³ … foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; ⁵for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.

The antidote to legalism is to enjoy God and what He has given us to enjoy. Some people live their lives as though anything fun and enjoyable must be wrong, for it appeals to the fleshly desires. Using the marital and culinary arenas as an example, Paul makes it clear these things are made to be enjoyed. Although he doesn’t explicitly say that about marriage, the inference is clear as that at the creation of Adam and Eve when God declared it as “very good” (Gen. 1:31)—and that after He commanded them to be fruitful and multiply, a clear reference to the sexual relationship as the means to that end. The legalists in Ephesus were forbidding marriage, the extreme of denying the sexual enjoyments. This was, in Paul’s assessment, demonic.

Present-day believers may have difficulty comprehending why anyone would make food an issue of legalism, which Paul roundly condemns as being demonic (see previous verses). We might think of gluttony, but the problem has more to do with foods offered to idols, which was a big issue among believers in the first century, who lived among rampant idolatry. Ephesus, in particular, was home to the goddess Diana, of whom the pagans there were quite proud. After food was presented to their idols, the priests of their religion would turn around and sell the food in the marketplace. Paul deals with this subject at length in 1 Corinthians 10. Here his response is simply this: don’t let the legalists take away your enjoyment of what God has made.

There is a caveat, though. The apostle is writing concerning Christians who believe and know the truth: God created food, even the food that pagans offer to idols. They use what is good for the purpose of evil. If a believer, in good conscience, can eat that same food with gratitude, then there is no problem. Someone might say, “That has been set apart or sanctified for pagan worship.” The believer eats it knowing the Word of God, that is, the truth, and can prayerfully give thanks for it. In so doing, he has repurposed it for good.

To be sure, Christians discipline themselves and do not allow themselves to be controlled by excesses or wrong use of God’s good gifts. But we should continuously guard our hearts against being enslaved by legalistic tendencies that replace the grace of God and enjoyment of what He has given us. There is no better gratitude than to enjoy the grace of God in His good gifts.

Lord, thank You, thank You, for all Your good gifts!