1 Corinthians 8:1-3 responds to the church's question about meat from pagan temple rituals by shifting the ground of the discussion. Being "in the know," Paul cautions, tends to inflate the ego, while genuine care for people strengthens the whole community. Anyone who thinks knowing things for the sake of knowing things is a moral accomplishment is actually lacking in understanding. The person who directs himself toward God is the one God receives into intimate relationship.
1 Corinthians 8:1-3 opens the question of whether it is morally acceptable to consume food sacrificed to idols by redirecting the Corinthians from the information they possess about the topic to the love that guides wisdom concerning it. Paul begins with the topic they raised:
Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies (v 1).
We know translates "oidamen"--the settled-fact word. Paul includes himself with his readers: the believers in Corinth share a body of true information about idols and about God, and Paul shares that knowledge with them. Much of the meaning in this chapter centers around the concept of knowledge and knowing.
The Greek word root "oida" (the perfect of "eido," to see) means to know as one knows what one has seen; a settled fact, a held certainty. Paul uses it twice, both times as we know, in verse 1 and 1 Corinthians 8:4. Both times Paul uses a version of "oida" to state truths he and the Corinthians share: we know ("oida") "we know ['oida'] that we all have knowledge, and there is no such thing as an idol in the world" (1 Corinthians 8:4). "Oida" is the vocabulary of factual information.
Then Paul applies this factual knowledge ("oida") to another Greek word, "gnosis" also translated to English as knowledge.
The Greek verb "ginosko" appears four times and its noun "gnosis" appears five times in Chapter 8 (1 Corinthians 8:1, 7, 10, 11). All four occurrences of “ginosko” appear in verses 2 and 3. "Ginosko" carries the sense of knowledge gained through acquaintance, experience, and relationship.
The two families of Greek words regarding knowing overlap in everyday Greek, and the distinction is a tendency of usage rather than a clear line of demarcation. Yet the distribution in this chapter is worth noting: shared facts tend to flow from "oida," and every sentence that weighs the knower--how he knows, whether he loves, whether Godknows him--runs on "ginosko."
The Bible Says commentary on 2 Peter traces another arc of progression of knowledge. Peter distinguishes "gnosis," being mental comprehension of the truth (2 Peter 1:5, 3:18), from "epignosis," the full, intimate knowledge of a person (2 Peter 1:2-3, 8). That commentary notes that the believer's progress toward maturity leads from intellectual knowledge ("gnosis") to intimate relationship ("epignosis").
Here in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul writes primarily around "gnosis"--an understanding of the truth. The word "epignosis"--intimate experiential knowledge--appears nowhere in Paul's letters to Corinth, even though Paul uses it in most of his other letters. However, as we shall see, Paul will get to that same place through another means.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul sticks with factual knowledge ("oida") that leads to understanding ("gnosis"). Paul pictures what this factual knowledge does when it stands apart from a motivation of love. The Greek word "physioo," rendered makes arrogant in the phrase Knowledge makes arrogant pictures a swelling from within. The Greek word "oikodomeo," rendered edifies in the phrase but love edifies, derives from the image of constructing a house. To edify is to build up to meet a design.
Factual information "oida" that leads to the knowledge of understanding "ginosko" inflates its holder when it stands alone. But adding love raises a dwelling that connects with God's design. God's design is for humans to serve one another to seek mutual benefit. Love builds community, knowledge held apart from love builds ego. Ego serves self. It inevitably leads to division, which can be viewed as a competition between egos for attention and dominance. Ego-centrism leads to lording over, which is the opposite of God's design to seek mutual benefit. Love unites and lifts up.
The Corinthian church had divisions of loyalty, as we saw early in the letter. In 1 Corinthians 1:11-13 Paul cited a number of divisions. We will also see later divisions of class at the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:21), and divisions over gifts (1 Corinthians 12:14-26). Knowledge held without love is simply one more axis of division. In this case, the knowledge regards meat sacrificed to idols. But Paul begins with a general principle that is broadly applicable, that without loveknowledge does not achieve a useful end. The proper application of knowledge should be to seek benefit for others, which is love.
Paul then weighs the knower himself, in a single sentence that runs across two verses: If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him (vv 2-3).
Every "know" word in these two verses is a form of "ginosko," the coming-to-understand word. The point is that any man who supposes his knowing is complete has yet to learn what knowing is for. Knowledge is to be applied in service to others--that is God's good design for humanity (Matthew 20:28).
Toknowas he ought to know (v 2) is to hold knowledge the way it is meant to be held. Knowledge begins with the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7). To fear something is to order one's actions in priority to the consequences stemming from the object and context of the fear. If, while visiting the woods, you know bears are scrounging for food, it is proper to prioritize that knowledge and secure all your food.
To fear the Lord is to prioritize all He says and order our actions accordingly. When we order our actions according to God's statutes, it connects us with reality. God created all that is and gave us His word to inform us how it operates. God's instructions tell us how to gain the greatest experience in life. In fact, "life" is setting aside the world, which is disconnected from God's design due to the Fall. When we set aside the world and follow God's ways we connect with His design, which brings us the greatest experience of life (see commentary on Mathew 7:13-14).
Paul's statement that if anyone loves God, he is known by Him (v 3) goes a step beyond the fear of the Lord. To loveGod is to keep His commandments (John 14:21). And when we keep His commandments, we are known by Him. Although Paul does not use "epignosis" in this letter, he gets to the same concept using different vocabulary. To be known byGod is to be enveloped in relational intimacy.
In saying but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him (v 3), Paul asserts that a believer acting in love is what connects him to relational intimacy with God. To be known by Him is covenant language. The LORD spoke this way of Israel through Amos: "You only have I known among all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2). Jesus uses the same idiom in the reverse direction in His Sermon on the Mount when He says, "I never knew you; depart from Me" (Matthew 7:23). Paul uses it in Galatians 4:9: "But now that you have come to knowGod, or rather to be known by God."
Paul is heading toward elevating a motivation behind an action toward another believer over the action itself. Rather than seeking a justification for an action, Paul will lead us to prioritize the welfare of the other person as a primary motivation for our action. From the world's perspective, seeking the welfare of another at our cost is being a sucker. It is counterproductive and useless. It does not "get you ahead" of others.
Paul earlier noted that the ways of the world conflict with God's ways, saying, "If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise" (1 Corinthians 3:18). Just as with knowledge, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10). Prioritizing God's ways over the world's ways casts aside what the world considers wise and embraces what the world considers as foolish.
The verb is known is a perfect (continuing) form of "ginosko": God's knowing of the one who loves Him stands accomplished while also still continuing. The truest knowledge in the chapter runs from God toward the believer, and God's intimacy with us grows as we act in love for Him.
This verse plants a seed of love that flowers in 1 Corinthians 13. There Paul writes that knowledge "will be done away"--"if there is knowledge, it will be done away" (1 Corinthians 13:8)--while love never fails. Paul includes in Chapter 13, the "love chapter," a relational knowing with God as a new state we will experience in the life to come: "then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).
What Paul will develop is the basic idea that food is food, and idols are imaginary. So, what someone says or does with food before it is cooked and consumed is of no consequence in the real world; any consequence is only imagined. God is above such illusions. However, if a brother believes otherwise, then it is a matter of love to take that into account in choosing your actions.
It is better to do without than to act on true knowledge, doing something that is fine and good in and of itself, and cause a brother to stumble. If they believe illusions are real, then we should meet them where they are. In this passage, Paul sets up the underlying principle upon which this argument will stand, that love should supersede knowledge when making choices that involve others.
1 Corinthians 8:1-3
Take Care with Your Liberty
1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.
2 If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;
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1 Corinthians 8:1-3 meaning
1 Corinthians 8:1-3 opens the question of whether it is morally acceptable to consume food sacrificed to idols by redirecting the Corinthians from the information they possess about the topic to the love that guides wisdom concerning it. Paul begins with the topic they raised:
Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies (v 1).
We know translates "oidamen"--the settled-fact word. Paul includes himself with his readers: the believers in Corinth share a body of true information about idols and about God, and Paul shares that knowledge with them. Much of the meaning in this chapter centers around the concept of knowledge and knowing.
The Greek word root "oida" (the perfect of "eido," to see) means to know as one knows what one has seen; a settled fact, a held certainty. Paul uses it twice, both times as we know, in verse 1 and 1 Corinthians 8:4. Both times Paul uses a version of "oida" to state truths he and the Corinthians share: we know ("oida") "we know ['oida'] that we all have knowledge, and there is no such thing as an idol in the world" (1 Corinthians 8:4). "Oida" is the vocabulary of factual information.
Then Paul applies this factual knowledge ("oida") to another Greek word, "gnosis" also translated to English as knowledge.
The Greek verb "ginosko" appears four times and its noun "gnosis" appears five times in Chapter 8 (1 Corinthians 8:1, 7, 10, 11). All four occurrences of “ginosko” appear in verses 2 and 3. "Ginosko" carries the sense of knowledge gained through acquaintance, experience, and relationship.
The two families of Greek words regarding knowing overlap in everyday Greek, and the distinction is a tendency of usage rather than a clear line of demarcation. Yet the distribution in this chapter is worth noting: shared facts tend to flow from "oida," and every sentence that weighs the knower--how he knows, whether he loves, whether God knows him--runs on "ginosko."
The Bible Says commentary on 2 Peter traces another arc of progression of knowledge. Peter distinguishes "gnosis," being mental comprehension of the truth (2 Peter 1:5, 3:18), from "epignosis," the full, intimate knowledge of a person (2 Peter 1:2-3, 8). That commentary notes that the believer's progress toward maturity leads from intellectual knowledge ("gnosis") to intimate relationship ("epignosis").
Here in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul writes primarily around "gnosis"--an understanding of the truth. The word "epignosis"--intimate experiential knowledge--appears nowhere in Paul's letters to Corinth, even though Paul uses it in most of his other letters. However, as we shall see, Paul will get to that same place through another means.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul sticks with factual knowledge ("oida") that leads to understanding ("gnosis"). Paul pictures what this factual knowledge does when it stands apart from a motivation of love. The Greek word "physioo," rendered makes arrogant in the phrase Knowledge makes arrogant pictures a swelling from within. The Greek word "oikodomeo," rendered edifies in the phrase but love edifies, derives from the image of constructing a house. To edify is to build up to meet a design.
Factual information "oida" that leads to the knowledge of understanding "ginosko" inflates its holder when it stands alone. But adding love raises a dwelling that connects with God's design. God's design is for humans to serve one another to seek mutual benefit. Love builds community, knowledge held apart from love builds ego. Ego serves self. It inevitably leads to division, which can be viewed as a competition between egos for attention and dominance. Ego-centrism leads to lording over, which is the opposite of God's design to seek mutual benefit. Love unites and lifts up.
The Corinthian church had divisions of loyalty, as we saw early in the letter. In 1 Corinthians 1:11-13 Paul cited a number of divisions. We will also see later divisions of class at the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:21), and divisions over gifts (1 Corinthians 12:14-26). Knowledge held without love is simply one more axis of division. In this case, the knowledge regards meat sacrificed to idols. But Paul begins with a general principle that is broadly applicable, that without love knowledge does not achieve a useful end. The proper application of knowledge should be to seek benefit for others, which is love.
Paul then weighs the knower himself, in a single sentence that runs across two verses: If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him (vv 2-3).
Every "know" word in these two verses is a form of "ginosko," the coming-to-understand word. The point is that any man who supposes his knowing is complete has yet to learn what knowing is for. Knowledge is to be applied in service to others--that is God's good design for humanity (Matthew 20:28).
To know as he ought to know (v 2) is to hold knowledge the way it is meant to be held. Knowledge begins with the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7). To fear something is to order one's actions in priority to the consequences stemming from the object and context of the fear. If, while visiting the woods, you know bears are scrounging for food, it is proper to prioritize that knowledge and secure all your food.
To fear the Lord is to prioritize all He says and order our actions accordingly. When we order our actions according to God's statutes, it connects us with reality. God created all that is and gave us His word to inform us how it operates. God's instructions tell us how to gain the greatest experience in life. In fact, "life" is setting aside the world, which is disconnected from God's design due to the Fall. When we set aside the world and follow God's ways we connect with His design, which brings us the greatest experience of life (see commentary on Mathew 7:13-14).
Paul's statement that if anyone loves God, he is known by Him (v 3) goes a step beyond the fear of the Lord. To love God is to keep His commandments (John 14:21). And when we keep His commandments, we are known by Him. Although Paul does not use "epignosis" in this letter, he gets to the same concept using different vocabulary. To be known by God is to be enveloped in relational intimacy.
In saying but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him (v 3), Paul asserts that a believer acting in love is what connects him to relational intimacy with God. To be known by Him is covenant language. The LORD spoke this way of Israel through Amos: "You only have I known among all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2). Jesus uses the same idiom in the reverse direction in His Sermon on the Mount when He says, "I never knew you; depart from Me" (Matthew 7:23). Paul uses it in Galatians 4:9: "But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God."
Paul is heading toward elevating a motivation behind an action toward another believer over the action itself. Rather than seeking a justification for an action, Paul will lead us to prioritize the welfare of the other person as a primary motivation for our action. From the world's perspective, seeking the welfare of another at our cost is being a sucker. It is counterproductive and useless. It does not "get you ahead" of others.
Paul earlier noted that the ways of the world conflict with God's ways, saying, "If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise" (1 Corinthians 3:18). Just as with knowledge, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10). Prioritizing God's ways over the world's ways casts aside what the world considers wise and embraces what the world considers as foolish.
The verb is known is a perfect (continuing) form of "ginosko": God's knowing of the one who loves Him stands accomplished while also still continuing. The truest knowledge in the chapter runs from God toward the believer, and God's intimacy with us grows as we act in love for Him.
This verse plants a seed of love that flowers in 1 Corinthians 13. There Paul writes that knowledge "will be done away"--"if there is knowledge, it will be done away" (1 Corinthians 13:8)--while love never fails. Paul includes in Chapter 13, the "love chapter," a relational knowing with God as a new state we will experience in the life to come: "then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).
What Paul will develop is the basic idea that food is food, and idols are imaginary. So, what someone says or does with food before it is cooked and consumed is of no consequence in the real world; any consequence is only imagined. God is above such illusions. However, if a brother believes otherwise, then it is a matter of love to take that into account in choosing your actions.
It is better to do without than to act on true knowledge, doing something that is fine and good in and of itself, and cause a brother to stumble. If they believe illusions are real, then we should meet them where they are. In this passage, Paul sets up the underlying principle upon which this argument will stand, that love should supersede knowledge when making choices that involve others.