The Bible Says Commentary on 1 Corinthians 8

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 8:4-6 establishes the facts both Paul and the Corinthians accept: a pagan image is a lifeless object with no power behind it, and only the single true God is real. The surrounding culture honors a crowd of invented deities, yet none of them actually governs anything. For believers, everything traces to one source––the Father, who made the universe and gives His people their purpose, and Jesus Christ, the agent through whom creation and our own life came.

1 Corinthians 8:7-13 describes how some believers, shaped by years of pagan worship, still feel sinful if they eat meat offered to idols. What we eat neither raises nor lowers anyone's standing before God, so the informed believer gives up nothing by abstaining out of sensitivity for others. But exercising that freedom in front of a weaker believer can pressure him to violate his own convictions and so wreck his walk with the Lord. Damaging a fellow believer this way wrongs Christ Himself. Paul would rather permanently give up his rightful freedom than trip up someone in God's family.