ordinary christianity for the world.
Corinth, A Church Divided, 1 Corinthians 8:7-13
Poetic Praise
Gilding The Lilly II
1 Corinthians 8:7-13
The first six verses of chapter eight reminded the Corinthian Christians that the knowledge they had was a consequence of their regeneration. Our knowledge of God is a reflection of His knowledge of us. Remember that God's knowledge of us and God's love for us are not separate things. God loves us truly because He knows us truly, and God knows us truly because He loves us truly.
Yet, from the beginning Paul points out that, though we all have knowledge of some kind, we all do not know as we ought to know. We identified this concern as the continuation of the major theme of 1 Corinthians — the wisdom of the world versus the wisdom of Christ. We have further identified this theme as the difference between Greek thinking, which is dualistic, and biblical thinking, which is Trinitarian. Greek thinking is always necessarily humanistic because it cannot comprehend the true character of reality because it cannot see reality from God's perspective, the Trinitarian perspective. Greek thought exists in a kind of two dimensional world, and can only comprehend two dimensions, where reality is more three dimensional — Trinitarian. It is the reality of regeneration that brings the perspective of the Holy Spirit — of the Trinity — to the minds of believers and opens their eyes to God's reality and truth.
In verse 7 Paul said that "not all possess this knowledge," reminding the Corinthians that believers are fundamentally different than nonbelievers. Believers are different than nonbelievers because Christian faith is real. This reality, this difference is completely unbelievable and unacceptable to the unregenerate. The Trinitarian reality is only available to those who are inhabited by the Holy Spirit.
"If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear" (Mark 4:23). "Truly, truly, I say to you," said Jesus, "unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). And why is this true? Because it is not the flesh that sees or understands the things of God, it is the Holy Spirit. "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:11-13). It is the Holy Spirit who inhabits born again believers, who sees the reality of the Trinitarian God of Scripture, not the eyes of the unredeemed flesh.
Thus, Paul wrote, "However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled" (v. 7). Some of the Corinthian Christians who had formerly been associated with false beliefs and false gods (idols) falsely believed that there was some reality associated with the sacrifices and worship activities related to their former religious beliefs, like the consecration of food and holiday (holy day) celebrations. Though they now associated themselves with Jesus Christ, they had not made a clean break with their former beliefs. They brought many of those former beliefs — false beliefs and the false worldview of Greek philosophy — into the Corinthian church.
Consequently, Paul described them as having weak consciences. It is not insignificant that those who had been captured by the categories of Greek thinking were described as having weak consciences, of being morally weak. It is common knowledge that both Greek and Roman societies had little regard for what we understand as biblical morality. The fact that biblical morality was a non-issue to the Romans and Greeks can be seen in Paul's lists of behaviors and character traits that would not be found in the kingdom of God. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
The Corinthians knew about the immorality of the Greeks and Romans because many of them were themselves Greeks and Romans. And it was precisely this mindset that was to be abandoned in Christ. This was the mindset that Paul described as morally weak and defiled. It was unrighteous, impure, immoral, degenerate, worldly, fleshly, limited, flawed, faulty and wrong. And Paul told them so every chance he could get. "Not all possess this knowledge" (v. 7), he said. And he meant two things by it: 1) not all people possessed orthodox knowledge of God and Christ, and 2) not all Christians possessed it either. The whole problem in Corinth was that well-meaning Christians had brought their Greek thinking and Roman habits into the Corinthian church with them. This was the problem he was trying to correct.
"Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do" (v. 8). In Acts 10-11 Peter had an encounter with the Risen Christ that clarified and adjusted the ancient Jewish food laws that had established some foods as clean and some as unclean. In Acts, the Spirit instructed Peter that no foods were to be considered to be religiously unclean in Christ. Food is important, but it has no religious significance. So, Paul told the Corinthians that the consecration of food to a false god meant nothing. It was a non-issue or an imaginary issue that had nothing to do with reality.
However, there was an important moral issue related to the situation. But it wasn't about the food or the dedication of the food to false gods. It was about sanctification and growth in Christ. "But," said Paul, "take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." (v. 9). What right was Paul talking about? The right to ignore everything about idols and false worship. The right to participate in Christ's freedom, the right to participate in the holidays and festivals of false gods (the popular culture of the day) because those gods had no real power.
Paul would later tell the Corinthians, "But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:16-17). One of the freedoms granted in Christ was freedom from the Old Testament food laws. The Risen Christ instructed Peter, "What God has made clean, do not call common" (Acts 11:9). Later Paul would write to the Romans, "Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats" (Romans 14:20).
In Christ we are free indeed. Yet, our freedom is not a license to confuse those who are not as mature in the faith as we are. Our individual freedom in Christ is bound by our love of and service to the body of Christ. We are free from our bondage to sin in order to become willing servants — slaves — to Christ, and through Christ, to His people, the church, the body of Christ. The mature in Christ are obligated and bound to assist in the sanctification of the immature in Christ, and at the very least, not to become stumbling blocks to them.
To the mature Paul said, "Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." (v. 8). There are no moral or spiritual consequences related to the consumption of food. The point is that the rights of some can lead others astray because the less mature do not discern their own weaknesses. Immature Christians often overestimate their own spiritual development. The ESV translates the Greek word, exousia, as rights, whereas the word also means authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power and strength. Exousia is a freedom, an ability, an authority, a power. And it can be abused. The freedom of one person can become a means of sin and abuse to another.
The strong in Christ, the mature in Christ are not to live for themselves, not to overlook the special concerns of their weaker brothers and sisters. Rather, they are to protect and nurture them in Christ. The weaker brothers and sisters in Christ are just that — weak. The Greek is astheneo. "In all things," said Paul, "I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (Acts 20:35). To the Romans Paul wrote, "Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble" (the KJV translates this phrase as: or is offended, or is made weak). "The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Romans 14:20-23).
It is not simply that insensitive and undiscerning freedom in Christ can offend those who are weak, who are immature in Christ, but note that the prideful exercise of freedom in Christ can cause other Christians to become even weaker, even more immature, and fall into sin. How can we understand this? Perhaps the analogy of alcoholism will help.
Alcohol is a food. We consume it. And it is clean. It is not forbidden. It is even a blessing and a joy in Christ. However, it can be abused. We are free to consume it, but we must be cautious not to abuse it. In addition, we must take special care not to use it in such a way that it becomes a stumbling block to others.
Recovering alcoholics are not free to consume alcohol. They must avoid it because they have established habits of abuse. Their habit is to abuse it. So, to use it at all is to set the old habit into motion. Their weakness is their lack of control of that old habit.
Similarly recovering pagans had established patterns of beliefs and behaviors that were destructive to themselves and to the kingdom of God. Many, perhaps most of the Corinthian Christians were recovering pagans. Their weakness was the strength and tenacity of their old habits, their old patterns of belief and behavior. Like recovering alcoholics, recovering pagans could not engage their old habits without falling prey to them.
So, the problem was that if such a recovering pagan, a new Christian, saw some other respected Christian participating in pagan rituals and holiday celebrations, he might be tempted to participate as well, to engage in his old habits, his pagan worldview, before he has matured to the point that he can control those habits. He could easily get caught up in his old habits and ways of thinking, often without realizing it until it was too late. The truth is that we can all slip back into our own old habits of sin and immaturity all to easily. We are all creatures of habit and habits are hard to change.
While it is true that false gods have no power, idolatry and false belief are very strong human habits that have very deep roots in the human psyche. The false gods themselves have no real existence or power, but the habits of false belief and the behaviors they engender are very alluring and destructive. While drinking to excess is not a sin, a life of excessive drinking is deadly. It will interfere with and obstruct one's sanctification. So, even though it is not always a sin, said Paul, avoid it for the sake of your weaker brother. Don't let your knowledge of the truth, or your ability to not succumb to old habits, become the undoing of others. "And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died" (v. 11).
Paul makes this point later, "'All things are lawful,' but not all things are helpful. 'All things are lawful,' but not all things build up" (1 Corinthians 10:23). Just because we can, doesn't mean that we should. So, Paul counseled the Corinthians not to participate in the holiday celebrations or eat the food that had been dedicated to idols, not because it was a sin, nor because it would in any way harm them, but rather for the sake of the sanctification of those who were less mature, less stable in the faith, those who could still be drawn back into their old habits of false belief and destructive behavior.
The problem was that many Corinthian believers had not made a clean break with their former pagan beliefs and the destructive habits engendered by those false beliefs. So, Paul instructed the mature Corinthians to avoid participation in pagan holiday festivals in order to model the fact that genuine Christian faith was completely different than any former beliefs they may have had.
In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul defended himself and his teaching: "We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, 'I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty'" (2 Corinthians 6:11-18).
The Lord desires a clean and complete break with an unbelieving and pagan world, a clean and complete break with false beliefs that engender destructive behaviors. And such a clean break is the preeminent model of faithfulness. A model of faithfulness that does not provide a clean and complete break from false belief and immoral behavior, said Paul, would retard the growth and maturity of weaker Christians, all Christians really because the body of Christ is interdependent.
Paul argues chapter 14, "...if a trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle?" (1 Corinthians 14:8). It was the obligation of those who were mature in Christ to make their lives into Christian trumpets that sounded a clear and certain call to battle, a clear and certain separation from sin and from the temptations of old, godless habits. Not the battle of a so-called holy jihad, but the battle call of faithfulness to Christ through obedience to His Word. Christians are not called to violence, death or destruction, but to love, peace, life, knowledge, wisdom and maturity.
Are you a Christian? asked Paul. Then act like a Christian. Of course the Holy Spirit has the power to keep you from being personally effected by the silly cultural practices and beliefs associated with false beliefs and false gods. But God also uses sin to chastise and edify His people, to make them understand the importance of His ways. So, do not test God's power in the this matter, or in any other matter. Rather, be who you were called to be. Be faithful. Be the church, the ekklesia, the called out ones, those who really do dance to a different Drummer.
Don't get caught up in the false culture of false gods, even if you think you can dance that dance without tripping up. Avoid it because some other Christian who looks up to you may not be so light on his feet. Don't let your knowledge, strength and freedom lead others into sin. In Christ we are free, yet in Christ we are bound by the love of God to the love and care of God's people.
