Knowledge, Love And Example

Alba 6-15-2025

KNOWLEDGE, LOVE AND EXAMPLE

I Corinthians 8:1-13

Rob Kenney’s YouTube channel, “Dad, how do I?” went viral five years ago (2020). Kenney released his first video shortly after the coronavirus pandemic reared its ugly head. He wanted to provide practical advice and emotional support. But in a time defined by isolation and loneliness, his messages resonated with far more than the 30 or 40 subscribers he expected. By July, 2022, he had surpassed 4 million subscribers. With his soft Mister Rogers–like smile and warm voice, Kenney created simple, digestible 2 to 3 minute-long how-to videos teaching everyday life skills — how to tie a necktie, how to change a tire, how to shave — things that most kids would hope to learn from their own fathers.

In 2021, “Good Morning America” called the then 57-year-old the “Internet’s Dad.” After that, followers flooded him with stories about their parents, broken relationships, and traumatic experiences. Kenney said, “It breaks my heart that so many people need my channel.”

Well if the apostle Paul had been able to have a YouTube channel, he would have been flooded with questions about many topics. And in fact, he was, especially from the church in Corinth. But it was through ordinary mail. So in chapters six through ten of First Corinthians, Paul gives answers to things that were troubling the church in Corinth.

In chapter eight, he addresses the controversy among the Corinthian Christians as to whether it was permissible to eat meat from animals that had been used for pagan sacrifices. Apparently, some of the Christians were attending feasts held in pagan temples where meat was served to all present. A lot of the community gatherings took place in the idol’s temple, where such meat was consumed. In addition, after the sacrifice, there was so much left over that the priests sold it very cheaply so they could get rid of it before it spoiled. The cheapest meat in Corinth was sold in the idol’s temple.

To the Christians who ate the meat which had been offered to idols, it was mere food. Nothing more. Yet, other believers associated meat offered to idols with their former experience of worshiping idols. And because of conscience, they would not eat the meat because they believed it would be the same as giving honor to the idol (as if the idol was an actual god).

So the church was split. In our society, eating meat sacrificed to idols is no longer an issue. But at least three principles Paul teaches in this passage are as relevant as ever. In verse one of chapter eight, Paul begins, “Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have...

KNOWLEDGE (Principle # 1)

What is the knowledge that the meat eating Christians have? Well in the context here it has to do with knowing that an idol is just a carved lump of wood, or clay, or gold, an inanimate object. It is something that has been carved or shaped to look like something else. But it has no power in and of itself.

People need to have that knowledge even today. In First Corinthians 8:4-6 Paul, addressing this issue, says, “we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.”

The belief associated with idols is something to be concerned about, but the idol itself can do nothing. It would be no different than if a person took a red brick and set it on their mantle and then said, “I’m making an offering to that little red brick on my mantle.” And if we were to see someone do that we might say, “That’s really dumb. That brick has no power. That brick can’t provide or help you in any way. It’s just a brick.” An imaginary god cannot defile food for a Christian who follows the only true God of creation. That’s the knowledge those who ate meat from pagan temples had of these carved images.

“However,” as Paul says in verse seven, “there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.” Notice Paul calls these people “weak” in the sense they are immature in their faith. But in the mind of the “strong” Christians who were armed with correct knowledge, they could go into pagan temples and eat whatever was offered there without guilt or hesitation.