1 Corinthians 8
Food Sacrificed to Idols
1 With regard to food sacrificed to idols, we know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
If one wanted to buy a nice cut of steak in Corinth, then they would have to buy it from the local meat market in the city. However, most of these merchants sacrifice the meat to an idol. Many Corinthian believers refused to eat this meat, because it was sacrificed to idols. Other Corinthian believers had no problem eating meat that was offered to idols, because they knew there was only one true God. The question that the Corinthians asked Paul was, should we eat meat sacrificed to idols?
Knowledge causes one's ego to blow up like a balloon. Love does not blow up, but it fills up. There is a great danger in people who think that they have a lot of knowledge, but they actually know very little. Charismatics are often puffed up with knowledge. They are not studying their Bible, making them ignorant of the Scriptures. They are easily deceived by charlatans in the pulpit. However, they believe that they are hearing the voice of God through tongues, prophets, and hearings. This makes charismatics very dangerous, because they think they are receiving new information from God, but they are actually receiving knowledge from their human depraved sin nature or from demons themselves. Charismatics will often use this verse against those who have deeply studied Bible doctrine. They will accuse the biblically sound student of pride of knowledge. The answer is that the only divine revelation comes from the Word of God, not modern day charismatics, prophets, tongue speakers, popes, or extra-curricular media, such as the Watchtower Magazine of the Jehovah Witnesses.
When a charismatic's theology is shown to be false by a strong biblical student of the Word of God, then the charismatics will often accuse their attacker of not practicing agape love. Seeker church members will do this as well. Seeker churches want to replace the teaching of the Word of God with music concerts, skits, plays, fellowship banquets, secular youth programs, and entertainment. Seeker churches will often grow large congregations with these kinds of methods, but they will not be feeding their sheep. It is the Word of God, not the hooks of the satanic world system culture, that needs to draw people into local congregations.
2 If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know.
Man is not as smart as he thinks he is. All knowledge is a gift from God. Man is responsible for the knowledge that Gods gives him.
3 But if someone loves God, he is known by God.
Love is the proof of knowing the mind of God. One can only know the mind of God through studying the Scriptures.
4 With regard then to eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that “an idol in this world is nothing,” and that “there is no God but one.”
Christians know that an idol is just wood or stone. Pagans are not worshipping gods through these idols, although they may think so. There is only one God, the God of the Bible, so all idols are nothing. Since idols are nothing, Christians are free to eat meat offered to idols. Christians know the difference, so they should enjoy their steak and potatoes.
5 If after all there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),
These idols were merely called gods by superstitious pagans who were vain in their thinking. If God had not touched the elect, they would also be enslaved in this same predicament. It is by God's grace that anyone can even escape this delusion and know that there is only one true God.
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live.
Those who know Jesus as Lord know that there is no other God.
7 But this knowledge is not shared by all. And some, by being accustomed to idols in former times, eat this food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, because it is weak, is defiled.
The babes in Christ and the carnal Christians did not have enough Bible doctrine to understand that idols were nothing. They did not understand that Christians have personal liberty to eat or not eat these meats sacrificed to idols.
8 Now food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.
Simon Peter had a problem with this spiritual concept. When the sheet came down from heaven, Peter did not want to eat unclean meat that God had declared clean. It is the study of the Bible that brings one closer to God, not the rituals of food that one eats or does not eat.
9 But be careful that this liberty of yours does not become a hindrance to the weak.
A Christian does have liberty to eat or not eat meat sacrificed to idols, but he must be careful that his freedom does not hinder the growth of those who are weaker in Bible doctrine.
10 For if someone weak sees you who possess knowledge dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience be “strengthened” to eat food offered to idols?
Some believers who are weak in Bible doctrine might be inclined to fall back into idol worship. Instruction may need to come with the public display of this liberty.
11 So by your knowledge the weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed.
Christ loved the believer so much that he gave up his exalted life to become a man and die a horrible death on the cross. Believers should follow Christ's example and sometimes lower themselves in order to assist those weak in Bible doctrine.
12 If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
To be arrogantly indifferent to the needs of weaker Christians is a sin against Christ.
13 For this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them to sin.
It does not matter if Christian liberty was used or not. What matters is how the weak Christians reacts to the freedom of the mature Christian. Does this Christian freedom build him up, or lead him back to sin? Should a man drink or dance or smoke in front of weaker Christians? The mature Christian knows that he has freedom in these issues, but he must consider the effect on his weaker brother in Christ.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Knowledge Puffs Up? — Deflating a Popular Proverb
by Jeff Miller
Related Media
(First appeared in The Threshing Floor, Vol. 5, Nu. 4)
A popular maxim for Bible study—and an essential canon for accurate hermeneutics—states that an exegete should never allow one verse alone to dictate his or her theology on a matter. This oft-repeated truism attempts to protect both the callow Bible student and the seasoned theologian from embracing principles as biblical without first considering the instruction of the whole counsel of God. When this habit of biblical correlation is not practiced consistently, and the emphasis of the Bible on a matter is overlooked in favor of one passage or verse, false doctrines begin to emerge in the community.
1 Corinthians 8:1 is a popular verse within Evangelical Christianity. The proverbial portion of the verse, “knowledge puffs up,” regularly echoes through the corridors of our churches. Normally, the proverb is spoken as a subtle rebuke of a believer seemingly falling in love with learning. Since learning brings forth knowledge and knowledge brings forth arrogance, we reason, then learning isn’t a habit worthy of our love. According to many who voice this proverb, some learning is necessary, but the sole objective of study is practice: Doing, not thinking. Our goal as Christians is not to know about God—which sounds impersonal and academic—but to know God. We know far more about the Bible (we imagine) than we can possibly obey, and so our focus must shift from that of impractical, pride-feeding knowledge to application and ministry skills acquisition. Our rallying cry: Let’s get spiritual (not academic)!
But does the Bible teach a corruption intrinsic to knowledge? Does God berate the believer who loves learning and who demonstrates considerable knowledge of his discipline? On the contrary, the whole of Scripture lends itself to the high value of learning and knowledge and, yes, to academics. From among dozens of passages highlighting the benefits of knowledge, only a few examples will be examined here. Proverbs 1:7 reads, “The fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge (tu^D*).” Knowledge, according to this proverb, is a desirous commodity to be sought in conjunction with the fear of God. It is the fool, according to Proverbs 1:22, who hates knowledge (tu^d*); the wise store it up (10:14). Solomon, whom God endowed with great wisdom and understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore, was skilled not only in government and rhetoric, but also in botany and zoology (1 Kings 4:29-33). Job’s three friends were subject to the very wrath of God not because they acted disobediently, but because their knowledge about God was deficient and inaccurate (Job 42:7). In the New Testament, one of the few passages recording a compliment on the lips of the Savior is Mark 12:34. Here, a teacher of the law is said to be close to the kingdom of God because he had answered thoughtfully (nounecw'"). In 2 Corinthians 8:7, knowledge (gnwvsei) is a field in which to excel alongside faith, speech, earnestness, and love. In 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul identifies one of the benefits of glorification as the capacity to know fully (ejpignwvsomai). Numerous other passages could be cited, to say nothing of the gift of knowledge (lovgo" gnwvsew") conferred by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:8).
While the careful Bible student will refrain from developing a doctrine from one verse alone, he or she must also avoid excluding obscure verses from his or her system of theology. What then can be said about 1 Corinthians 8:1 if the bulk of Scripture appears to teach the integrity of knowledge? In this chapter, Paul addresses the issue of eating food sacrificed to idols. Three distinct levels of knowledge are delineated regarding sacrificed meat. First, 1 Corinthians 8:7 describes some who do not share in the knowledge (gnw'si") that an idol is nothing at all. “They” consider food that has been sacrificed to an idol unclean, and so the eating of this food is defiling for them. Next, 1 Corinthians 8:1, 2, 10, and 11 describe the person who knows that there is no such thing as an idol, and so knows that food sacrificed to an idol is not ceremonially unclean (8:4-6). According to 8:2, however, “He does not know (e[gnw) to the degree that he needs to know (dei' gnw'nai).” That is, his knowledge is deficient of proper love (8:1b, 3). He possesses the right knowledge pertaining to the status of sacrificed meat and his liberty to partake (8:10, 11), but his paucity of love blinds him from his weaker brother’s sensitivity. His knowledge does not build up his brother, as it would were it coupled with love (8:1b). On the contrary, his knowledge devoid of love serves only to build himself up; it demonstrates his selfishness (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:2, “[if I have] all knowledge . . . but do not have love, I am nothing”). The final level of knowledge rests with those who understand that an idol is powerless and that the meat is not unclean. His knowledge of this information, however, coexists with enough love to refrain from eating (8:13). That is, he knows to the degree that he needs to know (8:2). He decides not to exercise his liberty out of consideration for his brother.
If 1 Corinthians 8:1 has been historically misused in Evangelical Christianity, then when is the proverb “knowledge puffs up” appropriate? Certainly not when one encounters a lover of learning. It is appropriate and necessary, however, when a believer “does not know to the degree that he needs to know.” As in 1 Corinthians 8, when a Christian is not using his knowledge to build up his brother—when his knowledge is not coupled with love—he is deserving of correction. He is not to be discouraged from further learning, but encouraged to grow in knowledge and love.
I love learning. It is refreshing to publicly profess that in a subculture that has overtly frowned upon such love in recent years. The rallying cry that I endorse, “Let’s get spiritual,” must not preclude knowledge. Rather, it must embrace the academic if it wishes to be biblically compatible. Dr. Craig Blaising, professor of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has cogently stated, “The antithesis of spiritual is not academic. The antithesis of spiritual is unspiritual. And the academic can subsist in either a spiritual or an unspiritual mode.”
Related Topics: Scripture Twisting, Apologetics