1 Corinthians 8: 7-13 (Central Theme)
7 However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. 8 It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.
9 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. 10 For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? 11 So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. 12 And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. 13 So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.
To understand any Scripture we have to grasp what was going on at the time it was written and why it was written. Understanding only in the present tense can be misleading. In those days the pagan religions sacrificed to their gods similar to what the Jews did. After the religious ceremony was over they would sell the meat to local food establishments. They would then sell it to customers.
Another aspect and speaking generally about pagan religions, the more of the food eaten the more of that god they received inside them. So it was that past knowledge of these pagan religions that caused their weak conscience that they had to overcome even though they were Christian.
We have three things going on in this Scripture. First, we have a Christian that thinks he has all the knowledge of Freedom that is needed in Christ. Second, we have a new Christian or a Christian that doesn’t understand freedom given by Christ and are weak in their knowledge of Freedom in Christ because of past experiences understanding of who God really is. Thirdly, according to the Apostle Paul they both have a problem.
The word knowledge in this text has the meaning of a deeper, more perfect and enlarged knowledge of what God is and what this Christianity is about.
The word in verse 2, “know”, means: to perceive with /by any of the senses. Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Let’s look at how these senses influence conscience through our knowledge of understanding.
These senses affect our conscience in ways that we don't normally think. Conscience is learned based on knowledge that we have learned or been taught. For instance, for most of us a plate of Maggots isn’t considered food to be enjoyed. But in many cultures they are good and they enjoy them. Escargot, snails, is another one to consider. In France they eat horse meat like we eat a big juicy beef steak.
I can remember, as some of you can, when cremation of the human body after death was a horrible thing. Just the thought of it would make them cringe. I remember people quoting Scripture against it. As our understanding of matter, nothing is ever destroyed but only changed, was introduced to us we realized that fire turning to dust or time turning to dust was about the same. We grew in our thinking. We understood more about it. We moved away from misunderstanding Scripture about it. Many primitive cultures had used fire to move the dead into the other world. We are simply burying them waiting for God to come and get their body at the right time for Him. Also God's meaning to life, death and eternal things is understood differently.
All our senses can bring back our past emotions or new emotions or emotions of the future. Our past emotions can affect our new emotions either for good or for bad as we see in our Scripture today.
Our conscience is learned from our past. It is a file of our life and our senses we have felt or learned. These are turned into emotions that can influence our present and future. Our conscience isn't the Holy Spirit as some may think. The Holy Spirit speaks from God not culture. When we try to decipher these hieroglyphics (these hard to read pictures in the recesses of our minds) we sometimes get confused about things and especially Godly things that only He can teach us through His Holy Spirit. Our mind isn’t very logical at times because the filing system, according to scientists, isn’t very good. So we have to be careful remembering what we think is the absolute facts of remembrance.
Apostle Paul brings God into the conversation in verse 3. Paul is saying: Its when we Know God that God will teach the deeper things of Knowledge from His point of view through the Holy Spirit. So those mind etchings, the silhouettes that are sketches on our conscience can most times make it hard to decipher the God meanings He is teaching us.
All those emotions mixed with our perceptions of what has happened to us can cause the wrong understandings. What we have been taught directly or indirectly can interfere with our Godliness and how God thinks.
Deciphering conscience (what we have learned or been taught) with all that’s going on in our mind and life is hard and makes it imperative that we absolutely know God in a personal way and understand who he is not just know about Him.
Spending time with God is the only way to know who God is and what God thinks about something; time in Scripture, Study and meditation with God.
ILLUSTRATION: pilot vertigo: My Division Officer in the Navy was also a Naval aviator. On his way home from a mission over Afghanistan he got vertigo (a dizzy confused state of mind caused by the inner ear). His senses were confused. The biggest was his sense of flight. Which can be deadly when landing on an aircraft carrier deck at night in the middle of the Persian Gulf. He thought his plane was flying up right but when he looked at the instruments he was flying upside down. Everything he did was backward according to the instruments but in his mind they were correct.
He could follow what he thought was right or he could depend on his instruments. He said over riding what he felt was right was the hardest thing to do. The struggle that took place in his mind was over whamming to him. You can figure out what he depended on: because he lived to tell the story.
Our conscience (learned past personal history) can be the hardest thing to overcome even when we feel we are right. However it’s our relationship with God that will give us the true meaning of what is right and what is wrong. Our true knowledge of Biblical principles, our understanding of what was happening at the time written, and our understanding as led by God through his Holy Spirit and His freedoms should be our way of life.
