1 Corinthians 8:1-6 (NIV)
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God.
So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Another issue that was raised in the letter from Corinth was the fact that some of the Christians were brazenly eating meat that had been offered to the Greek gods. Much of the animals offered was not burned up in the offering- just the fatty parts. Rather than letting it go to waste, the meat from the offerings was sold in the local meat markets for bargain prices.
Many of the gentile Christians shied away from this meat, considering it contaminated because of its previous use. These Christians had been saved out of the worship of those false gods, and they felt that eating the meat would be a participation in what they had turned away from. In fact, many of them ate only vegetables when they could find no “clean” meat.
Other Christians in Corinth, considering themselves more sophisticated, not only bought and ate the meat from the temple markets, but they also bragged that they were doing it. They portrayed themselves as more spiritually mature, more advanced in their faith, and even more “Christian” than those who refused to eat the meat.
In the opening paragraph of this chapter, Paul points to these “sophisticated” Christians, not as more mature, but as puffed up by their “superior knowledge”. He points out that those who belittle their brothers for their scruples are not acting in love and are actually less mature.
Paul argues that the Greek gods are truly nothing, myths with no reality behind them. Even though there were hundreds of gods in the Greek and Roman pantheons, including a whole host of demigods, there is actually only one true God, and one true Lord. Those who were brazenly eating the food that had been offered to idols understood this – they had it right. But their application of that knowledge was where they had a problem.
Father, I can understand where these guys were coming from. They knew that the meat had been offered to something that had no objective reality, and they themselves had no part in the worship in which the offering was made. The meat was not only edible, it was the highest quality meat that could be found—nothing but the best for the gods! So, they figured, why not eat it? And, of course, they saw those who had scruples that cause them to disagree as spiritually less mature and strong, using that “knowledge” to build themselves up at another’s expense. I agree with Paul that they were puffed up and did nothing to build up the church. Help me, Lord, to never flaunt anything I know in front of others, but instead to take care to build them up in every way. Amen.