meat “without fear… imagining that they can… contract no defilement,” implying the early church saw real defilement.
Discussion Follow-ups What present-day “cultural” practices might actually be participation in something spiritually corrupt? How do we discern the difference without becoming superstitious or careless?

Jumpstarter 5 of 10
Back Questions Next