Day 111: Thinking of others - 1 Corinthians 8 vs 1 – 13

1-3 Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much.  But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognises.

4 So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. 5 There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. 6 But for us, there is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live. 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.

8-10 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. But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. 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. (Link to English Standard Version)

I've used the New Living Translation for today's thoughts because, while I regard it as more a paraphrase than a translation, it does explain this chapter well. In the times the Bible was written much of the meat that was eaten came from sacrifices that had been made to idol gods. So Christians were faced with the question “should I buy and eat meat that came from an animal that was sacrificed to idols?” What was the reason why many Christians said there was no problem with eating such meat? (vs 4)

Paul agreed with that and in vs 5-6 clearly states what Christians know to be true. (It's worth looking closely at the words he uses there about the Father and the Son). But what was the problem that could arise from Christians enjoying their freedom to eat whatever meat they fancied? (vs 7).

It's clear that Christians don’t all have the same depth of understanding of the Bible. Some may be brand new Christians, others may have come out of very different backgrounds, some may have weaker faith. In the case at Corinth, some of these weaker believers were confused when they saw stronger Christians freely doing what they thought was wrong. (vs 7) Now the natural response of people would be to say: “Well, that's their problem.” But what was Paul's way of looking at such issues? (vs 8-9 & 13)

Paul was not arguing for being vegetarian. He was teaching that stronger believers should do all they can (even if their personal freedom was cramped) to help the weaker believer. What does he base taking such a drastic step on? (vs 11-12)

He's says that if we use our better knowledge of the freedom we have in Christ to 'do our own thing' without thinking of how our actions could hurt others, then we are not showing the love that Christ has loved us with, and which He wants us to show to others. That's how he started in vs 1-3 and it’s what vs 11-12 emphasise. He puts it very strongly. If our selfishness hurts fellow Christians – we are sinning against Christ! Meat is not an issue for us today – but we can think about whether any of our activities or attitudes might be hurtful to others. Are we those who insist on our way of doing things, or does the love of Christ cause us to think of others?