I Corinthians 8

I Corinthians: 8:1:
Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.

Thomas Adams

When a man presumes to know more than he ought, his knowledge is apt to be pursy and gross, and must be kept low. Rom. 12:16, 'Mind not high things,' saith the Apostle. Festus slandered Paul, Acts 26:24, that 'much learning had made him mad.' Indeed, it might have done, if Paul had been as proud of his learning as Festus was of his honour. This is the 'knowledge that puffeth up,' 1 Cor. 8:1. It troubles the brain, like undigested meat in the stomach, or like the scum that seethes into the broth. To avoid this folly, Paul forbids us to 'be wise in our own conceits,' Rom. 12:16: whereof I find two readings, 'Be not wise in yourselves;' and 'Be not wise to yourselves.'
--Thomas Adams; The Works of Thomas Adams, Volume 1

I Corinthians: 8:2-6:
2 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),
6 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.

1 Corinthians 8:7-11:
However, 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
8 But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.
9 But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols?
11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

It’s just like any other meat. I know that, and you know that. But knowing isn’t everything. If it becomes everything, some people end up as know-it-alls who treat others as know-nothings. Real knowledge isn’t that insensitive. We need to be sensitive to the fact that we’re not all at the same level of understanding in this. Some of you have spent your entire lives eating “idol meat,” and are sure that there’s something bad in the meat that then becomes something bad inside of you. An imagination and conscience shaped under those conditions isn’t going to change overnight.

I was greatly encouraged by the fact that Paul does not dismiss the past and just insist that the weaker brother “get it together” regarding food sacrificed to idols. Usually, when the Holy Spirit is working on a heart, things even out, settle down and become normal within the Christian worldview. We have to work on it, though. We, who have triggers and fears, have to constantly fight against them and reason with ourselves. And there is time for that, too. An imagination and conscience shaped under abusive conditions isn’t going to change overnight. Stronger brothers do not get to have the audacity to proclaim that it is time to “get over” something when it is clearly not (because the former victim is triggered). That is not the most loving choice.
----Give Her Wings

I Corinthians 8:9-13:
But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.
10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols?
11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
12 But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble

God is others-centered, and He wants us to become more and more like Him. We are to stay focused on God and others, keeping our eyes off ourselves. Self-centeredness leads us away from God, denying self leads us closer to Him. 1 John 3:11 tells us, “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” Will it get us ahead in the world? Probably not. There once was a Carpenter who didn’t overcharge for doing finish work. There once was a Physician who healed the sick for free. There once was a Man who fed people at no charge. What did they do with Him? They crucified Him! Jesus said that we are to come and die with Him, so that we might live with Him for eternity. [SOURCE: Ed Rhea]