1 Corinthians 8 Commentary
This is Corinth and not Rome, but the message is the same: “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Romans 15 verse 1. The key word is knowledge. Don’t let your superior knowledge stumble the less knowledgeable.
Out there is all about who you know. The rule is different for the church. Who knows you? That’s everything!
The saint is comforted to know that the Creator God knows them. But how? The LORD God is drawn to the person who loves Jesus. This is better than knowledge, regardless of its depth. It’s not about what you know but who knows you.
Knowledge that doesn’t lead to love is useless. Eventually, this love manifests in care for my brother. I shouldn’t stumble him. And for him, I would willingly give up a meal of choice meat.
Jesus paid dearly for such a brother. He is never a cheap object in the neighborhood. He is valued highly by his Maker.
Spare a thought on forgiveness. It all flows from the Father’s compassion. But we all know this compassion doesn’t exist without Jesus! Others would say Jesus is the compassion of the God the Father. They aren’t wrong.
Forgiveness is one word we use quite often but we hardly understand it. Actually, forgiveness doesn’t exist. Someone is always punished in your place each time you sin. The centrality of Jesus in the entire process of salvation remains critical throughout the saint’s Christian walk.
Remember, the weak sister has a huge premium on her head. Treat them with extreme care – they come tagged that way.
Food sacrificed to idols means nothing, according to Paul. But the LORD Jesus has a different view in His letter to the church at Pergamum. Impurity would include a meal consisting of food sacrificed to idols.
In the Book of Revelations, the LORD Jesus continues His ministry of parables. The book is heavily coded. The phrase comes amid references to the sexual perversion that happened during Israel’s wilderness years. Here is the point, there is food (sex) that is consumed within the context of marriage and it is godly. There is also food (sex) that is done as an offering to the devil. Ponder the story from the Book of Numbers and see how this ‘food’ led Israel away from the LORD. It was purpose-built and goal-engineered, and the saint is warned.
The scripture is quite intense on purity or holiness and conceptualizes the purity associated with sexual relations. It becomes a general reference to sinful engagements that are, in reality, sacrifices or worship objects on the devil’s altar.
Paul is direct and is talking about physical contact with devilish objects. The saint has nothing to fear whether the objects are laced with actual demonic power or not. But he should be mindful of the weak brother.
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