Freedom and love in Christ
8
📚Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 8:1 Knowledge can produce pride and arrogance in oneself. Acting in love causes others to grow in their Christian lives.⚜
2 📚And if anyone thinks he knows something, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know it.
8:2 No one ever knows all there is to know about any subject. To be proud of one’s little knowledge is a foolish thing. It is wisdom to humbly acknowledge how little we know.⚜
3 📚But if anyone loves God, that one is known by God.
8:3 Love for God is better than all knowledge. In itself it is the highest kind of knowledge (1 Cor 13:2; 1 John 4:7-8). God knows those who love Him – He recognizes them as belonging to Him, He approves of them (compare 2 Tim 2:19; Gal 4:9).⚜
4 📚So concerning the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols: We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is but one God, and no other. 5 📚For though there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many called gods and lords),
8:5 He means that idolaters think there are many gods and lords both in heaven and on earth, but believers in Christ know there is only one true God, one true Lord. See in 1 Cor 10:20 what he says about the many gods and lords some people worship. See also Acts 14:15.⚜
6 📚yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
8:6 Verse 4. To say there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, is not to say the Father is not Lord. Jesus Himself called Him Lord – Matt 11:25. In the same way, to say that there is one God, the Father, is not to say that Jesus Christ is not God. God the Father inspired the writers of the Bible to call Him God (Isa 9:6; John 1:1; Acts 20:28; Rom 9:5; Phil 2:6; Col 2:9; Titus 2:13; Heb 1:3, 8; 1 John 5:20). Paul says that through Him all things came into existence – these same words are used of God in Rom 11:36. Actually, to say that Jesus is Lord is to say He is God. See notes at Luke 2:11; Phil 2:6, 10, 11. Are there, then, two Gods? Absolutely not. There is one God, three persons in the one Godhead. Notes on the Trinity at Matt 3:16-17. Observe that Paul defines the one true God as the Creator of all things (Gen 1:1; Isa 40:25-28). He is the One we should seek, the One we should worship, and no other.⚜
7 📚However everyone does not have this understanding. For some, being conscious of the idol, to this hour eat such food as something offered to an idol, and because their conscience is weak it is defiled.
8:7 He means not everyone knows that an idol is nothing, and that food offered to an idol is still just food and does not become unclean. They thought it was wrong to eat such food even in their own homes, and if they ate it their consciences accused them. A “weak” conscience is one which thinks something is sinful though it actually is not, or one which is not able to decide whether it is sinful or not.⚜
8 📚But food does not commend us to God. For if we eat, we are not the better, or if we do not eat we are not the worse.
8:8 This is what some at Corinth would have said. Paul agreed with it, but says in the following verses that there is a higher principle than this.⚜
9 📚But watch out that somehow this liberty of yours does not become a stumbling block to those who are weak. 10 📚For if anyone sees you who have understanding sit at food in the temple of an idol 📖, will not his weak conscience encourage him to eat those things which are offered to idols? 11 📚And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother, for whom Christ died, be ruined 📖?
8:11 Christ loved those weak brothers enough to die for them. Should not strong believers love them enough to abstain from behaving in a way that might harm them?⚜
12 📚But when you sin against the brethren like this, and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ.
13 📚Therefore, if such food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, lest I cause my brother to stumble.
8:1-13 This was another matter of disagreement among Christians in those days – some said it was all right to eat food that had been offered to idols, others said it was wrong. All of them knew certain facts that had a bearing on this question. But Paul raised the discussion to a higher level. Christian love, he says, is more important than knowledge; and knowledge without that love can be a harmful thing. He gives the highest possible principles of action for believers – love fellow believers, try to build them up, and abstain from anything that might harm them.⚜
8:13 This is a principle Paul always followed, not just in the matter of food. And so must we (1 Cor 10:24, 32, 33). It is the principle of love. Those who love as they ought are always willing to deny self for the good of others.⚜
8:9-13 Compare 1 Cor 10:23-33; Rom 14:14-23. Believers have freedom to eat or not to eat this or that food. But there are other matters which should concern them more than this freedom. Fellow believers should mean more to them than pleasing themselves.⚜