1 Corinthians 8
- Who wrote it
- Paul
- Who it was for
- The church in Corinth
- What was happening
- Food offered to idols: knowledge puffs up, but love builds up
What’s happening
Now Paul turns to food offered to idols. "We know that we all have knowledge," he says, and "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." If anyone thinks he knows something, he doesn't yet know as he ought; but if anyone loves God, he is known by him. About eating food offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no God but one, for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. But not all have this knowledge. Some, accustomed to idols until now, eat the food as something offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. "But food will not commend us to God. We are no worse if we don't eat, and no better if we do." Yet Paul warns that this liberty may become a stumbling block to the weak: if someone sees you, who have knowledge, eating in an idol's temple, won't his conscience be emboldened to eat what was offered to idols? So by your knowledge the weak brother, for whom Christ died, perishes. When you sin against the brothers and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. "Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forevermore, so that I won't cause my brother to stumble."
Why the setting matters
Meat in a Greek city mostly came from animals sacrificed at temples; what was not burned or eaten at the temple was sold in the market (the macellum), and invitations to dinner might happen in a temple dining room. Archaeology at Corinth has found such rooms, including dining rooms connected with the shrine of Asclepius. For a new believer from a pagan background, eating such meat could feel like still sharing in the god's worship; for others it was just food. "We know that we all have knowledge" and "an idol is nothing" are probably Corinthian slogans, which Paul partly agrees with and partly corrects. He accepts that there is one God and one Lord (a Christian reworking of the great Jewish confession in Deuteronomy 6:4), but insists that knowledge must be shaped by love. The "weak" are not weak in intelligence but in having a conscience still attached to idols. Chapters 9 and 10 continue the argument.
Who’s in this chapter
Paul
Agrees with the knowledgeable in principle but asks them to limit their freedom.
The knowledgeable
Those confident that idols are nothing, so food offered to them is just food.
The weak
Believers whose conscience is still tied to idols.
Jesus
The one Lord; Christ died for the weak brother.
Talk it through
- "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Why do those two so often pull in different directions?
- Paul agrees an idol is nothing, and still says some should not eat. What is he protecting?
- How does the one God and one Lord confession give the strong their confidence?
- "For whom Christ died." How does that change how we treat a person whose conscience is weaker than ours?
Read 1 Corinthians 8
World English Bible
1Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know. 3But if anyone loves God, the same is known by him. 4Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one. 5For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth; as there are many “gods” and many “lords”; 6yet to 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 we live through him. 7However, that knowledge isn’t in all men. But some, with consciousness of the idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better. 9But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol’s temple, won’t his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? 11And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died. 12Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.
Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources