Monday
Monday
The Debate about Idol Meats
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
1 Corinthians 8:1
Today’s text plunges us into one of the hottest debates that rocked the first-century Christian church. Were the followers of Jesus permitted to eat meat that, before it was sold in the butcher’s shop, had been used in a pagan sacrificial ritual? Or was the eating of such meat tantamount to idolatry?
The opponents in the debate (whom we met last Saturday) were the weak and the strong. On the one hand, those with a strong conscience were theologically well educated. They knew that idols were nothing, so they had no qualms about eating. And they were right. But they had little respect for the weak. They bulldozed their way through other people’s consciences. In their case their knowledge needed to be tempered with love. On the other hand, those with a weak conscience, probably just converted from idolatry, were anxious above everything to serve God faithfully. They would not even touch idol meats. They were right in their resolve to have nothing to do with idols. But their theology was weak. In their case their love for God needed to be strengthened by sound knowledge. The strong needed more gentleness, and the weak more understanding.
The key expression is that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (v. 1). Knowledge brings freedom (vv. 4–8). We know there is only one God, and our monotheism brings us freedom of conscience and of action. But some people do not have this knowledge and therefore do not have this freedom. Therefore love limits freedom (vv. 9–13). If someone with a weak conscience sees you (a person of knowledge) defiantly eating in an idol’s temple, he might be emboldened to follow your example and so wound his conscience.
From this ancient debate two permanent truths stand out. First, consciences must be respected. They are not infallible. They need to be educated, but they must not be violated. We must never ride roughshod over other people’s consciences. Secondly, love limits liberty. Our conscience, educated by the Word of God, gives us great freedom of action. Yet this does not allow us to assert our freedom at other people’s expense. Knowledge gives freedom, but love limits it.
For further reading: 1 Corinthians 8:1–13