First Corinthians Chapter 8 1 Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. - The eating of things offered to idols was a daily problem for many in Corinth and this is evidently what prompted the question he seems to be addressing here. o To some it was a huge problem. o To others it was no problem at all. - Paul says We know that we all have knowledge. o That is to say we all possess knowledge. o The Bible knowledge commentary makes a good point when it says. Knowledge was essential in correctly responding to their questions but those who thought they had it did not, as Paul would show. Obviously, more is involved here than just the question of eating meat offered to idols. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. - Romans 14:15 15 If your brother is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. RSV o Genesis 4:9b says Am I my brother s keeper? KJV This is still a relevant question today and the answer is absolutely. o One may have knowledge that is correct and accurate but because of a lack of love fail to look out for his fellow Christians faith, spiritual welfare and human weaknesses. 1
- In 1Cor. 13:2 Paul says 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. RSV o Paul never exalts ignorance. o Paul does not think knowledge is unimportant. Knowledge is required to know the truth. o However nothing is to be judged just by knowledge. It is quite possible to be knowledgeable. but loveless and puffed up. B.W. Johnson in the People s Commentary puts it this way concerning the phrase. Knowledge puffeth up. Those who professed to be knowing ones put on an air of superiority. (This sounds like the Gnostic type of thinking..superior knowledge so called) - Romans 13:8-10 puts it in a nutshell.. 8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. RSV o Love will work no ill toward a neighbor but as Jim McGuiggan s says knowledge alone quite likely will. We always need. love and knowledge working together. 2 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. - I like this statement presented in. A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory. The first step to knowledge is to know our own ignorance. Without love there is only the appearance of knowledge. 2
- Paul goes on to say he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. o Robertson makes this interesting remark in his book Word Pictures in the New Testament.. He says: Newton s remark that he was only gathering pebbles on the shore of the ocean of truth is pertinent. The really learned man knows his ignorance of what lies beyond. Shallow knowledge is like the depth of the mud hole, not of the crystal spring. We should not make the gaining of knowledge the purpose of our life. We should gain knowledge to learn better how to live life. 3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him. - There is no room for conceit of knowledge here. o 2 Tim. 2:19.. 19 But God s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: The Lord knows those who are his, and, Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. RSV o It s important to know God.but it s even more important that he knows us. As one person put it in a kingdom everyone knows the king but it is quite another thing for the king to know you. o He is speaking of a relationship.. belonging to Him. 4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. - The Bible Exposition Commentary says this.the Corinthians were enriched in spiritual knowledge (1 Cor. 1:5) and were, in fact, rather proud of their achievements. They knew that an idol was nothing, merely the representation of a false god who existed only in the darkened minds of those who worshiped it. The presence of an idol in a temple was no solid proof that the god existed. (Later, Paul would point out that idolatry was basically the worship of 3
demons.) So the conclusion was logical: A nonexistent god could not contaminate food offered on his altar. So far, it is the strong Christians who are ahead. Why, then, are the weak Christians upset with them when their position is so logical? Because you don t always solve every problem with logic. The little child who is afraid of the dark will not be assured by arguments, especially if the adult (or older brother) adopts a superior attitude. Knowledge can be a weapon to fight with or a tool to build with, depending on how it is used. If it puffs up then it cannot build up [edify]. A know-it-all attitude is only an evidence of ignorance. The person who really knows truth is only too conscious of how much he does not know. Furthermore, it is one thing to know doctrine and quite something else to know God. It is possible to grow in Bible knowledge and yet not grow in grace or in one s personal relationship with God. The test is love, which is the second factor Paul discussed. o Again Love and knowledge must go together. Eph. 4:15 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, RSV Knowledge is power.. and it must be used in love. Likewise love must always be controlled by knowledge. Phil. 1:9-11.. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. RSV o The strong believers in the church had knowledge but they were not using their knowledge in love. Instead of building up the weak saints. the strong Christians were only puffing up themselves. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), 4
- It s important to understand the background of these brothers who had trouble eating meat that had been offered to idol s. (Paul wants us to see the baggage.. we all carry it.) o David Lipscomb makes this remark. The heathen made the distinction of the superior gods who ruled in the heavens, and the inferior ones that dwelt upon earth, presiding over seas, rivers, fountains, forests, and local places. Gospel Advocate Commentary o J.W. Shepherd adds this commentary to that of Lipscomb.. In the heathen mythology, especially in its Greek development, may be regarded as the religious expression of national ideals and civilization. The Greek conception of every conception of the independence of every unit in nature and society was embodied in the mythology. Every city had its guardian deity; every spring was haunted; every crop of corn was under the protection of a goddess; every movement of the elements and every human action might assume a scared character and become, the one a prayer, the other the answer. Gospel Advocate Commentary - Later on Paul will view this subject from yet another angle So-called gods, reputed gods. Paul denied really the existence of these socalled gods and held that those who worshipped idols (non-entities) in reality worshipped demons or evil spirits, agents of Satan (I Cor. 10:19 21). Word Pictures in the New Testament o 1 Cor. 10:19-21.. 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. RSV 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. - The basic confession of Judaism was that there was one God, who was also the one Lord. o Deut. 6:4 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; 5 and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. RSV 5
- Paul portrays both Father and Son as deity here. o The phrase (through whom are all things) reminds us of John 1:1-5. 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God; 3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. RSV o The phrase (through whom we live) reminds us of Acts 17:28 28 for In him we live and move and have our being ; as even some of your poets have said, For we are indeed his offspring. RSV 7 However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. - There would have been no problem.. had all the Corinthian Christians been able to agree that idols are nothing and that there is only one true God. o However that was not the case. o They did not all possess that same knowledge that allowed them to completely disregard idols. B.W. Johnson put it this way. While "we," the better informed, know better, still there were some in the church who had not entirely outgrown their former superstitions. They could not realize that an "idol was nothing" [1 Cor. 8:4]. Meat that came from idol sacrifice was to them the meat of the idol. They could not eat it without their conscience being "defiled." o In other words. The conscience of some of the Christians was not yet strengthened on this point by the truth. 6
Ignorance can be fixed. but they had not yet come to that point. A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. Some Gentile Christians, whether from old association of ideas or misdirected conscience, when they ate such meats, ate them with some feeling as if the idol were something real (1Co 8:4), and had changed the meats by the fact of the consecration into something either holy or else polluted. That is to say. they could not yet eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols as a matter of indifference. They were not fully informed.. or they still regarded the idol with superstitious feelings. For them it was wrong so to eat it was sin. o Romans 14:23 23 But he who has doubts is condemned, if he eats, because he does not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. RSV - Paul points out that the eating of food has no significance either for better or worst in our service to God. o In other words he denies the validity of their conscience. o However in the advice which follows. he suggests that the solution would be found in love, not in knowledge. 9 But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. - The eating of meat did not affect the one having knowledge..accept in the fact, that through his liberty, his example might lead a weak brother to eat the meat as worship to an idol. 7
o The Bible knowledge commentary When knowledge uninformed by love dictated one s behavior, Paul warned that spiritual harm would result. The exercise of... freedom by the knowledgeable could in certain circumstances become an obstacle, a stumbling block in the weak Christian s walk with God (cf. v. 13). 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? - As an illustration Paul makes this case: o If a knowledgeable man is found eating in an idol s temple and is seen doing so by a weak brother, might he not suppose that the strong brother was worshipping the idol, and be led by that example to eat in worship to the idol. o Obviously, the problem is,. he could not do so with the clear conscience before God that the more knowledgeable Christian enjoyed. - Although this illustration seems clear enough it is interesting to note the thoughts and comments of Burton Coffman on this verse (Barnes shares many of the same thoughts): o (See thee who hast knowledge..) There positively has to be a vein of sarcasm in this. What kind of "knowledge" did any Corinthian have that could justify sitting down in the degrading festival carried on in an idol's temple? "Many of these functions were often accompanied by shameful licentiousness." (Henry H. Halley, Bible Handbook) Paul did not digress here to point out that spiritual damage was almost certain to be sustained even by those who professed to have "knowledge" in such a participation as sitting down to a banquet in the temple of an idol, especially in a place like Corinth. Paul's great concern was damage to the weak brother and the wound thus inflicted upon the body of Christ which is the church. As Macknight said, "Paul could not have meant that they had a right to eat of the sacrifices in the idol's temple." (James Macknight) Although he passed over it here, Paul returned in 1 Cor. 10:15-21 "to treat the other side of the question, that concerning the danger to which the strong believer exposed himself." (Attributed to Godet by John Wesley) "To recline at a banquet in the temple of Poseidon or Aphrodite, especially in such a place as Corinth, was certainly an extravagant assertion of their right to Christian liberty.(f. W. Farrar) 8
11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? - How could his knowledge cause a weak brother to perish? o By the weak brother being led back into idolatry. By the example of an advanced and more knowledgeable brother.. the weak brother is encouraged to participate in idol worship once again because he supposes that the strong brother was worshiping the idol. It was harmless for the stronger brother. but it hurt the weak brother. The end result being.. he perishes. o In other words the knowledge (an idol is nothing) and his Christian liberty (to eat or not eat is a matter of indifference). might well destroy his brother for whom Christ died. The selflessness of Christ was an example for the knowledgeable. Philippians 2:5-8 5 Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. 7 He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. 8 And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal s death on a cross. NLT 12 But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. - Causing a brother to stumble. is more than an offense against him; it is an offense against our Lord. o Matthew 25:40 40 And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. RSV 9
13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. - Paul set the example. o He would never eat meat again (or do anything else his own conscience allowed him to do). if that would cause his brother to stumble. - William Barclay makes this comment This leads to the greatest truth of all. No man has any right to indulge in a pleasure or to demand a liberty which may be the ruination of someone else. He may have the strength of mind and will to keep that pleasure in its proper place; that course of action may be safe enough for him; but he has not only himself to think about, he must think of the weaker brother. An indulgence which may be the ruin of someone else is not a pleasure but a sin. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Bible Exposition Commentary. Conscience (vv. 7 13). The word conscience simply means to know with, and it is used thirty-two times in the New Testament. Conscience is that internal court where our actions are judged and are either approved or condemned (Rom. 2:14 15). Conscience is not the law; it bears witness to God s moral law. But the important thing is this: conscience depends on knowledge. The more spiritual knowledge we know and act on, the stronger the conscience will become. Some Christians have weak consciences because they have been saved only a short time and have not had opportunity to grow. Like little babes in the home, they must be guarded carefully. Other saints have weak consciences because they will not grow. They ignore their Bibles and Christian fellowship and remain in a state of infancy (1 Cor. 3:1 4; Heb. 5:11 14). But some believers remain weak because they are afraid of freedom. They are like a child old enough to go to school, who is afraid to leave home and must be taken to school each day. The conscience of a weak Christian is easily defiled (1 Cor. 8:7), wounded (1 Cor. 8:12), and offended (1 Cor. 8:13). For this reason, the stronger saints must defer to the weaker saints and do nothing that would harm them. It might not harm the mature saint to share a feast in an idolatrous temple, but it might harm his weaker brother. First Corinthians 8:10 warns that the immature believer might decide to imitate his stronger brother and thus be led into sin. It is important to note that the stronger believer defers to the weaker believer in love only that he might help him to mature. He does not pamper him; he seeks to edify him, to help him grow. Otherwise, both will become weak. We are free in Christ, but we must take care that our spiritual knowledge is tempered by love, and that we do not tempt the weaker Christian to run ahead of his conscience. Where knowledge is balanced by love, the strong Christian will have a ministry to the weak Christian, and the weak Christian will grow and become strong. 10
1 1The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982. 11