Food Offered to Idols
1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: s We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, t but love u builds up. 2 If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it. v 3 But if anyone loves God, w he is known x by him.
4 About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.” y 5 For even if there are so-called gods, z whether in heaven or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father. a All things are from him, b and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him. c
7 However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat. d 9 But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block e to the weak. 10 For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols? 11 So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, f is ruined ,g by your knowledge. h 12 Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, i so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.
8:1–3. In 8:1–13 (cf. 6:12; 7:1), Paul begins by giving assent to a guideline advanced by some at Corinth, in this case the principle that possession of knowledge justifies any conduct that is consistent with it (8:1). However, Paul quickly qualifies the guideline with a reminder that knowledge can blind its possessor to its own importance and lead him or her in isolation from others toward a false assurance (8:2). Love, on the other hand, is a far more reliable guide, for it leads its possessor toward personal maturity in fellowship with others, and when turned toward heaven, to communion with God (8:3). Consequently, it is important both to know the truth and to speak it in love (Eph 4:15).
8:4–6. Paul proceeds to review, for those who have need of it, the basic truths that undergird Christian monotheism. The first of these is that “an idol is nothing” (8:4a), having no real existence in the world except in the minds and hearts of its worshipers, who nonetheless by their ignorant devotion open themselves to the influence of real beings with demonic power (10:14, 19–22). The second, on which the first is founded, is that there is no God but one (8:4b). He is the source of all creation, and service to him gives life meaning. He is the Father of the one Lord Jesus Christ, his agent in the beginning of life and in its continuation and renewal (8:6). (Similar ideas expressed in Eph 4:5–6 and Col 1:15–16 are probably a fragment from an early Christian confession.)
8:7–9. Next, Paul reminds his readers that some among them do not yet trust the substance of this truth enough to know its power in experience beyond simple assent. Therefore they continue to have doubts about the nature of the food that they eat and the implications of doing so (8:7). Because of this, fellow believers, in their words (8:8 probably paraphrases some of them) and actions, need to be careful lest the “right” and knowledge lead them to ignore the effect of their behavior on the faith of the weak (8:9).
8:10–13. Finally, Paul applies what he has said to the situation in Corinth. Some have already accepted invitations to dine in pagan temples in public view and are in danger of leading those with a weak conscience to disregard it and act insincerely (8:10). Thus the weak, for whom Christ died, will be led to abandon action that matches their convictions and perhaps even to depart from any attempt at morality, a departure that leads to destruction (8:11; see 5:5). When this happens, those who have encouraged it will be found to have sinned against both the weak and Christ (8:12), who cares for even the weakest believer (Mk 9:42). Therefore, Paul chooses, for himself, to restrict the actions that he might legitimately take according to the criteria of love and concern for his fellow believer (8:13).