In 1 Corinthians 8:1-3, Paul shifts his focus to the food that is sacrificed to idols. He particularly points out that the Corinthians eat the idol foods. They have a knowledge that it is spiritually acceptable for Christians to eat the food that was previously given to idols. However, Paul also says that love is greater than knowledge because it is so much more important to be known by God through love than to know the truth about eating idol food. Paul calls the Corinthians to act in love for one another instead of being puffed up in their knowledge. Worldly knowledge means nothing, but the knowledge of God is amazing.
Next, Paul reminds the Corinthians of their one true God in verses 4-6. He explains that idols do not exist and that God is the only God from whom everything exists and for whom everything exists. Although these Corinthian Christians were surrounded by pagan worshipers, the pagan gods were fake and were worth nothing. Applying this directly into life today, I think these idols can be analogized to cultural practices that don’t line up with Christian beliefs or morals, such as dietary restrictions or profanity. Similar to idols, these cultural practices should not take the place of godly practices in our lives, and the practices do not have any worth in eternity.
Nevertheless, in verses 7-13, some of the Corinthians believed that there was something to the idols, and they bound their conscience when they ate the idol food. In the case of food and modern dietary restrictions, it is neither helpful nor sinful to eat food (probably more sinful than helpful for profanity though). However, it is more important that a person does not bind his or her own conscience, as it is a sin. Therefore, Paul calls the Corinthians (and us) to act in love and give up our own rights to protect the conscience of others, as we would be sinning if we cause another person to sin.
What does this mean today? Everyone comes from different cultural backgrounds, but all Christians have the same God who never changes. There are things that God allows, but there are also things that break our own conscience. One of the most common things today is vegetarians. There are believers who stay away from meat as a result of their conscience, and it is their choice. Eating meat is neither helpful nor sinful to our faith. Yet, we should not bind another person’s conscience out of love. Another topic may be social media content. There is lots of content out there that some believers may not like for personal reasons, so we should be careful not to bind each other’s conscience.
Thankfulness:
• Good morning
• My friend
• Last night teens
• Good day ahead of me
• Parents