CHAPTER
VIII
THE DUTY
OF THE STRONG TOWARD WEAKER BRETHREN
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Summary—Meat Offered in Idol Temples. Not Changed Because So
Offered. But Not to Be Eaten Because of Weaker Brethren. Those Having Knowledge
Must Act in Love.
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1–3. As touching things offered unto idols. Corinth, like all Greek cities, was full of temples to
heathen idols. At their altars victims were constantly sacrificed, the flesh of
which was afterwards eaten. The question arose whether a Christian could eat of
such flesh without the sin of showing deference to an idol. Perhaps the letter
to Paul (7:1) had asked about this matter. We all have knowledge. Some
pleaded their knowledge that “an idol was nothing,” not divine in any sense.
Paul tells them that the question is one, not of knowledge, but of charity. Knowledge
puffeth up. Those who professed to be knowing ones put on an air of
superiority. 2. If any man thinketh that he knoweth, etc. If he is
inflated with a sense of knowledge, he has not got on the right track for true
knowledge. Humility is essential. 3. If any man love God. Not knowledge,
but love “buildeth up.” Love, too, is a source of true knowledge. It is he
who loves God who knows him. “The same,” grammatically, refers to God. The
sentence then says, “If any man love God, the same is known by him,” i.
e., by that man. Love is the means of obtaining the true knowledge, the
highest knowledge.
4–6. We know that an idol is nothing. Not a god, not even a living being. Only wood, stone, or
metal. 5. Though there be that are called gods. The heathen world
worshiped many false gods. 6. But to us there is but one God. To
Christians, there is but one divinity, one object of worship, the true and
living God. One God, the Father, instead of the “gods many;” one Lord,
Christ, instead of the “lords many” of heathenism; one God, and one Mediator
between man and God.
7–9. There is not in every man that knowledge. While “we,” the better informed, know better, still there
were some in the church who had not entirely outgrown their former
superstitions. They could not realize that an “idol was nothing.” Meat that
came from idol sacrifice was to them the meat of the idol. They could not eat
it without their conscience being defiled. 9. Take heed lest … this
liberty of yours, etc. The meat itself made one neither better nor worse
(verse 8), but if those who “had knowledge” ate it, it might prove a
stumbling-block, the occasion of the fall of those who were not so well
informed and were weaker.
10–13. For if any man see thee … sit at meat in the idol’s
temple. In the heathen temples, great
banquets often followed the sacrifice. That a weaker Christian should see a
stronger one, a leader, sitting at such a banquet, would lead him to believe
that his brother was honoring the idol. The example would encourage idolatry. 11.
Hence his knowledge, the knowledge that made him dare eat, because he
knew an idol was nothing, might be the means of destroying the weak brother by
leading him to idolatry. 12. But when ye so sin. To wound, injure,
imperil the weak brethren, is a sin against Christ. It injures Christ’s cause;
besides, he denounces those who cause the weaker ones to stumble (Matt. 18:6;
25:40). 13. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend. To stumble
and fall. Love, in this case, would demand that the meat be given up. The
principle applies to many things. Some Christians can, perhaps, go to the
theater, or dance, or attend the fairs of our day, where the races are the
great feature, or even drink wine or beer, without falling. Others cannot. Yet
the example of the strong will lead the weak to engage in them, and hence that
example will lead them to spiritual death. The Christian principle, the rule of
love, is, “If eating meat, or going to the theater, or going to a ball, or
attending the fair, or drinking wine or beer, causeth my brother to offend, I
will not do these things while the world standeth.”
Excerpt from:
The People's New Testament
by Barton
Warren Johnson
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