1 Corinthians 8:7-13

1 Corinthians 8:7-13

But knowledge is not in all.  Some, by the prior habit until now, eat food sacrificed to an idol as of an idol.  Their conscience, while being weak, is defiled.  But food will not present us to God.  If we should not eat, we are not being in lack of any advantage.  If we should eat, neither are we experiencing a superior benefit.  But beware that somehow your authority should not become this occasion for sin for the weak ones.  For if someone should see you, the one who has knowledge, while reclining to eat a meal at the temple of an idol, will he not be built up into eating food sacrificed to idols while his conscience is weak?  For the ones who are weak are being destroyed in your knowledge – a brother for whose sake Christ died.  Thus, while sinning into the brothers and while harming their consciences that are weak, you all sin into Christ.  Therefore, if food scandalizes my brother, I should surely not eat meat in this age in order that I should not scandalize my brother.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought

As we open this section of verses, we get another glimpse of a Biblical truth that we’d all rather not care to acknowledge.  Determining sin from actions is often circumstantial.  Sure, there are things that are always wrong and are always sin.  God spells those out quite clearly in other places of the Bible.  But in other cases, sin is determined by the motivation of the heart.  For example, if I engage in all kinds of ministry in the church but the only reason I am doing it is because I want my name praised, am I really being obedient to God?  Or, say I go to a bar every week; but while I’m there I refrain from alcohol and have genuine Bible study and spiritual conversation with some guys with whom I am relating.  Is that sinful behavior?  It is in this light that Paul says “some eat food sacrificed to an idol as of an idol.”  In other words, some people think idols are real gods and thus eating the food sacrificed to them is offensive.  That’s just where they are in life.  It isn’t the food that is causing the problem, it’s the internal belief that the idol is real that is causing the issue.  Many things that we do actually fall into the category of sin because of the sinfulness within our hearts – not because the activity is actually bad.

What sin do you have in your life that someone with a pure heart could do the same action and not have it be done in a sinful way?  How do you avoid judging other people’s actions through assuming that what is true in your heart is also true in theirs?

Second Thought:

All of this conversation is really wrapped up around the lessons we learned yesterday about knowledge and love.  When we presume to know, we jump to judgments.  But when we presume to love, we take the time to get to know other people and are willing to accept that what might be sinful for me may not be sinful for them.  It is this perspective of love that allows Paul to say at the end that he would be willing to never eat meat again if it meant keeping his brother from sinfulness.  Paul knows that there is no issue with eating meat sacrificed to idols.  But in love, he is willing to stop such behavior if other people are corrupted in a way that he would not be corrupted.  When our perspective is love, community is far more strong and deep.  When our perspective is knowledge, our community is far more judgmental.

Are you a person of love or a person of knowledge?  Are you quick to judge people or are you willing to get to know them before determining if a certain behavior is sinful?

Third Thought:

Of course, this is also an appropriate time to talk about the relationship between strong and weak believers.  Clearly we see Paul demonstrating that it is the strong believer’s responsibility to look out for and protect the weak believer.  Just because I can do something with a clear conscience doesn’t mean I have the right to do it in the presence of people that might be led into sin through my action.  However, we have to be careful here.  The reason the strong believer shelters the weak believer is so that the weak believer has the time and opportunity to mature.  We should not shelter weak believers in order to allow them to remain weak!  Unfortunately, this is often what happens.  We often live our lives sheltering weak believers from opportunities to grow.  This is not correct.  We shelter weak believers in such a way as to develop them into strong believers.

Can you think of a time when you were sheltered because you needed time to grow?  Can you think of a time when you were sheltered in such a way as to allow you to remain weak?  How are those two different?  What made them different to you?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 Corinthians 9:1-2