1 Corinthians 8:7-13 meaning

1 Corinthians 8:7-13 turns to the brother in whom the knowledge has yet to take hold and instructs the believer with knowledge to complete his knowledge with love. Paul introduces the believer who is without such knowledge:

However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled (v 7).

The Greek runs literally "the knowledge is not in all"--the information has been dispensed, yet in some it has yet to sink beneath the surface. Habits are difficult to displace; these believers are accustomed to the idol until now (v 7).

The word behind accustomed is "synetheia"--"habit," "long custom." Years of temple meals formed this brother before he believed, and that formation still informs his mind when he sees the meat. The weak brother has information, but it has not become experiential knowledge. His understanding is shaped by decades of experiential knowledge running the other way.

He has a lifetime of lived association between this meat and that god. Learning new information does not always displace experience that has formed the conscience over many years. His conscience is weak in exactly this sense: the truth he has heard has yet to become truth he has lived. A weak conscience here is one that lacks understanding.

So, when he eats, he eats as if it were sacrificed to an idol (v 7), with the inner posture of a man performing an act of idolatry. In his heart, it is as though he is worshipping the idol again. Therefore, his conscience is defiled--it shames him before God for doing what he believes is sin.

If we believe something is sinful, and we do it willingly, then it is a kind of sin. Though the thing itself might not be a sin in a vacuum, the willing choice to do something we think rebellious reveals a rebellious heart in a moment of choosing self over God. This is true even if the thing is not actually sinful. Paul states this principle plainly in Romans 14:23, where he is addressing the same issue and says, "He who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin."

Faith is believing what God says is true and acting upon it. As we see in Habakkuk 2:4, the opposite of believing what God says is true is to believe what we want to believe, apart from God. Habakkuk 2:4 calls this being a "proud one." Whether in defiance, as in Habakkuk 2:4, or in functional ignorance as with these Corinthians, the answer to living what is true is to live in faith.

However, those who live in faith need to bear in mind that others have not yet gained spiritual understanding. They are still burdened with false views that are not of faith, meaning not from God. It is inferred these brothers are not in defiance, leading others to stumble. Those leading others to stumble are to be opposed (Titus 1:10-11, Revelation 2:14). Those acting in ignorance need to be loved through setting aside liberty for unity.

Paul notes that food is a neutral agent in this matter. What is at issue is what we think of the food. Paul says, But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat (v 8).

Both eating and abstaining leaves the believer's standing before God unchanged (food will not commend us to God (v 8)). God is indifferent to whether we are full or hungry. What He cares about is our thoughts. The "Why" of what we do is what matters. If we eat as unto the Lord, that is good. And if we abstain from eating as unto the Lord it is also good. This applies to any food, regardless of whether someone has pronounced some words over it.

The brother with the knowledge of what is true is free to eat or not eat. He can do either as unto the Lord, and it is fine before God. But there is more at stake than just the eater. There is the watcher. We need to be aware also how our actions impact others: But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak (v 9).

The knowing believer has liberty; he is free to eat or not eat. Liberty is the freedom to make choices. God gave humans choice and desires that we use our capacity to choose in a manner that is consistent with our design. When we act according to our design we please God as well as gaining the maximum benefit for ourselves and for others. Making wise choices trains us to be good stewards.

We can decide, with respect to ourselves, to eat or not to eat. God leaves circumstantial choices to us. He only desires that we decide within the limits He has established, that we might be sanctified (1 Thessalonians 4:3). However, He also desires we take others into account and seek their best.

It is a settled right that believers can eat meat regardless of whether a priest of an imaginary god has mumbled gibberish over it. This liberty is grounded in the knowledge of 1 Corinthians 8:4-6. However, this liberty can affect others if exercised. Therefore, Paul instructs the believer with liberty to take care how their liberty is applied.

The Greek word translated liberty appears often in scripture but is usually translated "authority." Paul exhorts us to set aside rights in order to serve others. This is the same mindset Jesus had when He set aside His right to remain in heaven as God and came to earth to serve His Father by serving humanity (Philippians 2:5-10).

A stumbling block is the obstacle in the road that trips the traveler. The Greek word "proskomma," translated as a stumbling block, is applied in other passages to refer to Jesus, who caused the Jews to stumble, as prophesied by the Old Testament (Romans 9:33, 1 Peter 2:8).

Paul makes the situation concrete with a setting his readers knew, the situation of a person dining in a pagan temple:

For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? (v 10).

The dining halls attached to temples--well attested archaeologically in Corinth--hosted civic feasts, guild meals, and social gatherings as a normal part of public life. Paul names the one dining by the chapter's key word: you, who have knowledge (v 10) ("gnosis").

The weak brother sees a man whose standing in the church he trusts, and is strengthened to eat what his conscience condemns. In doing so, his conscience is defiled and he sins. As we see in Romans 1:24, 26, 28, sin is a progressive self-destruction. Paul wants us to consider others, and avoid sending them down a road that leads to destruction. He wants us to consider their welfare above our own desires, even if those desires are fine and good.

Strengthened in the phrase speaking of the one who stumbles being strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols translates "oikodomeo," the same building-word rendered "edifies"--to build up--in the 1 Corinthians 8:1 phrase "love edifies." Knowledge exercised with love edifies, it builds up. Knowledge acted upon without love also builds, but it builds strength in the weaker brother; it gives him confidence to act against his own conscience, which leads him to sin.

Loveless knowledge that acts without considering others can become a stumbling block.

Paul names the outcome: For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died (v 11).

Through your knowledge, "gnosis" becomes the instrument of ruin for the weaker brother. He follows your example, you who understand this is fine, and in doing so he defiles his conscience and falls into sin. In falling into sin, he is ruined.

The Greek word "apollymi" translated as is ruined carries the idea of destruction. This is a brother, a believer, the brother for whose sake Christ died (v 11). Christ gave His life for the man. The man is in Christ. And still, he can be destroyed by sin. Why? The consequence of sin is destruction.

This is one of Paul's primary themes in his writings--that Jesus has fully satisfied the full requirements of the Law before God, but there are still major consequences for the choices made by believers (Colossians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 3:15). Choices that align with God's commands lead to life, which is connection with God's design. And choices that do not align with God's design lead to death, which is separation from God's design.

Believers in Jesus are fully accepted in God's sight regardless of actions taken subsequent to their belief (2 Timothy 2:11, 13). God is the believer's unconditional inheritance, regardless of our choices (Romans 8:17a). This is because Jesus did all the work required for our salvation; we contributed nothing (Ephesians 2:8-9).

But the consequences for a believer's actions are still immense. God prepared works for us to walk in, which require our choice to participate (Ephesians 2:10). All deeds we do will be evaluated to determine rewards in the kingdom that is to come, as Paul noted a few chapters earlier (2 Corinthians 5:10) and as he discussed at length in his first letter to Corinth (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

Therefore, every choice a believer makes should be intentional. In Philippians, Paul exhorts believers to choose the same mindset or perspective ("phroneo" in Greek) that Jesus chose. Jesus chose to place pleasing His Father as the highest good, above all comfort and all privilege. Giving up a meal for the benefit of a brother is a very small version of Jesus giving up His life for the benefit of humanity (Philippians 2:5-9).

The believer can have their life here on earth ruined as well as their rewards in the age to come ruined. In the age to come, all not done as unto the Lord in this life will burn in the judgement fire of God (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). That which remains will be like gold, silver, and precious stones that are refined, rather than consumed, by fire.

And sin brings wreckage to whoever chooses it. As Paul sets forth in Romans 6:16, when believers choose sin, they choose the consequence of sin, which is death. Death is separation, as we see in James 2:26, where death is described as the separation of body and spirit. The death sin brings to a believer is to separate them from God's design and therefore from His blessings.

When we separate from God's design and from fellowship with Him, we join with the world. And the fruits of the world are quite terrible--the behaviors listed that stem from the world and the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21 are a nightmare to experience.

Paul then identifies that for a believer with a strong conscience, using freedom apart from love actually places them into sin: And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ (v 12).

The exercise of liberty apart from love receives three descriptions in this section: it creates a stumbling block for the weaker brother (v 9), this leads to the brother being ruined (v 11), and the ruination against the brother then becomes, for the strong brother, a sin against Christ (v 12). Liberty becomes ruin becomes sin. What is fine and good can become sin if it leads weaker brothers to sin.

The members of the church are members of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). Wounding a member wounds the Lord whose body it is. Saul on the Damascus road heard the risen Christ ask, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"--when Saul had been persecuting Christians (Acts 9:4). Jesus said, "to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:40).

When believers deal with other believers in the faith, we need to bear in mind that in dealing with them we are dealing with Christ. This is because all believers are in Christ. All believers are members of His body, a point Paul will hammer home in Chapter 12. So all believers should be dealt with in a spirit of intentionality.

This passage concerns acting out of welfare for the weaker brother. There are other instructions for other circumstances in dealing believer to believer, such as withdrawing from those who will not listen to sound teaching (1 Timothy 6:3-5) and rebuking those who are in sin (1 Timothy 5:20). In each case the welfare of the other is being sought. The strong brother should avoid giving the weaker brother an example that leads him to sin, but it is also in the best interest of others to teach and lead them to follow Christ's commands.

Paul closes this chapter with the culminating conclusion of his argument that love should supersede liberty: Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble (v 13).

It is noteworthy that Paul here phrases this as a personal application to himself. Instead of saying "you" should not eat meat, he says I will never eat meat (v 13). In saying this, Paul honors the liberty he spoke of before. Each person is to choose. And circumstances differ. Rather than making a rote judgement or a rule (such as commanding everyone to become vegetarian), Paul imparts wisdom to inform good judgement. Each believer gets to choose, but they need to choose wisely, for their actions have consequences.

Paul sets forth for himself a hyperbolic stance--I will never eat meat again (v 13)--to apply to a hypothetical case--if food causes my brother to stumble (v 13). In saying this, Paul proclaims that love is unlimited in its application. There is no standard of "enough is enough" when it comes to making consideration for a weaker brother.

The reason is clear: so that I will not cause my brother to stumble (v 13). Paul desires to do only good. He will take the same posture in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22, where he becomes "all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some." This is in the spirit of winning at life. As Paul asserts in 1 Corinthians 9:27, he disciplines his body in order to win the race of life and receive the crown of reward from Jesus.

• In 1 Corinthians 9, he explains why he works with his own hands rather than asking for money from the Corinthians, and it is for the same reason--he deems it to be the best possible means of advancing the gospel. Paul’s orientation is as an investor--an investor in eternity. And he invests in eternity by seeking the best for others.
  
  
• As he says in 1 Corinthians 9:4-7, Paul had a right to be supported financially as a minister. He chose not to use that right in order to be more effective for others as well as for himself. Paul conveys the same attitude here. He will forego whatever privilege he needs to forego in order to benefit others in the gospel.
  
  
• Knowledge in Paul's hands serves love, and liberty in his hands is a thing to be set aside for the benefit of the weaker brother. Knowledge is good, but is to be applied in love. As we saw in this chapter regarding knowledge:

The "oida" knowledge facts of 1 Corinthians 8:1, 4 are true and shared: the idol is nothing, God is one.

The "ginosko" knowledge sentences of verses 1 Corinthians 8:2-3 move knowledge to relationship: knowledge is completed in love.

The five appearances of "gnosis" ("know") highlight that knowing apart from love is not useful: it inflates (1 Corinthians 8:1), for some it fails to sink in (1 Corinthians 8:7), and applied in liberty without love it leads to the ruin of others (1 Corinthians 8:10-11).

The Apostle Peter maps the road for the maturing believer from faith to love: faith supplies moral excellence, moral excellence supplies knowledge, and the ladder climbs rung by rung until it ends in love (2 Peter 1:5-7). This is the process for the believer to grow "in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). 1 Corinthians 8 is Paul's urging forward of the Corinthian believers to follow that same road of discipleship.

As already mentioned, Chapter 9 will show Paul practicing setting aside liberty for effectiveness in his own ministry: he has the right to be paid, and he waives payment so that the gospel will run unhindered. Chapter 10 will elevate the warning against idolatry: the idol is nothing, and the worship behind it is fellowship with demons, which the believer must flee. Read together, chapters 8-10 give the full answer of how knowledge finds its proper place under love, liberty finds its proper use in building up the brother, and the believer's knowing finds its finish line where Paul placed it, in winning the crown of life (1 Corinthians 9:25-26).