1 Corinthians 8:1-3

Butler's Comments

SECTION 1

The Principle (1 Corinthians 8:1-3)

8 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that all of us possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2If any one imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But if one loves God, one is known by him.

1 Corinthians 8:1 a Provocation of Idolatry: Idolatry was a way of life. Greek cities were full of idols (Acts 17:16-34). In Corinth an inscription has been unearthed by archaeologists marking the location of a meat market in the probable vicinity of the temple of Apollo. The well of one of the shops along the south stoa has yielded a stone fragment reading, Lucius, the butcher. In Pompeii archaeologists have found a configuration of buildings including both a chapel of the imperial cult and a counter for the selling of sacrificial meat. In the ancient world it was almost impossible to secure meat which had not been offered to an idol. Some of the pagan temples appear to have provided auxiliary clubrooms which offered social dining as well as the more religious cultic meals. The cultic meals, according to William Baird, were held in recognition of a host of public occasionsmarriage, victory in battle, honor to a hero. The prominence of such dining customs made it difficult for the Corinthian citizen to avoid sacrificial meat. When he was invited out to dinner, it was inevitably served as the main course. If his host were a devotee of Artemis, a successful hunt would be consummated by an elaborate banquet after the animal had been sacrificed to the patron deity. Could a Christian attend such a party? If he attended should he eat the sacrificial meat? Please study Romans, chapter 14, in connection with 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 1 Corinthians 9:1-27; 1 Corinthians 10:1-33.

Helenistic banquets were fabulous affairs. Petronius writes in The Satricon:

Let's see, first off we had some roast pork garnished with loops of sausage and flanked with more sausages and some giblets done to a turn. And there were pickled beets and some whole-wheat bread made without bleach.. Then came a course of cold tart with a mixture of some wonderful Spanish wine and hot honey.. Then there were chickpeas and lupins, no end of filberts, and an apple apiece.. The main course was a roast of bear meat.. It reminds me of roast boar, so I put down about a pound of it. Besides, I-'d like to know, if bears eat men, why shouldn-'t men eat bears? To wind up, we had some soft cheese steeped in fresh wine, a snail apiece, some tripe hash, liver in pastry boats and eggs topped with more pastry and turnips and mustard and beans boiled in the pod andbut enough's enough.

Besides the Greek idols, the Roman emperors were attempting to insure allegiance by enforcing emperor worship. It was not participation in formal rituals of idol worship that bothered these Corinthians. That was strictly forbidden by apostolic command (cf. Acts 15:20; Acts 15:29; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Galatians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 Peter 4:3; 1 John 5:21; Revelation 9:20-21). But the worship of idols had so thoroughly saturated the culture of the first century everyone was brought directly into contact with it one way or anothereven the Jews.

Practically every morsel of meat sold in public markets (1 Corinthians 10:25) of Greek and Roman cities had, in one way or another, been part of a sacrifice to an idol. There were public, formal worship services in pagan temples at which foods were offered; there were private, home services in honor of idols at which foods of all kinds were dedicated to the gods. So completely was this the case, the word in Hellenistic Greek to sacrifice had come to mean simply to kill or to butcher. A native citizen of a Greek city like Corinthespecially if he were poorwould consider himself unfairly deprived if he were forbidden to participate in the public festivals at which idol sacrifices were served because it might be his only opportunity to eat meat for several months. These public festivals were probably held in the courts of the idol temples where tables were set up (cf. 1 Corinthians 8:10; 1 Corinthians 10:14-22) for the public. The citizen of Corinth who became a Christian would have a very difficult time trying to continue social amenities among neighbors and relatives who were not Christian. It was a tradition practiced by many pagans to take some of their sacrificial animal's carcass home with them from the ritual and serve it on their own tables to friends and relatives.

Idol worship, feasting, and the immorality that went along with it were part of the very essence of Corinthian social life and culture. It was all part of everyday living. Some Christians easily settled the issue in their own minds. They knew, an idol is no god. Actually, some non-Christians had also decided, philosophically, that idols were not gods. The Epicureans considered the worship of idols to be nonsense. One Hellenistic writer says of the gods that they are far away, or they have no ears, or they do not exist, or they pay not the least attention to us. The Stoics, also, abandoned polytheism for a kind of pagan monotheism or pantheism. These pagan atheists practiced the forms of idolatry for practical political reasons but did not believe the myths. The majority of non-Christians, however, did eat such foods as really offered to an idol (1 Corinthians 8:7). And some Christians had not settled in their minds that an idol was not a god. Some Christians, especially those from Jewish backgrounds, abhorred all the trappings associated with idolatry and felt as if they had sinned if they even touched such things or looked upon them.

Some idolatrous rituals pronounced holy formulas over the sacrificial animals which allegedly turned the sacrifices into the god who was to receive it. In this ritual the god himself was allegedly sacrificed and when the priests and the worshipers ate the meat of the sacrifices, the strength and glory of the god supposedly passed into the worshipers. Many pagans also believed one way to protect themselves from having demons come inside them through their mouths was to eat meat sacrificed to a good god (whose presence would be in the sacrificial meat) and this would put up a barrier against the evil god who might come into them through some food.

This presented a very serious problem for the infant church. It involves the most crucial elements of Christian communitylove, liberty, conscience, temptation, knowledge and spiritual maturation. The apostolic resolution of the question was, and is, of immense importance. If it were a prohibition of Christianity under any circumstances to eat meat sacrificed to idols, then the Gentile convert becomes bound to a legal system as condemning as the Mosaic law and a legalism as impossible as the Jewish rabbinical traditions. If, on the other hand, the Greek Christian was free to do as he pleased in every circumstance, he was given license to carelessly trample upon the tender scruples of a weaker brother and probably cause him to sin.

Paul suffered slanderous misrepresentation and hateful persecution as a consequence of his teaching concerning Christian liberty (see Acts 21:21-24). Although Paul was in full accord with this teaching, it was not merely his but the Holy Spirit'S. And anyone who opposed it was severed from Christ, fallen from grace (see Galatians 5:1-12).

1 Corinthians 8:1 b - 1 Corinthians 8:2: Problem of Intellectualism: Paul is not against knowledge or use of the intellect. He reasoned from the Scriptures (Acts 18:4; Acts 18:19). He appealed to logic and deductive processes as befitting Christians (Romans 12:1-2). He told the Philippians to think logically on Christian virtues (Philippians 4:8). His warning here is against intellectualism. Intellectualism is the arrogant doctrine that the ultimate principle of reality is human reason. Intellectualism holds that it is possible for the human mind to discover everything man needs to know. It thus dispenses with the need for a revelation from Godeventually dispensing with the need for God at all.

Paul uses two Greek words oida and ginosko interchangeably or synonymously for knowing and knowledge. Paul does not seem to be using these two words with as much difference as most commentators allege. It is apparent from the context that he is using irony when he says we know that all of us possess knowledge. In fact, he is probably quoting a statement from some of the Corinthians themselves. Some of them were enamored of knowledge (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; 1 Corinthians 3:18). These may have been intellectuals agreeing with the gnostic Christians who supposed that the acquisition of mystical, divine knowledge freed one from any moral qualms about participating in the expressions of pagan culture.

The trouble with intellectualism is that it inflates (Gr. phusioi) the human ego. Those who know better than others are always in danger of feeling superior. Knowledge which does that is not true knowledge. There is a wide distance between human knowledge and heavenly wisdom (cf. James 3:13-18). Intellectualism seeks to tear down those of inferior knowledge in order to inflate self. Love (Gr. agape) seeks to edify (Gr. oikodomei, build up) the intellectually inferior by denying self. Knowledge is necessary. It certainly is not all that is necessary in man's relationship to God and his fellow man. Just because a person has something analyzed logically, scientifically and judiciously does not mean he is prepared on that basis alone to make an ethical decision about another man's salvation or standing before God. Paul clearly admonishes Christians not to judge others on the basis of knowledge alone (cf. Romans 14:14-15). Knowledge must be tempered with love. Love is the motive that will make the right use of knowledge.

The apostle challenges the intellectualistic approach to Christian brotherhood by saying, If any one imagines (Gr. dokei, supposes, believes) that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought (Gr. dei, is obligated, necessarily, is required) to know. Egocentric knowledge falls short of God's mark for man. There is more to ultimate truth than accumulation of knowledge for knowledge's sake. Man has a higher obligation than knowledge (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)that is to love!

1 Corinthians 8:3 Presentation of Ideal: The object of true knowledge is not human intellectual superiority, but a participation in the divine nature (cf. 2 Peter 1:3-4; 2 Corinthians 3:18; John 6:63) of God Himself. Paul puts it this way, But if one loves God, one is known by him. The object of true knowledge is not something but Some Onean experiential knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, His Son (cf. John 17:3). God cannot be reduced to fact or doctrines, although he cannot be known apart from his deeds. Paul is not referring to knowing about God. He is talking about the knowledge of God that only comes at the point where personal commitment in faith and love is made by the whole person of man to the whole Person of God. The ultimate method of knowing is agape (love)personal commitment which surrenders all of self to God. Paul's view of ultimate knowledge rests on divine revelation wherein God's knowledge of man has priority. No man can know God unless he first lets God know him. Man cannot even love God until he allows God to love him first (1 John 4:19). As long as a man elevates himself through pride in human reason, he will not humble himself to be ruled over by God. Unless Christ takes complete possession of us we cannot know him (see John 13:6-9) because we are not letting him know us. Paul uses this same idea in Galatians 4:9to be known by God is to know him. The point is this: when God knows us as his own, in a relationship akin to marriage (but deeper and surer), it is only then that we know the blessedness of being related to him. Certain aspects of the divine nature may be known factually from nature (cf. Romans 1:19-20), but experiential, intimate and personal knowledge of God comes only to those who do his will (John 7:17). Being known by and possessed by God, enables man to see things from God's viewpoint (2 Corinthians 5:14-17). Only then does man begin to have proper knowledge of anythingmost of all, proper knowledge about whether he may eat food sacrificed to idols or not.

Man must love God with all his mind, soul, heart and strength, and his neighbor as himself. When that decision is made we will take everything we know about God's revealed will, about the experiences of life, and about our neighbor and use it to build up the kingdom of God in people's lives. To love God is to be known by Him (1 John 4:20). Love requires proper concern for a brother's lack of understanding. It is love that controls the Christian from acting according to knowledge (even when such knowledge may be correct enough in itself) when it would tempt, alienate, or otherwise cause a brother to sin who does not see the issue as clearly or as innocently as I suppose I do.

Applebury's Comments

Text

1 Corinthians 8:1-3. Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth. 2 If any man thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth not yet as he ought to know; 3 but if any man loveth God, the same is known by him.

Things Sacrificed to Idols (1-3)

Commentary

Now concerning.This phrase is taken as an indication of the fact that Paul continues to answer questions posed by the letter which he had received from the brethren in Corinth.

things sacrificed to idols.Some of the meats that were sold in public markets had been previously used as offerings to idols. Those who ate this food were in the habit of considering it a participation in idolatrous worshipif, indeed, they thought about its significance at all. The Christian was confronted with a very real problem: Should he continue to do according to his custom before becoming a Christian? There must have been some who did object to doing so, for they wrote to the apostle for further information on the subject.

idols.Luke describes Athens, the neighboring city of the Corinthians, as being a city full of idols (Acts 17:16). They even had an altar TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. This gives us a glimpse of the religious background of the early church with some of its converts coming from pagan backgrounds.

Idolatry was an inexcusable sin (Romans 1:20-21). Even the dim light that came from creation was sufficient to let men see something of the power and divinity of God. The vanity of man's own reasoning filled his heart with darkness. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (Romans 1:22-23). The sin of idolatry consisted not only in worshipping an image of some god man had created but also in the sins that accompanied such idolatrous worship. For a description of the unspeakable things that men practiced when they refused to have the knowledge of God in their minds, see Paul's discussion of the subject in Romans 1:24-32.

Idolatry was the very opposite of Christianity. It was the worship of a god made by the hands of man, rather than the worship of the true God who created man. Idolatry was a system of worship of countless gods, rather than the worship of the one God as revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was accompanied by the most shocking sins, indicating the depth of degradation of man; rather than faith expressed in obedience to the gospel, indicating the heights to which man can go in his desire to glorify God, or, as Paul put it, to let their bodies be a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Idolatry called for the offering of virtually every known thingeven human beingsas sacrifices to a god made by the hands of men, rather than presenting the body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God (Romans 12:1). Idolatry had its oraclespretended revelations from its godsand the writings of those who considered themselves to be wise, rather than the gospel that came through revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12). Idolatry had its many theories about the status of man after death, rather than the clear revelation of the Word of God as to the hell that will be suffered by those who refuse to obey the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10) and the heaven that is prepared for those who love the Lord (2 Timothy 4:8). It is little wonder that the conference at Jerusalem warned, abstain from the pollution of idols (Acts 15:20), and John earnestly appealed to the church, My little children, guard yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21).

In offering sacrifices to an idol, it is possible that some considered this as an expression of their own needs. For example, they brought food as an offering to a god because they realized their own need of food and in some way believed that the god could supply this need. In all probability, however, the average one who worshipped idols went through the ancient forms handed down from generation to generation without thinking anything about the meaning of his actions. The Jews who had the revelation from Godthe lawthat was to govern their worship soon reached the point where external ceremony without any consideration of the meaning their acts became the mark of their religion. See Matthew 23:1-36; Romans 2:17-29. We might ask, Do we as Christians ever find ourselves simply going through forms without letting the truth of the Gospel affect our lives? Perhaps we should not condemn the idolater for merely going through forms of worshipfalse worship though it waswhile recognizing our own inability at times to avoid this pitfall as we worship God through the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth.

We know that we all have knowledge.Commentators are in agreement that this was the declaration of the Corinthians as they wrote to Paul. In other words, as they faced the problem of food offered to idols as a sacrifice, they were confident that they had the knowledge they needed on the subject. It is possible, however, that some conscientious ones among them who thought of their background in pagan religions were really asking for information on the subject. It is possible that they had been discussing such a question as this: Can we as Christians eat this meat that we find in our markets knowing that it has been used in a pagan worship service to some idol? If this was their question, then Paul's answer is a clear statement that we all have knowledge about idols and the meats used in their worship. But if the Corinthians had made this statement as their own declaration and not as a question, it may imply that their knowledge was imperfect and that it had a tendency to cause them to assume an arrogant attitude toward those who did not understand the issues involved. Hence Paul's remarks about knowledge.

Knowledge puffs up.There is an arrogance about all knowledge. That individual or even nation that has knowledge about something that none other has tends to look with disdain upon the one who does not have that knowledge. This pride tends to create ill will, suspicion, and even hate. That is apparently what happened in the church at Corinth.

love edifieth.Knowledge needs to be regulated by love. Love, the opposite of arrogance, pride, and hate was necessary in order to prevent the brother who didn-'t have this knowledge from being led to sin and destruction. Love, rather than destroying, led to the building up of the weak brother in Christ until he too had the correct understanding of this problem of food that had been used in idolatrous worship.

he knoweth not yet as he ought to know.Even the one who thought that he possessed all knowledge about this problem was limited. The apostle points this out in order to overcome the spirit of arrogance. Knowledge without due consideration for those who did not have it could not be perfect.

if any man loveth God.To love God is to be known by Him. This is the knowledge that is needed. To be known by God requires one to love his brethren. John's statement has a bearing on this matter: If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen (1 John 4:20).

Love of the brethren requires proper concern for their lack of understanding of such things as the use of food that had been sacrificed to idols. Knowledge without love could do great harm. It is love that makes one think of the brother who is not fully instructed. Love builds up the body of Christ rather than destroying it by sinning against the weak member. The important thing is to be known by God, and that depends on loving Him and expressing that love in a proper regard for the brother who is weak.