1 Corinthians 8
1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.
The Corinthians wanted to know whether it was okay to eat food sacrificed to idols. Some thought that it was okay whereas others did not.
Just knowing the truth is not enough, says Paul. Knowledge must be combined with love. If you love someone you will want to do what’s best for him, whereas if you just have knowledge you will tend to use your knowledge to show yourself as superior to those who don’t have that knowledge. Keeping this in mind is especially important when you share in Bible studies.
2 If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;
3 but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.
When considering any subject, if you only focus on knowledge then you haven’t yet comprehended things properly – you also have to focus on the impact of the knowledge on the other person.
If you love God then God knows you. Now, in the traditional sense, from 1 Jn 3:20, we know that God knows all things. In Mt 10:29-30 we read that God keeps tabs on sparrows and numbers all the hair on your head. So clearly, when verse 3 says that those who love God are known by Him, there is more than the obvious meaning to that statement.
1 Jn 3:20 20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
Mt 10:29-30 29 "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Mt 7:23 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
The word used for ‘known’ in verse 3 is a rather interesting word, and its translation in the New Testament sheds light on its true meaning. So let’s explore it a bit more…
For example, when the angel appeared to Mary to announce that she would bear the Messiah, and she wanted to communicate to the angel that she was a virgin, she used this word (which is translated as ‘virgin’ in Lk 1:34).
Lk 1:34 34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
In Mt 7:23, when Jesus says that He never knew them, the Greek word He used for ‘knew’ is the same one that is also used in Lk 1:34 by Mary to indicate that she was a virgin (not known to man).
Similarly, Matthew also uses it in Mt 1:25 to indicate that Joseph kept Mary a virgin until she gave birth to Jesus.
Mt 1:25 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
We also see a similar usage in the Old Testament, in Jud 21:12.
Jud 21:12 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
How is the traditional understanding of ‘knowing’ related to the usage just described above? If you think of knowing something as knowledge and understanding of that something entering your mind then you can see the relationship. The key metaphor is that knowing is about something entering the person that knows. When a man knows a woman, he imparts his genetic material into her.
In the usage in 2 Cor 5:21 we see that Jesus knew no sin in the sense that sin was never able to enter into Him.
2 Cor 5:21 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
This word for ‘know’ is the same one that Paul used in 1 Cor 8:3 and Gal 4:9.
1 Cor 8:3 3 but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.
Gal 4:9 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?
Similarly, in 1 Cor 8:3 and Gal 4:9, when Paul uses the word in saying that those who love God are known by Him, he means that those who love God are born again and receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, resulting in a new creation, just as when a man knows a woman, she receives his sperm and the result is a new creation. If you love God, you are known by Him in the sense that His Spirit is in you, transforming you to become more like Him. Thus, those of whom Jesus says that He never knew, those are the ones who don’t love Him, and therefore don’t have His indwelling Spirit, and are not being transformed to become like by Him.
Keeping all this in mind, we can understand that when Jesus says, in Mt 7:23, that He never knew these people, He means that they never loved Him, and didn’t do all those things they mentioned out of love for Him, but for selfish reasons. The ones who love God have His Spirit in them, and He transforms them so that they live a life of continual repentance, always seeking to obey His commandments – which is the opposite of practicing lawlessness.
Mt 7:23 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
It is possible for people who don’t have the indwelling Holy Spirit to do miracles in the name of the true God. We see this in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit came upon people like Samson and David and Elijah and Elisha, and the other prophets, and they did miracles and amazing feats of strength, but they were never indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That only became possible after Jesus paid the price for our sins.
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.
5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,
6 yet for us there is {but} one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we {exist} for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we {exist} through Him.
There is one God, the Father. Interestingly, Paul is not saying here that there is one God in three persons. Why does he put it this way?
The Father is our God because He created us (we are from Him) for His good pleasure (we are for Him). Jesus is our Lord because God used Jesus to create us (we exist through Him).
Paul’s point is that an idol is nothing but an inanimate object (it didn’t create us or wasn’t the instrument through which we were created) and therefore sacrificing something to an idol is quite irrelevant, and therefore eating something sacrificed to an idol is harmless.
However, in Chapter 10 he adds that if you are told that the food is sacrificed to idols then you should not eat it – just so that the person who told you doesn’t think that you are disloyal to your God.
We exist for the Father.
All things are from the Father.
We exist through Jesus because all things were created through Jesus.
7 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.
8 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.
9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
10 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?
11 For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.
12 And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.
Even though eating food sacrificed to an idol is not sinful, if you think it is sinful and still eat it then to you it is sin. Your conscience is weak because you think that something that is not sinful is sinful. Your conscience becomes defiled if you do something that you think is sin.
Eating something does not cause you to sin. You can eat anything if you give thanks and eat it with a good conscience.
The point however, is that your action should not cause someone else to stumble. Specifically, if someone sees you doing something that they think is sin, and he does it too just because you did it, even though he thinks it is sin, then your liberty is resulting in someone else falling into sin, and that is not good. It is not good because when your action causes someone else to sin then you too have sinned.
Women who dress immodestly should meditate on this chapter. If the clothes you wear or the way you walk and talk causes someone to sin then you sin too.
Fathers should watch what they say and do so that they don’t cause their teenage sons to stumble.
Mothers should watch what they say and do so that they don’t cause their teenage daughters to stumble.
Youth leaders should watch what they say and do so that they don’t cause the teenagers in their group to stumble.
Pastors and leaders should watch what they say and do so that they don’t cause their flock to stumble.
In general, we shouldn’t say and do things just because we can. We have to think about how it will impact those around us.
Lastly, this does not give us license to do things offensive to God in order to not offend some other human being. We should do things for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31) and not merely to avoid offending some unbeliever.
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