I Corinthians 8:1-13: "Christian Liberty"
Paul moves from his discussion regarding married couples and addresses another concern that was written in the Corinthians letter. Paul writes, "Now concerning things sacrificed to idols". Apparently there was some confusion and division on how to approach food that had been sacrificed to idols. In answering this specific question, Paul will give us a general answer that can be applied to all questionable practices that are not specifically addressed in scripture. Christians unfortunately tend to gravitate towards one extreme or another when there are gray areas. They either are legalistic about their decisions, or claim Christian liberty to everything. MacArthur helps point out, "Legalism believes that every act, every habit, every type of behavior is either black or white. Legalists live by rules rather than by the Spirit . . . License is the opposite extreme. It is like legalism in that it too has no gray areas- but neither does it have much black. Almost everything is white; everything is acceptable as long as it is not strictly forbidden in Scripture". These two extremes are both wrong and Paul wants the Corinthians, rather than doing what's right, to do what's best. He wants them to understand that although something may be lawful for them to do (not forbidden in Scripture), however, because a weaker brother may be offended it than becomes sinful.
Specifically Paul is addressing the practice of eating food that had been sacrificed to idols. MacArthur helps us understand the situation, "It was believed that evil spirits were constantly trying to invade human beings and that the easiest way to do that was to attach themselves to food before it was eaten. The only way the spirits could be removed from food was through its being sacrificed to a god . . . The meat was associated with pagan gods and goddesses, having been part of an offering to them, and it was associated with the superstition that it had once been contaminated by evil spirits . . . It was almost impossible for a believer who had any personal contact with Gentiles to avoid facing the question of eating idol sacrifices. Most social occasions, including weddings, involved pagan worship of some sort, and a great many of the festivities were held in temples . . . Some sensitive Gentile believers refused to buy such meat because it brought back memories of their previous pagan lives or because those who saw them buy it might think they had reverted to paganism. Also, many believers, both Gentile and Jewish, were reluctant to eat at the homes of pagan Gentiles . . . Such food could only be doubly unclean according to Jewish dietary law". The other group in this section, the mature believers, understood that there were no such things as idols and other gods and therefore, the food sacrificed to idols were not any different than any other food. With this context understood, Paul first addresses the mature believers.
"We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies". Paul was saying here that as mature believers they all had knowledge, they all understood what was really going on with sacrificed foods. They understood that they would not be contaminated by the food if they ate it, and that they were free to eat whatever they pleased. However, Paul also wanted them to understand that this knowledge should not be boasted about, or for them to think higher of themselves than those who were convicted by eating the food sacrificed to idols. That is why Paul writes, "knowledge makes arrogant". The Corinthians were asked to humble themselves and love those who may not have the knowledge that they do. Paul writes, "but love edifies". The point Paul wanted his readers to understand was that although they may have a deeper understanding of the freedom they have in Christ, if they were not loving and understanding to those who did not have that understanding, than their knowledge was useless. Knowledge without love is meaningless (I Cor. 13). Paul will continue to show them that their arrogance is unfounded and detrimental to the Christian walk if not accompanied with love. Paul writes, "If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know". Basically, we will never know everything. There is always more to understand and more to learn, and only those that recognize that can continue to gain knowledge and understanding. The arrogance of the Corinthians, one of the main reasons for Paul's letter, was directly causing the divisions in the church and Paul was trying to show them their foolishness and lack of love. MacArthur writes, "The unloving orthodox are arrogant but not edified. They have right knowledge but not right understanding. The truly edified person has some idea of what he has yet to learn". Lastly, Paul makes the statement, "but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him". Here Paul sums up what he is trying to get across. If you lack love, you lack understanding, and if you lack love for God you are living in foolishness and delusionment. For anyone to have a right relationship with God they must above all else have a love for God. How do we show we have a love for God is by loving others. Therefore, Paul's point is that the Corinthians ought to rid themselves of their arrogance and love their weaker brother, rather than hold the knowledge they have above their heads. MacArthur writes, "It is impossible to know God and not love Him. Loving God is the most important evidence of a right relationship to Him. Without love for God, made possible by His love for us (I John 4:19), we can have no right knowledge of Him, because we will not have a right relationship to Him . . . Paul here implies that if one is loved by God and loves God, he will also love other believers, whom God loves".
Paul has just layed down for us the foundation of his correction. That loving your brother is more important than being right and having knowledge. He now gets more specific with his instruction concerning the eating of sacrificed foods. He writes, "Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world". Here Paul appeases the mature believer who understands that idols do not truly exist. He recognizes along with them, that it is foolish to think that the silver, gold, or stone that is carved is anything more than a piece of material. He agrees with them that there "is no God but one". There is only one true God and everything else is a false-god that does not truly exist. They are merely man made gods. Paul continues to point out that "even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God". Paul does wish everyone had the right understanding that there are no such things as gods, that there is only one true and living God and he is the one "whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him". There is only one Creator and everything else is created. Therefore, there can only be one God, and it is the God who came to earth in human flesh and died on the cross for our sins that we might be reconciled with our Creator. Everything else is a man-made false idol that has no power to do anything. In Psalm 115:4-7 we read, "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them". Therefore, Paul has established with his readers that those who understand that eating sacrificed food is nothing because there are no such things as idols are correct. However, as we will see later on, this is not the most important thing to understand. MacArthur writes, "It is absolutely true that idols are not real, that so-called gods are not real, and that the only real God is the God of Scripture revealed in Jesus Christ. In those doctrines the freedom-loving Corinthian Christians were completely orthodox. But they were not right in how they applied the truths to their daily living".
Paul wanted the Corinthian Christians to understand that "not all men have this knowledge". Not every believer was as mature in their understanding of those spiritual truths. Many believers were brand new converts and had to understand a whole new way of life. Someone who has lived his whole life under the understanding that something is wrong, may have a hard time grasping onto the practices at first. MacArthur writes, "Even if the did understand that there was only one real God, the experiences of their past paganism were so fresh that they rejected all that was related to it. To participate in any way was to be tempted to fall back into former practices". Paul also, explains, "some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled". These were new converts who had been accustomed to staying away from idol sacrificed foods up until now, were having a hard time being OK with something they had avoided their whole life. In fact, Paul was showing the more mature believers that if the weaker brother were to actually partake in idol sacrificed foods when their conscience was telling them not to, it would be wrong on their part and they would be defiled. Paul is showing the mature believers that the act itself is not bad, however, when done against your conscience it suddenly makes the act sinful. MacArthur writes, "A person who violates his conscience willingly does what he thinks to be wrong. in his own mind he has committed sin; and until he fully understands that the act is not sin in God's eyes, he should have no part of it". Therefore, it was not right for the more mature believers to look down upon or try to force the weaker brother to take part in something their conscience is against. In fact, by doing this, the mature believer could be causing the weaker brother to sin, if in fact the weaker were to eat against their conscience.
Paul will now drive home his main point, and that is that food is not the issue here. Rather, it is our relationship with God and with others. Our relationship with the weaker brother and our example to him is more important than our right to eat any food. We must never put our personal liberty above our testimony to others. Paul begins, "But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat". The point is easily taken that Paul is saying that food does not enhance or hurt our relationship with God. Nothing we eat will bring us closer to God. Food is neutral in and of itself. However, Paul warns, "but take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak". Paul is saying that food is not the issue with God, but it will become an issue if your liberty with food will cause someone else to stumble. MacArthur writes, "Obviously, some Corinthian believers could not handle such liberty; it would pull them down into the pit from which they had been delivered. If an immature brother sees us doing something that bothers his conscience, his spiritual life is harmed. We should never influence a fellow Christian to do anything that the Holy Spirit, through that person's conscience, is protecting him from". Paul brings up the specific example, "for if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will no his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?" Paul is simply showing the mature believer to consider his actions. If a weaker brother sees a stronger brother who they respect as being more mature eating things sacrificed to idols, will not he be more likely to then eat things that at this time is against his conscience. If that is the case he has defiled his conscience and the mature believer has caused him to sin. Another example may be a believer drinking alcohol. If a mature believer would have a drink, obviously not for the sake of getting drunk, and be seen by a new believer who has just recovered from being an alcoholic, he may cause the weaker brother to desire a drink or even think it is fine for him to drink and then cause him to sin. Paul continues, "For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died". This statement reiterates what has just been said, namely, that because of the mature believers "knowledge" (or understanding of a liberty that he has) participates in this action, he can cause the weaker to sin or be "ruined". Our liberty must never be at the expense of another brother or sister for whom "Christ died". Paul then shows how not only have we caused the weaker brother to sin, but we ourselves have sinned. "By sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ". May we always keep this in mind before we decide on a "gray" area issue. May we be firm in our resolution to keep the body of Christ pure, may we stand alongside Paul and say, "Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, that I might not cause my brother to stumble". We must never be too firm in our rights. If life were fair we would deserve no rights because of our sin against God. Therefore, never exercise your Christian liberty when you know it could lead to problems later on. Also, we must understand that God holds everything to the highest standards. Although something may be lawful for me to do, is it going to be profitable. If our conscience is wear, wavering or convicted, no matter what anyone says about it, it is wrong to do.
Specifically Paul is addressing the practice of eating food that had been sacrificed to idols. MacArthur helps us understand the situation, "It was believed that evil spirits were constantly trying to invade human beings and that the easiest way to do that was to attach themselves to food before it was eaten. The only way the spirits could be removed from food was through its being sacrificed to a god . . . The meat was associated with pagan gods and goddesses, having been part of an offering to them, and it was associated with the superstition that it had once been contaminated by evil spirits . . . It was almost impossible for a believer who had any personal contact with Gentiles to avoid facing the question of eating idol sacrifices. Most social occasions, including weddings, involved pagan worship of some sort, and a great many of the festivities were held in temples . . . Some sensitive Gentile believers refused to buy such meat because it brought back memories of their previous pagan lives or because those who saw them buy it might think they had reverted to paganism. Also, many believers, both Gentile and Jewish, were reluctant to eat at the homes of pagan Gentiles . . . Such food could only be doubly unclean according to Jewish dietary law". The other group in this section, the mature believers, understood that there were no such things as idols and other gods and therefore, the food sacrificed to idols were not any different than any other food. With this context understood, Paul first addresses the mature believers.
"We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies". Paul was saying here that as mature believers they all had knowledge, they all understood what was really going on with sacrificed foods. They understood that they would not be contaminated by the food if they ate it, and that they were free to eat whatever they pleased. However, Paul also wanted them to understand that this knowledge should not be boasted about, or for them to think higher of themselves than those who were convicted by eating the food sacrificed to idols. That is why Paul writes, "knowledge makes arrogant". The Corinthians were asked to humble themselves and love those who may not have the knowledge that they do. Paul writes, "but love edifies". The point Paul wanted his readers to understand was that although they may have a deeper understanding of the freedom they have in Christ, if they were not loving and understanding to those who did not have that understanding, than their knowledge was useless. Knowledge without love is meaningless (I Cor. 13). Paul will continue to show them that their arrogance is unfounded and detrimental to the Christian walk if not accompanied with love. Paul writes, "If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know". Basically, we will never know everything. There is always more to understand and more to learn, and only those that recognize that can continue to gain knowledge and understanding. The arrogance of the Corinthians, one of the main reasons for Paul's letter, was directly causing the divisions in the church and Paul was trying to show them their foolishness and lack of love. MacArthur writes, "The unloving orthodox are arrogant but not edified. They have right knowledge but not right understanding. The truly edified person has some idea of what he has yet to learn". Lastly, Paul makes the statement, "but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him". Here Paul sums up what he is trying to get across. If you lack love, you lack understanding, and if you lack love for God you are living in foolishness and delusionment. For anyone to have a right relationship with God they must above all else have a love for God. How do we show we have a love for God is by loving others. Therefore, Paul's point is that the Corinthians ought to rid themselves of their arrogance and love their weaker brother, rather than hold the knowledge they have above their heads. MacArthur writes, "It is impossible to know God and not love Him. Loving God is the most important evidence of a right relationship to Him. Without love for God, made possible by His love for us (I John 4:19), we can have no right knowledge of Him, because we will not have a right relationship to Him . . . Paul here implies that if one is loved by God and loves God, he will also love other believers, whom God loves".
Paul has just layed down for us the foundation of his correction. That loving your brother is more important than being right and having knowledge. He now gets more specific with his instruction concerning the eating of sacrificed foods. He writes, "Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world". Here Paul appeases the mature believer who understands that idols do not truly exist. He recognizes along with them, that it is foolish to think that the silver, gold, or stone that is carved is anything more than a piece of material. He agrees with them that there "is no God but one". There is only one true God and everything else is a false-god that does not truly exist. They are merely man made gods. Paul continues to point out that "even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God". Paul does wish everyone had the right understanding that there are no such things as gods, that there is only one true and living God and he is the one "whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him". There is only one Creator and everything else is created. Therefore, there can only be one God, and it is the God who came to earth in human flesh and died on the cross for our sins that we might be reconciled with our Creator. Everything else is a man-made false idol that has no power to do anything. In Psalm 115:4-7 we read, "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them". Therefore, Paul has established with his readers that those who understand that eating sacrificed food is nothing because there are no such things as idols are correct. However, as we will see later on, this is not the most important thing to understand. MacArthur writes, "It is absolutely true that idols are not real, that so-called gods are not real, and that the only real God is the God of Scripture revealed in Jesus Christ. In those doctrines the freedom-loving Corinthian Christians were completely orthodox. But they were not right in how they applied the truths to their daily living".
Paul wanted the Corinthian Christians to understand that "not all men have this knowledge". Not every believer was as mature in their understanding of those spiritual truths. Many believers were brand new converts and had to understand a whole new way of life. Someone who has lived his whole life under the understanding that something is wrong, may have a hard time grasping onto the practices at first. MacArthur writes, "Even if the did understand that there was only one real God, the experiences of their past paganism were so fresh that they rejected all that was related to it. To participate in any way was to be tempted to fall back into former practices". Paul also, explains, "some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled". These were new converts who had been accustomed to staying away from idol sacrificed foods up until now, were having a hard time being OK with something they had avoided their whole life. In fact, Paul was showing the more mature believers that if the weaker brother were to actually partake in idol sacrificed foods when their conscience was telling them not to, it would be wrong on their part and they would be defiled. Paul is showing the mature believers that the act itself is not bad, however, when done against your conscience it suddenly makes the act sinful. MacArthur writes, "A person who violates his conscience willingly does what he thinks to be wrong. in his own mind he has committed sin; and until he fully understands that the act is not sin in God's eyes, he should have no part of it". Therefore, it was not right for the more mature believers to look down upon or try to force the weaker brother to take part in something their conscience is against. In fact, by doing this, the mature believer could be causing the weaker brother to sin, if in fact the weaker were to eat against their conscience.
Paul will now drive home his main point, and that is that food is not the issue here. Rather, it is our relationship with God and with others. Our relationship with the weaker brother and our example to him is more important than our right to eat any food. We must never put our personal liberty above our testimony to others. Paul begins, "But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat". The point is easily taken that Paul is saying that food does not enhance or hurt our relationship with God. Nothing we eat will bring us closer to God. Food is neutral in and of itself. However, Paul warns, "but take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak". Paul is saying that food is not the issue with God, but it will become an issue if your liberty with food will cause someone else to stumble. MacArthur writes, "Obviously, some Corinthian believers could not handle such liberty; it would pull them down into the pit from which they had been delivered. If an immature brother sees us doing something that bothers his conscience, his spiritual life is harmed. We should never influence a fellow Christian to do anything that the Holy Spirit, through that person's conscience, is protecting him from". Paul brings up the specific example, "for if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will no his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?" Paul is simply showing the mature believer to consider his actions. If a weaker brother sees a stronger brother who they respect as being more mature eating things sacrificed to idols, will not he be more likely to then eat things that at this time is against his conscience. If that is the case he has defiled his conscience and the mature believer has caused him to sin. Another example may be a believer drinking alcohol. If a mature believer would have a drink, obviously not for the sake of getting drunk, and be seen by a new believer who has just recovered from being an alcoholic, he may cause the weaker brother to desire a drink or even think it is fine for him to drink and then cause him to sin. Paul continues, "For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died". This statement reiterates what has just been said, namely, that because of the mature believers "knowledge" (or understanding of a liberty that he has) participates in this action, he can cause the weaker to sin or be "ruined". Our liberty must never be at the expense of another brother or sister for whom "Christ died". Paul then shows how not only have we caused the weaker brother to sin, but we ourselves have sinned. "By sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ". May we always keep this in mind before we decide on a "gray" area issue. May we be firm in our resolution to keep the body of Christ pure, may we stand alongside Paul and say, "Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, that I might not cause my brother to stumble". We must never be too firm in our rights. If life were fair we would deserve no rights because of our sin against God. Therefore, never exercise your Christian liberty when you know it could lead to problems later on. Also, we must understand that God holds everything to the highest standards. Although something may be lawful for me to do, is it going to be profitable. If our conscience is wear, wavering or convicted, no matter what anyone says about it, it is wrong to do.
posted by amesfam | 1:22 PM
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