Christian Freedom and Love – 1 Corinthians 8

The Corinthians are full of questions.  Paul is answering their questions, and we see a switch to a new question when he says, “Now concerning…”  He has just answered their questions about celibacy, marriage and divorce in chapter 7.  Now in chapters 8-10 he deals with their questions about Christian freedom, especially in the area of freedom to eat meat of animals sacrificed to pagan gods.  Sound like a strange freedom?  Yeah, it’s totally outside of our experience, but it was a big deal to the Corinthians.

Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.

Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.  (1 Corinthians 8 ESV)

The Corinthians are full of slogans.  Here, as Paul begins to answer their questions about eating food that has been sacrificed to idols, he repeats some of them.  They are proud of their knowledge and the freedoms this knowledge gives them, but they are not very loving.  Instead they are puffed up, swollen with pride.  Loving God should and does lead to loving others and being known by God.

But yes, there are so-called gods and their idols made for them are really nothing, and to eat food offered to them would not bother the conscience of someone who knows this, but there are many new converts to Christ who still think of those idols as real stand-ins for real gods so that when they eat it is like they are giving homage to the gods and their faith is destroyed.  It would be better never to indulge one’s freedom if it encouraged a weaker brother to sin this way.

Apparently some of the Corinthians were actually attending idol temple services where the sacrifices were being made and the gods worshiped flouting their freedom.  Paul will have something to say about this later.  But in the meantime Paul affirms that there is only one God, the Father, and there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, which is to say, both are deity and yet make up the one and only God.  God is one in essence (all the characteristics of God such as omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence) but three distinct persons make up and share that one essence, so that there is truly only one God.