1st Corinthians Chapter
Eight
Commentary by Ron Beckham
Verse 1.
"Now concerning things offered to idols; We know that we all have
knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies."
Some people simply have more
knowledge than other people. Some obviously have greater liberty. Does
this mean that not all are the same in the body of Christ? Yes, that
is precisely correct. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are variously given
to all who simply love Him. Yet those gifts are not the same and
neither are those who have them. Our situations in life are different
and so are the gifts we are given. This is seen in the careful
description of the Temple, contained in the Book of Ezekiel (Chapters 40-48). Each one of us is a
building block of the Temple, and yet each block performs a different
function and is found in a variety of places within the Temple.
One has "word of knowledge"
which absolutely guarantees that he will "see" something that others
will not know about or understand. One has wisdom, which may well
be lacking in the one who has the knowledge. Someone is adept at
helping others and someone else is not. There is a special gift of
prayer or of faith --- not all are the same. One is able to understand
that a healing is imminent for a sick friend. All see the sickness, but
perhaps only one sees the mind of the Lord in and for the life
of that sick person.
"Doctrines" are especially
difficult for Christians because we all see different aspects of God
and of life. Sadly, we often have little patience with the doctrines of
other people. A "doctrine" is defined as "a principle or position or
the body of principles in a branch of knowledge or system of belief."
If enough theologians adopt a certain position about something or other,
it is called a "doctrine." If a large number adopt similar doctrines,
we have a denomination. It’s hard to say when a group of churches
become a denomination but agreement on and solidification of doctrinal
positions is a large step down that road. There is a difficulty in
that the "doctrine" can become an idol. Denominations are not bad.
Doctrines are not bad. Love is simply greater than all our doctrines.
When someone says you can’t have
music in your church, or you must have a certain kind of music, that’s a
doctrine. Somewhat simple doctrinal positions include methods of entry
into a church, usually involving some form of baptism. Recent issues
that have divided many in the church have included the present work of
the Holy Spirit. I was on the school maintenance crew during my third
year of college. An older man (Dan Grubbs) who was in charge of that
crew told me that (as a boy) he and his family were surrounded in their
home by horseback riding, six gun firing "Christians" who objected to
his family’s belief on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The terrified
family was ordered to "leave town" by the leader of the gang outside
while shots were fired into the air. Dan was a fine man and I'm sure,
based on a year of observing him, he came from a fine family.
I think every one of us should
take a hard look at Paul’s introductory statement into this section
that "knowledge puffs up" but it is LOVE that builds up or "edifies."
The way that knowledge "puffs up" is really kind of sad: When someone
knows something that someone else does not know, two things often
happen. The person who knows tends to feel superior to the one who does
not know. That person also tends to feel contempt for the
unenlightened other person. For their part, on the other side, the
"ignorant" person feels inferior to the one who knows and doesn’t like
it. This counter-emotion brings envy, which gives birth to anger. A
breach occurs between two or more people who should love one another,
but for all practical purposes, do not.
Notice that I have not commented
on the rightness or wrongness of the doctrine. The whole problem as
expressed by Paul, is not so much our "knowledge" as to whether we are
right or wrong, but our attitude toward the other person. Our smug
assurance that we are right, is like a cancer in the Body of Christ. A
non-Christian who counted all the competing churches in a local telephone book, used that large number as a
way of stating that
something is seriously wrong within a religious system that disagrees
with itself so much. He had a point.
Fortunately, we are not saved by
religious systems, but by the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the answer to
the man (the guy who counted) and to each one of us. It is not our
success in mastering doctrines that matters, though doctrines can be
helpful in defining what we believe. It is our LOVE or the lack of it,
that defines us as Christians and as people.
Verse 2.
"And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he
ought to know."
I’ve found
during the last few years that I find myself having less confidence
about what I know. In fact, I have been discovering that we all know less
than we think we do.
Sure I have my doctrinal beliefs; and you and I might agree in many
areas. But they don’t MATTER so much to me anymore. The only thing I
find important is Christ and Him crucified, dead, buried, and
resurrected, seated at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for
you and for me. He is my Redeemer and we surely have needed redemption,
which is far more important than anything we think we might know.
He is the One we ALL should really know. I remember in one of several Christology (Theology
about Christ) classes in college, a classroom debate was on about when
the rapture would occur. We all could participate but there were three
key debaters, for the pre-trib, mid-trib, and post-trib positions. The
pre-trib guy, a former U.S. Marine Corps officer who presently was a Christian & Missionary
Alliance pastor, was asked, "What if you look in today’s paper and see
the Anti Christ, the Beast, strange trumpets sounding, frogs doing this
& that; in other words, what will you DO, if you suddenly find yourself
in the middle of the tribulation?" His answer was great: "Why, I will
change my theory about WHEN the rapture will occur."
I have been fortunate to attend churches that hold doctrines that are very
different than mine. If you can think of a doctrine, I probably have
attended a Christian church where they address that belief. In addition, I
probably have had a close acquaintance with at least one person who
holds such an idea to be very important. I have learned that what is
really important is CHRIST. We may wrap our gift in a variety of ways, but the
important thing is the gift, not the wrapping paper.
This is hard to do. If someone hammers us with
a definition of certain ideas, there is a tendency to resist what they
say, a few minutes into a
monologue about this or that. It took years to discover
that I often objected more to the smug attitude of the person making the
assertion, than the doctrine itself. I also discovered that in our
assertions of certain ideas, we all tend to be smug. I have a
friend who does not believe in a literal hell. I do not agree with that
position, for a variety of reasons, but I really LOVE that person in the
Lord.
They are so gentle and obviously love others even more than they love the
doctrines they espouse. The two of us have cautiously learned to DISAGREE IN LOVE,
on this and other areas we do not have in common. In certain areas, we
do not discuss anything at all, out of love for one another.
What a blessing. We love our
Lord. REALLY love him, and that love is so life-changing that we
care for
one another, even though we disagree on much. We
are ONE in Him, inside where it counts, instead of outside in the world
of the ideas of humanity.
Notice again that doctrines are
fine and beliefs are wonderful. The ability to think is given by the
Lord. But our true doctrine should be Christ and Him Crucified and
Risen from the dead. Everything stands
or falls in Him.
Verse 3.
"But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him."
Notice that if we really love
God, we are "known BY Him." You would expect Paul to address it the
other way: If we really love Him, it will demonstrate that WE know
HIM. Now, to really "know" another person
includes that we publicly acknowledge
them. A real friend has time for us, even
when we are in a hurry. How does God honor us? Why, by giving us
Himself! He begins, way deep inside, the process of changing us into
the very substance and nature of what He is. The gifts He has
given us are really enormous and very wonderful.
He has given us FAITH, the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews
11:1). He has
given us the very Holy Spirit of God. We are given assurance of
salvation. We are given gifts of the Holy Spirit, that we might find
ourselves knowing things and doing things in the lives of other people,
which bring glory to God, healing to them, and joy to us. The
bad-tempered person is given "gentleness and self-control" (Gal. 5:23).
The unloving is given love. The unhappy receive joy; the thief is
given honesty and faithfulness. The impatient finds
themselves becoming "longsuffering" within trouble.
God’s holy angels know us
because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. We are blessed
beyond measure because we are known by Him.
Verse 4.
"Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know
that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but
one."
The world is full of religions.
Look around the world and you can only conclude that human beings are
incurably religious. I have bumped into the delightful argument on many
occasions that the atheist is actually religious because he states on
faith there is no God, which is a religious position. The Buddhist, who
we would include among the "religious" also insists that ultimately
there is no God. The humanist often takes a view of man that is
quasi-religious because man is often elevated to the place of God in his
belief structure (which is a form of idolatry and is therefore a type of
religion).
Idolatry can take a variety of
forms. We are defined by what we do; by what we give our attention to. The
definition of "worship" includes the meaning "to regard with great, even
extravagant respect, honor or devotion" (Webster’s New Collegiate
Dictionary). If we give all our time to our TV set, are we not devoted to
it? If we spend all our time in the evening on our computer, do we respect
and honor this machine more than we do our family? Do we lead our children
into actual idolatry by such an example? Should we be surprised when they
do not want to take time away from friends and play in order to attend
church?
It is a real advantage to have
the certainty of this verse that idols are "nothing" at all. This is a
great verse for the person on the mission-field who encounters actual
idol-worship, as has happened to many. We need have no doubt about the
idol: It is just a stone, or a section of carved wood or a piece of
metal. It can be ornate or simple, but it has no life of any kind and
it has no power in relation to us at all.
Years ago, we were praying (and
fasting) in relation to a demon possessed man, who claimed to represent
a demon named "Power." He was pretty scary in appearance and what he
said. I recall that while he kept threatening to kick me in the face,
he never did. God lives in us, if we trust in Him, and God is sovereign
over all. He protects us and we can trust in Him.
Verse 5.
"For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as
there are many gods and many lords),"
To say something is a
so-called "god," does not make it a "god" at all. I remember years ago
before I turned to the Lord and was involved in "Eastern" religious ideas,
I received a great surprise. It was during a time of "meditation" (not in the
Biblical way) that I somehow drew a demon into our home. There was no doubt about the
thing - it was there, it was real. I had not previously believed in them at all,
but now, suddenly, I did - I had no choice, for it was REAL. I called a
lady who had the reputation of being "religious" and she told me to pray
in the Name of Jesus Christ that it would go away. I did pray and it did
go away. I
recall concluding that if the invisible "bad guys" could exist, then it
occurred to me that angels, and even God, could exist as well.
There is only one God. There is
only one Lord, one Savior, one Way to find God, and His Name is Jesus
Christ. There is more to reality than we often understand; some of it
is frightening and some of it is wonderful. But our Lord is the only
true God and we can find REST for our souls - in Him.
Verse 6.
"yet for us there is only one God, and Father, of whom are all things,
and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things,
and through whom we live."
Paul revealed Christ to the Athenians in this manner: "In Him we live and move and have our being"
(Acts 17:28). We live because of Him --- He is the Author of our very
existence; we have our very BEING in Him. How can we possibly reply,
"It’s my life and I can do with it what I want." We can say it, but to
hold that position is absurd. We don’t belong to ourselves or to any
other created being. We belong to Him. Notice that we even MOVE in
Him. Next time you encounter someone or hear about someone who cannot
move because of injury or whatever, remember this: you move,
not because you are skilled in moving, but because of His Grace in
letting you do it.
Recognize very carefully Jesus Christ, is for you the center of all that is. As Paul
said, "in Him we live and move and have our being." Without Christ
consciously and actively sustaining your atomic structure, you would
cease to exist at this very moment. How did He do this while He limited
Himself and was with us on earth? I really do not know, and that is
exactly the point - He is God. That means, among other things, that He
can be in one place and yet in all other places as well. We do not
comprehend this because we are not God. Thank Him for the breath you
just took, for through Him, you live and move and have your very
being.
Notice it says "and we for Him"
--- He knows us by changing us into His image, and we on our
side acknowledge Him as the very source of our lives.
Verse 7.
"However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with
consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an
idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled."
Romans 14 is a sort of "twin"
chapter to this one. And in Romans 14, he (Paul) expands on the subject
in a wider manner than he does here. Another example used in the letter
to the Romans, was the subject of preferring one DAY over another.
That is, do we worship on Sunday, or Saturday, or Friday at dusk to
Saturday at dusk? Is Wednesday evening somehow more designed for prayer
than other nights? These are good questions and Paul answers them
that, for him, all days belong to the Lord. Yet he also acknowledges
that not all people believe the same things about eating certain foods
and attending church on specified days. In that chapter, he concludes
with statements like, "not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies
for himself" (14:7); "let us not judge one another any more" (14:13);
"let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of
one another" (14:19); and "whatever is not from faith is sin" (14:23).
Take some time and read Romans
14. Take out the words "eating" and "certain days" and put in YOUR
favorite doctrine, or the favorite doctrine of your obnoxious neighbor:
See how these ideas fit into all of this. Take a look at YOUR doctrine
and see if it is essential to your faith in Jesus Christ. See if it is
essential to others. Paul never said doctrines are bad; he only said that
love is better.
Verse 8.
"But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the
better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse."
There is a church I know about
where they will not use musical instruments, which offended my mother
(the accomplished organist and pianist) greatly. I also know that this
is the same group, that when I took my oldest son to Nashville for micro surgery
at Vanderbilt, and we landed there with only $30.00 left in my pocket,
it was people from THAT denomination (the no musical instruments group)
that took us in. They fed us, let us have the run of their home, gave
us a key to their place, and handed us the Church van to drive around
in - for a month, while waiting for the surgery to be scheduled, and
then during the post-operative time before they would let my son
travel. Look at the WHOLE of the person, the WHOLE of the group and not
just what offends you. When you look at them and their ideas, be
thinking, "What is essential" (it leads us to Christ) or "non-essential"
(it does not). Also, you are free to look at their love (or its' lack)
and we must look at ourselves in that regard, as well.
Verse 9.
"But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block
to those who are weak."
Now, we may have great freedom in
Christ. We may be able to say things and do things which would be a
stumbling-block to others. Or it may be the other way around; they
can do things and we cannot. Remember, if we regard one another as
Christians, we also, to at least some extent, look to them as
models for our behavior. If I see you doing something that I am
convinced is forbidden to me, I may be tempted and fall into sin. You
may see me do something, gasp at what I have done, but then try to do
it, too. Though the behavior may be nothing to the man performing it,
it may be the beginning of a long fall for the other person. Liberty to
the one might be license to the other. "Freedom" to you might be a trap
for me. Let us prayerfully consider the needs of others and
be slow to act in a manner that might be offensive to them and their
trust in God.
I may not be bound to your
doctrine but I am bound to you in love, in Christ.
Verse 10.
"For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple,
will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those
things offered to idols?"
One of the blessings of the past couple of decades
in Christ for me, was the two years I spent with a group of truly saved
Roman Catholics. These were people who had received our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, in a way that Protestants would all accept and
understand, as "evangelical" Christians. The time with them was
wonderful - I have seldom ever felt so loved. They had questions
and ways of looking at things that changed my perceptions -
forever. They had tended to look at Protestants much like the latter
look at Catholics, with suspicion and a conviction that the other group
could not possibly be fully right and still hold to that church. I was
received into leadership among them, as sort of a "token" Protestant -
they called me "the Protestant." Yet we agreed utterly on the Person of
Christ and on our love for one another.
I have known persons in both
groups who cannot accept that persons in the other group could remain
there, if they are truly "saved." The Catholics I knew, during that
time, had looked to the Lord and had determined that He fully intended
for them to remain precisely where they were. We just finished a
chapter (1 Corinthians 7) where the Lord strongly encouraged us, through Paul, to
remain in the condition in which we were when we were called to Him.
Does this include Catholicism? Protestantism? You might look at your
heart in that matter.
Verse 11.
"And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom
Christ died?"
This is what we seldom realize
in the Body of Christ---that others are intently looking at us and to
us. Those who steadfastly refuse to receive God, over and over again
have a reason: "I won’t go to Church," they often say, "because I don’t
want to be with all those hypocrites!" And they’re right, to a great
extent (they’re also wrong, but that’s another area of discussion) –
amazingly we tend to be narrow and unforgiving (after having BEEN
forgiven by God).
Congregations that thrill to the
testimony of a reformed drug dealer, will often reject the one who has
been divorced and subsequently remarried. You get invited to attend a
local church, but are shunned when you get there, because you have the
wrong kind of haircut (or none at all). People have all too often felt
rejected in churches because of "racial" differences. What happens when
you truly receive Christ, are desirous of attending Church, but have not
yet been delivered from smoking? - Some will receive you, but some will
not.
What about doctrines? I have
long held the theory that we should be able to disagree in love. Yet
we are often not permitted to disagree. I have a mind that
loves to speculate and ideas are great fun for me. However, it has
proved to be best to limit speculation in discussions with those around
me. We are all still learning that lesson the hard way, and
this chapter goes into the reasons WHY we speak about Christ openly, but
use caution in relation to "doubtful" areas. What I believe does not
seem doubtful to me, by the way, and it is likely that what you
believe does not seem doubtful to you, either.
Because of some
"knowledge" we think we have, the "weaker" brother might perish, might fall into some kind
of sin; might start to doubt that which he knows to be true. Who knows
who is weak and who is strong, anyway? When I first arrived in
Southern California
from the San Francisco Bay area, I was warned about a person and
most of those warnings proved to be untrue. Learn to look at
people through the eyes and heart of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Our eyes will lead us into speculation and trouble for our brother. God's heart of love will direct
us to love that brother.
Verse 12.
"But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak
conscience, you sin against Christ."
What then, are we to speak lies
to our brother? God forbid (a paraphrased Paul). Jesus said, "I am
the… truth." Paul said (Ephesians 4:15) we are to be "speaking the truth
in love." Ah, that’s it, isn’t it? We are to be gentle with that person
who has not yet encountered persons or the doctrines we espouse.
We are to love him. In Ephesians 4:14, it says we
should "no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning
craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive" --- and then it
continues
that we are to speak "the truth in love."
We should be very slow to introduce speculative
dogma into the thinking of others. If we agree on Christ, we already agree on
all that is truly important in this world for us, for all eternity. He
is the cake---let us not argue too much about the icing. Let us speak
the "truth in love" and take our speculation to God. He is the One who
will listen and give you an honest appraisal of your doctrinal belief.
Who knows, it may not be your brother that needs to be changed - it may
be you!
Verse 13.
"Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat
meat, lest I make my brother stumble."
This is a pretty big statement.
Most of the meat dealers in Corinth, big and small, were owned and
controlled by the religions of the area. These were not Christian
religions, either. Paul is saying that to avoid harming my brother,
we
might consider going as far as never eating another Big Mac hamburger, another
rice cake, or share another doctrinal idea that we may think is
very interesting.
We often talk about "denying"
ourselves, and "taking up our cross," along with "following" Him,
as seen in Luke
9:23, but what does that mean? Well, it can mean that we will no longer
try to impress others with our "creativity" or our clever words. We have to
decide, in the Body of Christ, just who we are working for, anyway. Are
we in this to prove some kind of point? Are we talking to that other
person in order to win them over to our Church? Are we in this for
ourselves?
It’s the last question that is
the most difficult of all. When Jesus was talking about the ten virgins (Matthew
25), note the similarities between them. They all had lamps, all ten
slumbered and slept, and all ten arose and trimmed their lamps at the
sound of the bridegroom’s voice. The difference was the oil, which we
know from Zechariah, is a symbol of the presence of the Holy Spirit of
God. They looked the same, but they were different inside.
Many have the outward
trappings of God, but not all have the inward presence of the Holy
Spirit. It is that inward Presence which makes us able to speak
the truth and yet lets us do it in love, so we will not make our brother
stumble. To "deny"
ourselves, to "take up (our)
cross" is all summed up in
the next part: "Follow" Him. Are
we perfect in this? No, we're not!
Does it matter? Yes it does, for God in Christ matters, and
because of Him, we should matter to one another. Let us look to Him.
Ron Beckham, Pastor
Friday Study Ministries
www.FirstChurchOnTheNet.org
www.FridayStudy.org
Write to:
Letters@FridayStudy.org
"While
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"
(Romans 5:8)
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