Christians are called to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:14-15). Although our citizenship has been transferred from the kingdoms of this world to being citizens of heaven, we still live within the kingdoms of this world. Although we have been sanctified and set apart from the world for God’s use, we cannot withdraw into a pure, isolated Christian territory; instead, we must live our holy lives within impure societies which are under the dominion of sin, death, and the Devil.
This means that, as Christians go about their daily lives, we will often experience pressure from the world to act in unfaithful ways. Because the values of God’s Kingdom and the values of the non-Christian societies we live in are often in conflict, the societies we live in will often expect or even demand that we sin in order to go along with what is considered good by those societies. There is thus a constant spiritual danger that the Church will be corrupted by the world and fail to live out its identity as God’s holy covenant people.
In response, Christians must remain steadfast and obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ, even if it means we will be persecuted by the society we live in. When Jesus called us to follow Him on the way of the cross, He made it clear that obedience to Him would mean conflict with the world, and that we would need to be willing to suffer or even die at the hands of the world, as He did. Whatever the cost, Christians must choose to live righteously and avoid sinning.
What about cases, though, of indirect participation in sin? Sin, after all, is not just a personal, individual matter. There is such a thing as collective sin and guilt. The problem with worldly societies is not just that the individuals within them sin a lot; the problem is also the systemic structures of sin and injustice that exist in these societies. To what extent can Christians interact with organizations, businesses, and institutions enmeshed in systemic evil without this interaction compromising their own faithfulness?
A good biblical starting point for answering this question is the apostle Paul’s teaching about eating food offered to idols in 1 Corinthians. In first century Roman society, pagan temples, where animals were sacrificed to pagan gods, would often sell meat from their sacrifices in the marketplace, or even serve it in banqueting halls in the temples themselves. Obviously, as strict monotheists, Christians were forbidden from offering sacrifices to pagan gods, but was it acceptable for them to dine on the meat from pagan sacrifices in pagan temples? Was it even acceptable for them to consume meat in the marketplace that originally came from sacrifices at a pagan temple? These questions were a cause of conflict in the Corinthian church.
Those Corinthians who believed there was nothing wrong with eating food offered to idols argued that “an idol has no real existence,” and Paul acknowledges this point (1 Cor 8:4). However, he urges them to consider that, by eating food offered to idols, they may be encouraging “weak” Christians, who are still accustomed to thinking of pagan gods as real, to sin by acting against their own “weak” conscience (8:7-11). Therefore, even if eating food offered to idols is not per se sinful, it may be a sin against one’s “weak” brother or sister in Christ (8:12-13).
Later, Paul distinguishes between dining in pagan temples and merely eating food from a marketplace that originally came from sacrifices at a pagan temple. Paul forbids Christians to dine in pagan temples, since that is a participation in the sin of idolatry, which effectively aligns one with demonic powers rather than with Christ (1 Cor 10:14-22). But, Paul instructs Christians to just eat any meat sold in the marketplace, without worrying about whether it was sourced from a pagan temple (10:25-26). However, he also instructs them to refrain from eating meat they know has been sourced from a pagan temple in the presence of a fellow “weak” Christian whose conscience tells them that this is sinful (10:27-29).
There are two important lessons we can learn from Paul’s teaching on this topic. First, there is a very important difference between directly participating in sin (e.g., dining in a pagan temple) and indirectly participating in a system that contains evil (e.g., eating meat originally sourced from a pagan temple). The former is off limits for Christians; the latter is not necessarily sinful. Applying this lesson to a more contemporary issue, we might conclude that working for a company that treats people very unjustly would be off limits for Christians, while purchasing a product originally sourced in a context containing significant injustice is not per se sinful.
Second, there are always going to be disagreements among Christians about where to draw these sorts of lines. Christians who have a less strict understanding of where to draw the line should show respect to Christians who have an overly strict view. And Christians with a very strict view should refrain from judging their fellow Christians who do not, recognizing that these are “disputable matters” (Rom 14:1). The Church certainly has a responsibility to judge and to discipline Christians who have fallen into direct sin. But Christians should not judge their fellow Christians for indirectly participating in systems that contain evil. For, as long as we live in a Fallen world, it is impossible to avoid participating in such systems altogether.
At the same time, modern Christians who have the luxury of having significant choice about where they spend their money should show wisdom and discernment about where they spend it. Christian ethics is about more than avoiding sin; it is about developing a mature, virtuous character. Part of this means taking responsibility for the indirect consequences of our actions. We can never fully extricate ourselves from indirectly participating in systemic structures of sin, but it is good to try to take steps to mitigate our participation if we are able.
So, if possible, Christians should try to purchase products that are, relatively speaking, ethically sourced. This means, for example, trying to avoid purchasing products that are sourced in context that involve significant injustice to workers, harm to the environment, or excessive harm to animals. It might also mean trying to avoid purchasing products from companies that openly promote sinful behavior. Taken to an extreme, of course, this would be absurd, since it would mean that we could not buy anything at all. But we can at least take some significant steps to lessen our participation in some of the worse systemic evils.
For example, because of the harmful environmental impact of meat farming, and because of the poor treatment of animals in the American meat industry, I have chosen to eat mostly vegetarian. I certainly do not judge any other Christians who do not do so. It is just a personal decision I have made. I am well aware that there are many other issues regarding the ethical sourcing of food and other things I purchase which I have not considered. But I believe my choice to eat vegetarian is a step in the right direction. Until Jesus comes again, this world will always be to a large extent controlled by sin, death, and the Devil. The members of the body of Christ cannot fully extricate themselves from indirectly participating in this reality. But if we all strive to be conscientious about the indirect consequences of our actions, we can help move the world to be a little more in conformity with God’s Kingdom. This is one small way in which we can live out our identity as the firstfruits of God’s new creation, and bear witness to the fact that God is making all things new through Jesus.