| 1 Corinthians 8
The Corinthians had asked Paul in a previous
letter if they could eat meat offered to idols. Paul had addressed
issues of conscience stemming from the background of the Jewish
Christians at Rome in Romans 14. Now Gentile Christians have
an issue of conscience which comes from their pagan background.
We have all been given spiritual knowledge and wisdom. The
knowledge that the old covenant had been done away was new
spiritual knowledge for the Jewish Christian. Many Jewish
Christians due to strong religious upbringing as Orthodox
Jews had weak consciences when it came to doing anything that
would violate the old covenant. Now new in the faith Gentiles
of Corinth have a similar weakness concerning eating meat
which had previously been offered to idols. Verses 4-7, Most
meat in the meat-markets of Corinth, or for that matter any
pagan city, was meat that had been previously offered to some
idol. I mean, why waste the meat? There was money to be had
in the resale, obviously. Now Paul brings out that the Christians
basically know that the pagan idols are just wooden or brazen
statues, and are nothing. To eat or not eat the meat offered
to pagan idols did not defile a Christian. Those older and
more mature in the faith knew this, and it wasn't an issue
with them. Those who were newer and more immature in the faith
were bothered by eating such meat, just as the Jewish
Christians were equally bothered by food that went against
the Hebrew dietary laws of Leviticus 11 in the old covenant.
The older and more mature members were using their head-knowledge
about what was and wasn't permissible in a spiritually prideful
way which was endangering the newly forming Christian consciences
of the others. They weren't acting out of love toward the
newer brethren. Love builds up and edifies, while indiscriminate
use of head-knowledge only serves to puff up the user and
potentially damage others spiritually. Knowledge and wisdom
vary in degree to what maturity level the particular believer
is at. So with this, let's see what Paul has to say about
this issue in 1 Corinthians 8:1-3. "Now about food sacrificed
to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge
puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows
something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man
who loves God is known by God." They weren't using knowledge
aright, they were using it to tear down, not build up. How
were they doing this? As I explained earlier, the Gentile
convert had come out of paganism. All the local meat markets
sold meat which had been offered to idols. Verses 4-7, "So,
about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol
is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but
one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven
or on earth (as indeed there are many 'gods' and many 'lords'),
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all
things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord,
Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom
we live. But not everyone knows this. Some people are still
so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think
of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their
conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring
us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better
if we do."
Now, how were these older Christians using their knowledge
to tear down and not edify? Verses 9-13. "Be careful, however,
that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling
block to the weak." (Sort of like taking someone you know
who is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous out to the bar and
grill for dinner and tossing down a cold beer with your dinner
right in front of him!) "For if anyone with a weak conscience
sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple
[where a lot of this meat was cooked and sold], won't he be
emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this
weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their
weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what
I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat
meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall."
Knowledge should edify. Knowledge without love only tears
down. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7. "If I speak in the tongues of
men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding
gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy
and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have
a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body
to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast,
it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it
is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love
does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth. It always
protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
This is the crown statement of what Paul has to say about
the right and wrong use of knowledge. If how we use knowledge
doesn't fit the 1 Corinthians 13 pattern, you are not using
it aright. Liberty does not mean you have the liberty to cause
your brother to stumble. If the exercise of your liberty does
cause a brother to stumble you are not acting out of love
and you are misusing your liberty. You are not being a truly
mature Christian.
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