In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul switches topics. So we find ourselves done thinking and talking about singleness, and marriage, and touching, and sexual immorality.
The Corinthians have another question that they want Paul to answer. That question is something like this: "Is it okay to go to pagan temples and eat meat that has been first sacrificed/offered to idols?
For real? The question shocks us. We would never think of doing something like this.
But in first century Corinth, temples were not simply places where you'd go to worship various gods. In fact, that's not even the main reason you'd necessarily go. If you wanted to have a feast to celebrate some special event, or if you wanted to celebrate your birthday with a lot of people, you'd invite your friends to a pagan temple, and pay for their meal. Or if you're a business man, trying to build networks, and grow your business, you'd maybe meet at a pagan temple.
So when you think about pagan temples, you should think of them as something more like a country club, or wedding reception hall, or your neighborhood bar and grill. Except, that these particular places also had priests who served various gods. And any meat you ate at a place like this would've been first offered to gods, before being set before you to eat.
The other thing I should try to explain a little is sacrifices.
We tend to think of sacrifices as whole burnt offerings. Like, you kill a cow, and throw the whole thing on an altar, and torch it completely. But most sacrifices didn't work like that. Whole burnt offerings were the exception, and not the rule. And the norm was that the gods, or God, receive a portion of it (Leviticus 7:14), the priest receives a portion of it (Leviticus 2:10; 7:14), and the people sacrificing receive a portion (Leviticus 7:15).
And when you ate this sacrificial meal, it was viewed as a meal eaten, in some sense, with the God or gods. The God or gods enjoy the smell of your sacrifice (Genesis 8:21; Exodus 18:12; Leviticus 1:9; 2:2), and the commitment and thanksgiving that your sacrifice represents, and you eat it in fellowship with God.
So in first century Corinth, going to pagan temples was a basic part of life. This wasn't just about religion-- it was about social life, about community, about friendship, about business connections. And the Corinthian church is apparently arguing about whether or not going to these feasts is still okay for them, as Christians. It would sting, badly, to have to stop going to these things. It will cost you in all kinds of ways. And, truthfully, going to these events would've been fun.
One last thing I'll say, before getting into chapter 8. If you're following along in an NRSV, you'll notice that three times in chapter 8, some sentences are put in quotations. Paul most likely is quoting the Corinthian letter three times, only to interact with and challenge their beliefs. If you try to read these sentences at face value (NASB; KJV), as something Paul believes, it's going to mess you up. Let me just read these three first, so that you see them.
Verse 1: "All of us, knowledge we have."
Verse 4: "an idol, nothing it is in the world, and
"there is no God except only one."
Verse 8: "food doesn't bring us close to God.
And then, when you follow the NRSV footnote down in verse 8, it says that what follows may be part of the slogan. My guess is that it is:
For, neither if we eat do we abound,
nor if we don't eat, do we lack."
Now, it's not like every single NT scholar agrees with the NRSV here. So consider this your warning to be discerning. But I think the best scholars do agree with the NRSV (Richard Hays, in particular). And the reason they agree is because Paul doesn't actually believe any of these things, when stated absolutely. Each of these statements, in some way, is wrong. Each of these statements has something about them that Paul corrects.
So that's how I'm reading the passage. And if you want to highlight these three verses and wrestle with that later, by all means, do so. But when you see the quotes in these verses, and the slightly larger font, that's why it looks different.
Verses 1-3
(1) Now, concerning food sacrificed to idols, we know that "all of us, knowledge we have."
Knowledge puffs up.
Now, love builds up.
(2) If anyone thinks he knows anything, not yet has he known just as it is necessary to know.
(3) Now, if anyone loves God, this one is known by him.
Some of the Christians in this church are saying it's okay to eat food sacrificed to idols, and eat at pagan temples. And the reason they think it's okay is because of some "knowledge" that they have. What exactly this knowledge is, Paul doesn't yet say.
Instead of diving right into that, Paul begins his response to this by reframing the issue. The Corinthians are viewing this issue through the perspective of "knowledge." But Paul wants them to think about this question from a different starting point-- from the perspective of love, and not knowledge.
Now, almost everywhere else Paul talks about knowledge, he talks about knowledge as being a good thing. It's Paul's hope, and constant prayer, that his churches would grow in their knowledge of God, and his son, and God's will (Ephesians 1:15-23). Knowledge is not a bad thing. We are supposed to be child-like in our faith, but not childish.
But as we learn more and more about God, and the Bible, there is a danger to be aware of. And that danger is this: it's easy to confuse increased knowledge with spiritual growth. What does Paul say knowledge does?
"Knowledge puffs up.
Now, love builds up."
Knowledge and love both look like they lead to genuine growth. If you look at a puffer fish that feels threatened, and it balloons to twice its size, you're impressed by how big it got. When a Canadian goose is threatened by you, and spreads out its wings, and comes running at you, hissing, it's hard to remember that you're bigger than it.
Knowledge can puff you up. It can make you think you've become bigger spiritually than you actually are.
Now, what does love do? Love creates genuine spiritual growth. Paul says, "Love builds up."
Now, what does love "build up"? Knowledge makes me think I've grown, right? But love, by definition, isn't about me. If I focus on love, I'll remember that I'm not the big deal. Everyone else is the big deal.
So, knowledge is focused on me-- or at least, it's vulnerable to that. But love is focused on God and on his church.
So we read Paul's first words here as a caution. The Corinthians, in framing everything through the lens of "knowledge," are making Christianity, and their faith, about themselves. But knowledge is not a good starting point. And knowledge is not our end goal.
Love is.
And when it comes to ethics, and right and wrong, I am not the end goal. The genuine growth of the church is the end goal.
Verse 2:
(2) If anyone thinks he knows anything, not yet has he known just as it is necessary to know.
When you first start to dive into serious biblical study, you find yourself marveling at how little you actually know. And you think, at some point, this feeling will go away.
It shouldn't. You should always feel like something of an idiot. There is so much we don't understand. And that will never change, no matter how much more we learn. So any time we think or talk about something that we "know," we should do so with a measure of humility.
Verse 3:
(3) Now, if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
There's an old saying in Hollywood. It's not about who you know. It's about who knows you. It's easy to think that as we learn more about who God is, and what He is actually like, that we know Him better. But the question, really, is whether or not God knows you.
Now, I say this, but it's not necessarily a mistake to use language about knowing God (John 17:3). But if we find ourselves using this language about "knowing" God-- say, hypothetically, in a church's mission statement-- we need to be cautious about we mean. Lots of people think they know God, and his son, and they don't. They are deceived (Matthew 7:21-23). And how are they deceived? How can something like this happen? How can you go through life, all the way until the day of judgment, and find out that you don't actually know God?
If this happens to you, it will be because you misunderstood what it means to "know" God. You've understood "knowledge" in such a way, that you leave out loving and obeying God. You cheapened it. You may or may not have deceived yourself in this. But you certainly didn't fool God.
So there's a reason why Paul reframes this in verse 3 in a way that we don't expect. It's safer to talk about "loving God" than "knowing God." It's less open to misunderstanding. It's less open to cheapening the gospel, and our calling. And this is especially true for those familiar with the OT, who know that "loving God" and "obeying God" basically mean the same thing in books like Deuteronomy.
And it's safer to talk about being known by God, than knowing God. If God knows you, you're good.
So who does God know? God knows those who LOVE Him. It's the people who love God-- who are committed to Him, who live for Him-- those are the people who God knows.
This brings us to verse 4. Paul now addresses the Corinthians' question-- after first trying to show them that love is more important than knowledge.
(4) Therefore, concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols,
we know that "an idol, nothing it is in the world,"
and that "there is no God, except only one."
So probably Paul here is quoting their letter. The Corinthians "know" two things. First, an idol is nothing. An idol is just a carved piece of wood, or metal, or stone. It's nothing.
Let's read Isaiah 44:9-20 (NRSV):
9 All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know. And so they will be put to shame. 10 Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good? 11 Look, all its devotees shall be put to shame; the artisans too are merely human. Let them all assemble, let them stand up; they shall be terrified, they shall all be put to shame.
12 The ironsmith fashions it[c] and works it over the coals, shaping it with hammers, and forging it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretches a line, marks it out with a stylus, fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he makes it in human form, with human beauty, to be set up in a shrine. 14 He cuts down cedars or chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it can be used as fuel. Part of it he takes and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it, makes it a carved image and bows down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he roasts meat, eats it and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm, I can feel the fire!” 17 The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god!”
18 They do not know, nor do they comprehend; for their eyes are shut, so that they cannot see, and their minds as well, so that they cannot understand. 19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and have eaten. Now shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot save himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?”
An idol can't see, or hear. It can't save you. It can't help you, in any way. It can't do anything. At every point, an idol was made by a human. And at no point, was that human helped by the idol. An idol is nothing. It's a fraud.
The second thing the Corinthians know is this:
"there is no God except only one."
In saying this, the Corinthians are quoting the Shema, in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
4 “Hear, O Israel: [b]The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
How many gods are there? There is One. And what is an idol? It's nothing.
The Corinthians then take these two pieces of knowledge, and they raise a question. If an idol is nothing, and there is only one God, do we have the right to eat idol meat at pagan temples? Is there any harm in doing this, if an idol is just a chunk of wood?
In verse 5, Paul takes the Corinthian position, and he pushes the logic of it. But when he does this, he pushes it in a direction that destroys the way they've applied their knowledge. Paul doesn't disagree with them about any of this. He knows an idol is nothing. He knows there is one God. BUT... the Corinthians don't understand why this matters:
(5) For, even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many gods
and many lords ,
but for us, one God-- the Father, from whom [are] all things,
and we [are] for Him,
and one Lord-- Jesus Christ-- through whom [are] all things,
and we [are] through him,
(7) but not in everyone is this knowledge.
You could walk the streets of Corinth, and say, "This is a city littered with so-called gods." They are everywhere. They are a major part of what makes Corinth, Corinth.
But for us, there is one God- the Father, from whom are all things.
And we are.... what?
We are for Him.
We belong to God. We live for Him. So for us, on a practical basis, it really doesn't matter whether or not the other gods are real. We are absolutely committing to being His. We love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and minds, and strength. We give him our total allegiance. We are for Him.
And for us, there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. There is one Master, for whom we bend our knee.
So Paul agrees with the Corinthians. There is one God, the Father. One Lord, Jesus Christ. An idol is nothing. But how should you apply this? What difference does this make to your life? When you hear this, you should understand that this knowledge calls for loyalty and commitment to God alone. It would be idiotic to take the Shema, and say that it means you can do whatever you want at pagan temples.
Let me reread verses 5-7:
(5) For, even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many gods and many lords,
but for us, one God-- the Father, from whom [are] all things,
and we [are] for Him,
and one Lord-- Jesus Christ-- through whom [are] all things,
and we [are] through him,
(7) but not in everyone is this knowledge.
Paul wraps up this section by saying, "Not in everyone is this knowledge."
There are Christians-- genuine Christians-- who view all of this differently. They think there are many gods. They think of idols as imaging divine beings. So Paul began verse 1 like this:
(1) Now, concerning food sacrificed to idols, we know that "all of us, knowledge we have."
But it turns out that's not true. Not everyone has this knowledge.
Paul then explains the way some Christians view things instead. Continuing in verse 7:
Now, some by habit until now concerning the idol, as food sacrificed to idols they eat,
and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
If you grew up as a classic Roman pagan, you're going to think of idols differently. You know that an idol was always viewed as an earthly image of the spiritual reality. You know that behind that idol stands a god. And you grew up sacrificing to these gods.
So if you, the classic pagan Gentile, offer sacrifices at these temples, you're conscience is going to be defiled. You are going to view that as being disloyal to God, and as a returning to the idols that you repented of (1 Thessalonians 1:8). You don't view them as a piece of wood, or stone, or metal. You think they are something.
If you are one of the "strong" Christians at Corinth, you can look at these people, and say that this shouldn't happen. You can call the conscience of these people "weak." But it is what it is. And the solution to this, is not to ram knowledge down their throat. You can't drag them to pagan temples, and try to strengthen their conscience.
In truth, you are the one who needs to change. You are the one who needs to view your brother or sister focused on love, and not on knowledge.
In verse 8, Paul probably quotes the Corinthians again:
(8) Now, "food doesn't bring us close to God.
For, neither if we eat do we abound,
nor if we don't eat, do we lack."
You know who this sounds like? It sounds like Paul. It sounds like what Paul taught Gentiles about the Mosaic law-- that they can eat whatever they want. That no food is unclean. That God doesn't care (1 Timothy 4:4). Eat. Don't eat. It makes no difference.
But when Paul talked about clean and unclean foods, he wasn't thinking about idol meat. That's an entirely different topic-- there, he's talking about Jew and Gentile, and clean and unclean. So Paul, in verse 9, challenges this (which is why verse 8 is probably a quote):
(9) Now, watch out lest somehow this right of yours a stumbling block it becomes to the weak ones.
(10) For if someone sees you-- the one having knowledge-- in an idol's temple reclining for a meal, won't his
conscience, being weak, be built up so that the food sacrificed to idols he eats?
(11) For the weak one is being destroyed by your knowledge-- the brother for whom Christ died.
Paul says, "Don't view idol meat as something that only affects you. You may be no better, or no worse off, for eating it. But it's not just about you, and your rights, and your knowledge. If the weak one sees you eat the idol meat, and then decides that he is then free to do so, what will happen? He will be destroyed by your knowledge.
And who is this weak one? He is your brother-- he's family. He is the one for whom Christ died. If Jesus gave everything for your brothers and sisters, and loves them that much... you should think very hard about how you should treat them. Don't destroy someone Jesus died for.
Verse 12:
(12) Now, thus sinning against the brothers, and wounding their weak conscience, against Christ you are sinning.
So are you free to eat idol meat at pagan temples? Well, you're free in much the same way that you were free to "touch" prostitutes in chapter 6. Absolutely. You maybe have the knowledge, and the strong conscience, and the right, to do this. But when you do this, you are destroying your brother in Christ. You are destroying the one for whom Christ died-- the one who is "for God." And you are sinning not just against them, which would be bad enough. But you are also sinning against your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Is that what you want to do?
Verse 13:
(13) Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will absolutely not eat meat forever,
in order that my brother I may not cause to stumble.
What Paul does, because he knows all of this, is live in a way that he doesn't cause his brother to stumble. He is determined not to sin against his brother, or against his Lord and Savior.
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This passage is one where people are all pretty much in agreement about what Paul means. There's nothing really unclear here, right? But what do we do with it? When we think about application, this passage is used in very different ways.
Probably the most common way this passage is applied, is in connection with how we entertain ourselves. Christians will say that a modern equivalent is music, or movies, or the neighborhood bar. They will say, "I have the right to go to an R rated movie. I'm no better off, whether I watch it or don't." "I have the right to listen to whatever music I want. I'm no better off, whether I listen or don't." But if my brother sees me walking into an R rated movie, while he's waiting in line for Frozen 2, I'm going to cause him to stumble, so I shouldn't. Or if my brother hears me listening to sexually explicit, coarse music, I may cause him to stumble, so I shouldn't.
I'm going to be honest. I'm really not feeling this application at all. I can't imagine Paul saying, "I am free to watch movies with graphic violence, and nudity, and sex. I'm free to listen to music filled with profanity, and greed, and lust." Even non-Christians know that these things are inappropriate-- that's why they have parental advisories. We try really hard to think of parallels to idol meat, but, truthfully, I don't think these things work.
Instead, let's turn to 1 Corinthians 6:8-9:
"Do you not know that the unrighteous won't inherit the kingdom of God?
Don't be deceived: neither sexually immoral ones, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor passive homosexual partners, nor dominant homosexual partners, nor thieves, nor greedy ones, nor drunkards, nor abusers/revilers, nor swindlers, the kingdom of God will they inherit."
Most of the time, when you cause a brother or sister to stumble, it's because you are sinning in some way. You are doing something off this list. And then you compound your sin by inviting your brothers to join you-- or by committing your sins somewhere they can see you. That's how you cause your brother or sister to stumble.
You may find yourself attracted to someone who isn't your spouse-- and that attraction may be mutual. But you cannot take that next step. You can't cause that person to stumble. You can't destroy your brother or sister-- the one for whom Christ died-- by causing them to be an adulterer.
You may find yourself wanting to steal from the government by not paying the taxes you are supposed to. That's a terrible sin. But don't make it worse, by encouraging your brother or sister in Christ to think that it's okay. You can't cause them to stumble by causing them to become a thief.
You maybe went out to a bar with a brother or sister in Christ, and you each had a couple beers while you play darts. That's fine. But you can't get drunk with them, and give them the impression that's no big deal. And you can't push a couple extra beers on them, and get them drunk. And if you know your brother struggles with being a drunkard-- don't invite them to a bar. Go to Perkins, and not Applebee's.
There's lots of ways that you could cause your brother to stumble into terrible sins. Note-- I'm not talking about offending them somehow. I'm not talking about them disagreeing with you on something. I'm talking about sin. I will not do anything that encourages my brother or sister to sin, or encourages them to think that something isn't sin. I will not do anything that makes God point at me, and say that I have responsibility for what my brother or sister did. I will not sin against Jesus by destroying someone that Jesus died for.
Let me come at this from another angle. The main difference between Paul and the Corinthians here, is that they have a different starting point. The Corinthians are starting from "knowledge." They know that an idol is nothing, and there is no God, except only one, the Father, and no Lord, except only Jesus.
But when we are making decisions about right and wrong, and how we should live, our starting point should be love. We need to consider whether this is consistent with loving God whole-heartedly, and with loving each other whole-heartedly. We have to say, "I cannot sin against my Creator and King. I cannot sin against someone who Jesus died for. I love God and people too much, to do that."
Love is a higher priority than knowledge. And as we look at the world, and try to decide how to live, our starting point is our love for God, and our love for each other.
"Knowledge puffs up.
Now, love builds up."
Don't cause your brothers and sisters to stumble. Instead, build them up. Love them; love God.
Translation:
(1) Now, concerning food sacrificed to idols, we know that "all of us, knowledge we have."
Knowledge puffs up.
Now, love builds up.
(2) If anyone thinks he knows anything, not yet has he known just as it is necessary to know.
(3) Now, if anyone loves God, this one is known by him.
(4) Therefore, concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols,
we know that "an idol, nothing it is in the world,"
and that "there is no God except only one."
(5) For, even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many gods
and many lords,
but for us, one God-- the Father, from whom [are] all things,
and we [are] for him,
and one Lord-- Jesus Christ-- through whom [are] all things,
and we [are] through him,
(7) but not in everyone is this knowledge.
Now, some by habit until now concerning the idol, as food sacrificed to idols they eat,
and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
(8) Now, "food doesn't bring us close to God.
For, neither if we eat do we abound,
nor if we don't eat, do we lack."
(9) Now, watch out lest somehow this right of yours a stumbling block it becomes to the weak ones.
(10) For if someone sees you-- the one having knowledge-- in an idol's temple reclining for a meal, won't his conscience, being weak, be built up so that the food sacrificed to idols he eats?
(11) For the weak one is being destroyed by your knowledge-- the brother for whom Christ died.
(12) Now, thus sinning against the brothers, and wounding their weak conscience, against Christ you are sinning.
(13) Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will absolutely not eat meat forever,
in order that my brother I may not cause to stumble.
