In chapters 7-10 of 1 Corinthians, Paul addressed questions that the church had sent to him in a letter. The first had to do with marriage. Is it good to be married? Is it good to stay single? What about if one spouse becomes a Christian and the other does not? Paul said if you can stay single, great, because it is easier, but if God gave you the gift of marriage then great, but it is harder. If the non-Christian wanted to stay married, then if at all possible, stay married, because the family is blessed by the Christian's presence, and perhaps the unbeliever may become a Christian some day. Then he addressed Christian liberty or freedom as to if to eat meat sacrificed to idols. He explained that the idol itself is just an object, but if one's brother felt convicted not to eat, then don't eat it, because we are not to cause our brother to stumble. At the same time, we also do not allow our brothers to control us with their rules and regulations. The key is to do all things to glorify God, and not to hurt our brother or sister in Christ, because when we do, we are hurting Christ, Himself. Paul also gave Old Testament examples, and explained that the Old Testament was given to us to as examples of what to not do as well as what to do, plus it was written to instruct us.
