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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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<h2><a onclick="return mV('1Cr',8,'all');">1Cr 8</a> - Living By Knowledge or By Love </h2>
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<p>A. A question about meat sacrificed to idols: beginning principles.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',8,'1-3');">1-3</a>) The principles of love and knowledge.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Now concerning things offered to idols</span></b>: Having dealt with their questions about marriage and singleness, Paul now addresses (in 1 Corinthians chapters 8-10) the next of their questions, regarding the eating of meat that had been sacrificed to idols.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. The meat offered on pagan altars was usually divided up into three portions: one portion was burnt in honor of the god; one portion was given to the worshipper to take home and eat; and the third portion was given to the priest. If the priest didn't want to eat his portion, he sold it at the temple restaurant or meat market.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. The meat served and sold at the temple was generally cheaper; and then, as well as now, people loved a bargain (including Christians!).</p>
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<p class="c4">c. The issue raises many questions: can we eat meat purchased at the temple meat market? What if we are served meat purchased at the temple meat market when we are guests in someone's home? Can a Christian eat at the restaurant at the pagan temple?</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">We know that we all have knowledge</span></b>: Instead of talking about food, Paul first talks about the principles of <b><span class="c3">knowledge</span></b> and <b><span class="c3">love</span></b>. Christian behavior is founded on love, not knowledge; and the goal of the Christian life is not knowledge, but love.</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies</span></b>: Both <b><span class="c3">knowledge</span></b> and <b><span class="c3">love</span></b> have an effect on our lives; both of them make something <i>grow</i>. The difference between <b><span class="c3">puffs up</span></b> and <b><span class="c3">edifies</span></b> is striking; it is the difference between a <i>bubble</i> and a <i>building</i>. Some Christians grow, others just swell!</p>
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<p class="c4">f. <b><span class="c3">If anyone thinks that he knows anything</span></b>: If we think we know it all, we really don't know anything – <b><span class="c3">he knows nothing yet as he ought to know</span></b>. Yet, there is a knowledge that is important: the knowledge God has of those who love Him (<b><span class="c3">if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him</span></b>).</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',8,'4-6');">4-6</a>) Understanding the reality of the idols meat is offered to.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol <i>is</i> nothing in the world, and that <i>there is</i> no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us <i>there is</i> one God, the Father, of whom <i>are</i> all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom <i>are</i> all things, and through whom we <i>live</i>.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one</span></b>: Because there is only One True God, idols are not competing gods. Idols are therefore <b><span class="c3">nothing in the world</span></b>, and are only <b><span class="c3">so-called gods.</span></b></p>
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<p class="c5">i. If meat is offered to Zeus, there is no real Zeus. There is <b><span class="c3">no other God but one</span></b>. "He" is only one of the <b><span class="c3">so-called gods</span></b>. "There are many <i>images</i> that are supposed to be <i>representations</i> of divinities: but these divinities are nothing, the figments of mere fancy; and these images have no corresponding <i>realities</i>." (Clarke)</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. What about Biblical passages which some take to suggest there are other gods? For example, in <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',10,34);">Jhn 10:34</a>, Jesus quotes <a onclick="return mV('Psa',82,'8-9');">Psa 82:8-9</a>, in saying <i>You are gods</i>. But the judges of <a onclick="return mV('Psa',82,'all');">Psa 82</a> were called "gods" because in their office they determined the fate of other men. Also, in <a onclick="return mV('Exd',21,6);">Exd 21:6</a> and <a onclick="return mV('Exd',22,'8-9');">22:8-9</a>, God calls earthly judges "gods." In <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',10,'all');">Jhn 10</a>, Jesus is saying "if God gives these unjust judges the title 'gods' because of their office, why do you consider it blasphemy that I call Myself the 'Son of God' in light of the testimony of Me and My works?" Jesus is <i>not</i> taking the <i>you are gods</i> of <a onclick="return mV('Psa',82,'all');">Psa 82</a> and applying it to all humanity, or to all believers. The use of <i>gods</i> in <a onclick="return mV('Psa',82,'all');">Psa 82</a> was a metaphor.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. As well, <a onclick="return mV('2Cr',4,4);">2Cr 4:4</a>, Paul calls Satan <i>the god of this age</i>. Certain, he does not mean Satan is a true god, a rival god to the Lord God. Satan can be called <i>the god of this age</i> because he is <i>regarded</i> as a god by so many people!</p>
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<p class="c5">iv. <b><span class="c3">As there are many gods and many lords</span></b> refers to the <b><span class="c3">so-called gods</span></b>. Indeed, in the ancient world, there were many, many different gods – and even gods known as <i>the unknown god</i> to cover any gods one might have missed! (<a onclick="return mV('Act',17,23);">Act 17:23</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">There is one God, the Father...and one Lord Jesus Christ</span></b>: Paul isn't distinguishing Jesus <i>from</i> God, as if Jesus were <i>not</i> God. When Paul calls Jesus <b><span class="c3">Lord</span></b>, he uses the Greek word <i>kurios</i>, and this word would have meant something to Bible reading people in Paul's day.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Leon Morris on <i>Lord</i>: "This term could be no more than a polite form of address like our 'Sir.' But it could also be used of the deity one worships. The really significant background, though, is its use in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to render the divine name, Yahweh....Christians who used this as their Bible would be familiar with the term as equivalent to deity."</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Certainly, no one can say <b><span class="c3">through whom are all things, and through whom we live</span></b> of anyone else than God!</p>
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<p class="c4">c. The Corinthian Christians may have been reasoning like this: if idols are really nothing, it must mean nothing to eat meat sacrificed to nothing idols, and it must mean nothing to eat in the buildings used to worship these nothing idols. In the following section, Paul will show them a better way.</p>
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<p>B. Acting on the principle of love.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',8,7);">7</a>) Not all have the same knowledge.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>However, <i>there is</i> not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat <i>it</i> as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">There is not in everyone that knowledge</span></b>: The Corinthian Christians who felt free to eat at the pagan temple may have based their freedom on correct knowledge (knowing that idols are nothing). But <b><span class="c3">for some</span></b>, they have <b><span class="c3">consciousness of the idol</span></b>, and they eat meat sacrificed to the idol <b><span class="c3">as a thing offered to an idol</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Paul is asking the Corinthian Christians who know there is nothing to an idol to remember that not everyone knows this. And if someone believes there is something to an idol, and they eat meat that has been sacrificed to an idol, <b><span class="c3">their conscience, being weak, is defiled</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Why is their <b><span class="c3">conscience</span></b> considered <b><span class="c3">weak</span></b>? Not because their conscience doesn't work. Indeed, it does work – in fact, if over-works. Their <b><span class="c3">conscience</span></b> is considered <b><span class="c3">weak</span></b> because it is wrongly informed; their conscience is operating on the idea that there really is something to an idol.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. You can imagine the "free" Corinthian Christians, who have superior knowledge, saying "But we're <i>right</i>!" And, in this case, being right is important before God, but it is not more important than showing love to the family of God.</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',8,8);">8</a>) What we eat or do not eat does not make us more spiritual.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>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.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Food does not commend us to God</span></b>: You aren't <i>more</i> spiritual if you know idols are nothing, and feel a personal freedom to eat meat sacrificed to idols (<b><span class="c3">neither if we eat are we the better</span></b>).</p>
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<p class="c5">i. In <a onclick="return mV('Act',15,29);">Act 15:29</a>, the Jerusalem Council sent a letter commanding some churches to (among other things) <i>abstain from things offered to idols</i>. But Paul's discussion of the issue here does not contradict what the Jerusalem council decided in <a onclick="return mV('Act',15,'all');">Act 15</a>. Instead, it shows that the council's decision was not intended to be normative for all the church all the time; it was a temporary expediency, meant to advance the cause of the gospel among Jews.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. On the other hand, <b><span class="c3">nor if we do not eat are we the worse</span></b>. No one is <i>less</i> spiritual for abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. This is the very point where most stumble in issues relevant to Christian liberty (such as movies, drinking, music, or television): assuming that one stance or another is evidence of greater or lesser spirituality.</p>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',8,'9-13');">9-13</a>) What does matter: love towards those in God's family.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. 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? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block</span></b>: A Corinthian Christian with "superior knowledge" might feel the personal liberty to eat meat sacrificed to idols. But is he exercising <b><span class="c3">this liberty</span></b> in a way that becomes a <b><span class="c3">stumbling block</span></b>?</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Paul says, "You Corinthian Christians who say you have knowledge are claiming your rights; what about the rights of the weak brother?" <b><span class="c3">Because of your knowledge, shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?</span></b></p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "God hath not given people knowledge that they thereby should be a means to harm and to destroy, but to do good, and to save others; it is a most absurd thing for any to use their knowledge, therefore, to the destruction of others." (Poole)</p>
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<p class="c4">b. Why is the brother who will not eat the meat sacrificed to an idol considered <b><span class="c3">weak</span></b>? Many Christians would consider such a one to be the "stronger" Christian. But Paul is not speaking about being weak or strong in regard to self-control, but in regard to knowledge.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. To influence the <b><span class="c3">weak brother</span></b> to go against his conscience (and thereby <b><span class="c3">wound their weak conscience</span></b>) is actually to <b><span class="c3">sin against Christ</span></b>. The Corinthian Christians who were abusing their liberty might have been thinking it was a small matter to offend their weak brothers, but they did not understand they were offending Christ.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. In doing so, they were actually "building up" their brother to sin! <b><span class="c3">Emboldened</span></b> comes from the word <i>build up</i>. Their misuse of liberty was building others up towards sin.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat</span></b>: Paul makes the principle clear. Our actions can never be based just on what we know to be right for ourselves; we also need to consider what is right in regard to our brothers and sisters in Jesus.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. It is easy for a Christian to say, "I answer to God and God alone" and to ignore his brother or sister. It is true we will answer to God and God alone; but we will answer to God for how we have treated our brother or sister.</p>
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<p class="c4">e. At the same time, the issue is making a <b><span class="c3">brother stumble</span></b> – and stumble over a issue that has direct relevance to the brother in question. Paul would never allow this principle to be a means by which a legalist could bind a Christian walking in liberty through their legalistic demands.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. In <a onclick="return mV('Gal',2,'all');">Gal 2</a>, Paul rebuked Peter, who by his association and approval of Jewish legalists, was making Gentiles think they had to come under the Jewish customs and law to be saved. Even if the Jewish legalists would have said to the Gentiles, "Your lack of obedience to our customs stumbles us. We are stumbled brothers. You must do what we want." Paul would have said, <i>you</i> are not stumbled, because you aren't being tempted to sin through their actions. Your <i>legalism</i> is being offended. Out of love, I will never act in a way that might tempt you to sin, but I don't care at all about offending your legalism. In fact, I'm happy to do it!"</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. "Many persons cover a spirit of envy and uncharitableness with the name of godly zeal and tender concern for the salvation of others; they find fault with all; their spirit is a spirit of universal censoriousness; none can please them; and every one suffers by them. These destroy more souls by tithing mint and cummin, than others do by neglecting the weightier matters of the law. Such persons have what is termed, and very properly too, <i>sour godliness</i>." (Clarke)</p>
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