Paul moves from marriage to food. And again, out of a genuine desire to edify the Body of Christ, he’s balancing between legalism and antinomianism by proclaiming principles of truth in love. Let’s take a look.
Food Sacrificed to Idols
1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge.[1] Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But the man who loves God is known by God.
Paul addresses food related issues in chapters 8 and 10. Some experts say that 8 deals with pagan festivals and 10 deals with meat purchased at market, while others say they are dealing with the same thing. The point is that conscience (v10,12) and love (chapter 13) – not selfish pride – must guide us in our decisions on these matters. We are to be concerned with who knows us, not what we know; and that is made clear here in v1-3. It’s not all about knowledge. The Corinthians knew some truth; Paul knew some truth. And as Duke from G.I. Joe said, “Knowing is half the battle.” But knowledge alone puffs up. It strokes your ego and gives you a big head. But without love, knowledge does more harm than good. Thinking you’ve got it right and having it right are different things (v2), because of the application of that knowledge in love. Knowledge is conceptual, but it’s also relational. That’s the other half of the battle. God knows who loves Him (v3), and that’s made obvious to us by a loving lifestyle. One commentator noted, “Love without truth is hypocrisy, but truth without love is brutality.”
4So then, 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. 5For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), 6yet 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.
7But 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. 8But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
The Corinthians have said, “We all possess knowledge” (v1); and Paul acknowledges that “we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no God but one” (v4-6). Some Corinthians might have used monotheism to mock the idea of anxiety over food sacrificed to idols. And Paul agrees with this, but he balances the truth with love in v7-13, saying, “Not everyone knows this.” And knowledgeable believers need to temper that important truth with love and gentleness because of the ramifications for less knowledgeable believers.
According to Calvin, Paul “prohibits them from having fellowship with idolaters in their impure sacrifices, or giving countenance to anything of such a nature as might injure weak consciences. And as they excused themselves on this pretext, that they did not by any means connect themselves with idolaters in any corrupt sentiment, inasmuch as they acknowledged in their heart one God, and regarded idols as empty contrivances, he sets aside this excuse, on this principle that every one ought to have a regard to his brethren, and that there are many weak persons whose faith might be staggered by such dissimulation.” Some weak Christians are destroyed (v11) when led back into idolatry by fellow stronger Christians not meaning to do that. The weaker brothers aren’t merely sinning by doing something they think is wrong; they are falling back into patterns of idolatry, which is much worse for their long-term growth in Christ. And this truth sets up the principle Paul establishes in v9 for every disputable matter, for every not-so-black-and-white issue, that comes up in the Christian faith.
9Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, 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.
The takeaway principle from chapter 8, and maybe even all of 1 Corinthians, is found here in v9 – “Be careful that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.” Freedom and responsibility are inseparable. We have freedom in Christ, and it’s good to know that; we’re right about that. But we can be right in the wrong way; we also have a great responsibility to edify other believers, and that’s not an issue of intellectual knowledge – it’s an issue of applicable love. When we fail to honor that responsibility to others, we “sin against Christ” (v12; Romans 14:23).
When Paul mentions “knowledge” in v11, he is saying that it is a source of pride for many Christians, and therefore can become an instrument that harms other believers. Instead of moving forward with knowledge, Paul urges the conscience to be driven by love, and he gives a practical example in v13. Paul will not eat meat sacrificed to idols, because he is concerned about the conscience and holiness of others more than his own liberty / freedom. His love for God’s people easily overrides any desire to exercise his freedom in Christ. And it must! “They’ll know you are Christians by your love,” not by your superior intellectual knowledge or your exercise of freedoms (antinomianism), not by your prohibitions or abstinences or rituals (legalism). Like Paul, we must regulate our liberty with love.
One commentator concludes, “Jesus said it would be better that a millstone were put around your neck, and that you were drowned in the depths of the ocean, than that you offend one of these little ones of mine. And I know He may have had children around Him, but I know what He was talking about, for Paul talks in this passage about those for whom Christ has died – not offending them. The mature Christian, what Paul is really saying is he has a double barrel in his gun: he’s a man that thinks right, but he also acts right; he’s a conceptual Christian, he’s got it all upstairs, but he doesn’t leave it there – he’s a relational Christian. In other words, he knows how to relate the truth of God that’s in his head to himself, to other people around him.”
Footnotes
- 8:1 Or "We all possess knowledge," as you say
Bible text from Gospelcom.net. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.