Sermon Tone Analysis

*1 Cor.

8:1-3…* With regard to food sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge.

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know. 3 But if someone loves God, he is known by God.

 

*Commentary*

            Chapter 8 represents the next question the Corinthians sent to Paul, namely, “with regard to food sacrificed to idols.”

This was a pertinent issue in the first century because pagan idolatry was rampant.

People believed that evil spirits were all around them looking for ways to possess them.

One of the ways they believed these spirits had their entry was through their food.

Because of this perceived problem with their food, these pagans would dedicate their meat to one of the many pagan gods they worshipped (idols).

In doing so, they thought they would appease the god and drive out all evil spirits that they believed had attached themselves to the meat.

It would then go to the pagan temple where the priest would cut it into thirds, burning one portion, keeping one portion for himself, and giving the last third to the worshipper who would then take the meat and have his feast.

If any meat was left over, either from the pagan priest’s portion or from the worshipper’s portion, it was normally sold in the marketplace.

Some of the Christians in Corinth were concerned about buying and eating meat that had once been offered to these idols.

If they ate such meat would they then be guilty of participating in idol worship?

Would eating such meat compromise their Christian testimony?

Others, however, the ones being addressed by Paul here, were not concerned at all about the fact that their food had been offered to idols because they knew there was only one true God.

They were smug about their superior knowledge over and against their weaker brothers who were concerned about the food.

Their smugness, however, was leading others astray, confusing them, and bringing more factions into the church there.

Paul’s address here concerns the limits of Christian freedom… if our actions offend, we sin.

Paul begins his answer by saying, “We know that we all have knowledge.”

Keeping in mind that the church in Corinth had become exceedingly arrogant through their newfound “knowledge” and were making their own rules of Christian conduct (going to prostitutes, divorcing, etc.), Paul agrees in part that they all possess knowledge.

Their knowledge was good enough to know that pagan gods were a myth.

But they felt like this knowledge gave them the freedom to act any old way they chose to behave.

They viewed their knowledge as a license to do anything they pleased – like eating food offered to idols.

Paul, however, reminds them of the danger of knowledge… it “puffs up.”

But “love builds up.”

Knowledge, by itself, produces arrogance; but love is a strong structure.

Both traits complement one another because love without knowledge produces a zeal for God that does not conform to God’s righteousness (cf.

Rom.

10:2ff).

And God says in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

Knowledge is only worthwhile when accompanied by love, and those who love God are “known by God” in verse 3.

In other words, to have knowledge is good, but to be known by God is the ultimate because His knowledge of our love for Him is what’s really important.

*Food for Thought*

            A paraphrased verse 2 might say, “If you think you know something, that just proves you don’t know anything.”

True knowledge comes when a person passes through the unconscious state of their own ignorance to the realization that they know nothing – no matter how great their education.

True knowledge is exhibited in one who understands biblical truth AND loves God’s people.

They would do nothing to lead them astray with their own Christian liberty.

Next time you order a beer in public remember that.

If your Christian freedom offends another, you sin.

*1 Corinthians 8:4-6…* With regard then to eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol in this world is nothing, and that there is no God but one.

5 If after all there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live.

*Commentary*

            Paul picks up again in verse 4 with what to do about meat sacrificed to idols and the proper Christian response to that food.

First, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul affirms the fact that idols and “gods” are nothing but man-made myths and legends.

He says they’re “nothing.”

Then he alludes to what is known in Jewish circles as the /Shema/ from Deuteronomy 6:4 which says, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”

In other words, there is only one God; there are no other deities in existence anywhere.

Now it is interesting to note the Hebrew word behind “gods” in the Bible.

The word is /Elohim/ – a plural term that is used for at least four different entities: God Almighty, pagan deities in the form of idols, angels, AND it also can refer to men in authority (cf.

Exodus 22:9; Psalm 82:1, 6; John 10:34-35).

So, in verse 5 when Paul does affirm the existence of “gods~/lords” he does two things.

First, he says that the existence of pagan idols all throughout the culture does attest to their mythical existence (though not real) all around them, and second, these “gods” do exist in the form of angels and men in authority (kings, pharaohs, etc.).

Some exist “in heaven” and some “on earth,” likely referring to angels in heaven and kings on earth.

But verse 6 brings it all into focus, for there is only one “God,” and Paul designates Him as “Father.”

It is through this one God, the Father, “from whom are all things and for whom we live.”

Paul is not only teaching theology proper (doctrine of God), he is attempting shift the arrogant focus of the Corinthians off of themselves, as they indulged their every whim in meat offered to idols, onto God the Father.

He says it clearly when he tells them that life is meant to be lived for God, not to satisfy ourselves through our Christian liberties.

Furthermore, Paul adds to our understanding of the Holy Trinity when he says that we also live for the Lord Jesus Christ.

He calls Jesus “one Lord… through whom are all things and through whom we live.”

In sum, it is FOR God the Father that we live because it was FROM Him that all things come; and it is THROUGH Jesus Christ that God made what He made (it was Jesus Christ who created everything in John 1:3-4; Col. 1:15-17), and as such it is THROUGH Jesus Christ that we live.

Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6).

Without faith in the Son we’ll never see God.

So what is Paul trying to say? Simply this: the Corinthian Christians, many of them, believed that their Christian liberty allowed them to do anything they pleased.

In this case it was eating food sacrificed to idols.

They were innocent for doing so, but they were offending their weaker brothers in Christ who weren’t so sure about the practice.

This is why they wrote to ask Paul this question.

His answer is clear: we are to live for God and not our selfish desires.

*Food for Thought*

            What Christian freedoms do you practice daily?

Do you drink?

Gamble?

Listen to rock-n-roll music?

None of these are evil in and of themselves – so long as they don’t go to extremes – but if your Christian liberty is a stumbling block to someone else, you might want to consider either giving it up or exercising your liberty in private.

Before you go thinking that you can do anything you please and not care about what others think, ask yourself, “Am I living for God with my liberties, or am I living to please myself?”

We must all examine ourselves about that.

*1 Corinthians* *8:7**-8…* But this knowledge is not shared by all.

And some by being accustomed to idols in former times eat this food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

8 Now food will not bring us close to God.

We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.

* *

*Commentary*

            In the first part of verse 7 the writer says, “But this knowledge is not shared by all.”

Whereas in verse 1 he said, “We know that we all have knowledge,” now he states that not all have sufficient knowledge.

Hence, the letter to the Corinthians.

The knowledge he speaks of likely refers to the doctrine of God the Father and of God the Son previously spoken about in verse 6.

Not all had the knowledge of the true meaning of life.

If they did Paul wouldn’t have had to write as he did.

Their knowledge consisted of being saved by Christ and having freedom in Him.

But Christian freedom and liberty isn’t the ultimate goal of the Christian any more so that just getting to heaven is.

Knowing who God is (knowledge) is only half the equation, and proper knowledge of God should never lead a person to believe that he~/she can go off and behave any old way they please.

Proper knowledge of God means doing all things for God as opposed to exercising Christian freedom just because it’s legal.

The other half of the equation is love for God – serving Him faithfully instead of our own appetites, whims, and desires.

Paul speaks of a group of people, in verse 7b, who had converted to Christianity from a life of idol worship.

These were the ones “accustomed to idols in former times.”

Apparently these folks bought and ate the same meat other Christians were buying and eating.

The only difference here is that these former idol worshippers weren’t quite sure if what they were doing was proper.

Prior to their conversion to Christ they had most assuredly participated in offering their food to idols, but now after being saved out of that life they were observing Christians eat the same meat without batting an eye.

The liberty that these Christians were practicing confused them.

Paul says that their “conscience, being weak, is defiled.”

They were watching other Christians eat without feeling guilty, so they thought they could too.