Lessons #269 and 270
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Food sacrificed to idols: care for the weak (1Cor 8:8-13)
8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
In the introduction of this eighth chapter of 1 Corinthians, we indicated that the response of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul regarding the matter of food sacrificed to idols involved three major declarations of the Apostle that are helpful in studying the chapter. A first declaration we have studied given in verses 1 to 3 of the eighth chapter is that dealing with food sacrificed to idols requires differentiating knowledge and love. The second declaration we have also considered in verses 4 to 7 is that dealing with food sacrificed to idols is affected by the knowledge one possesses about supernatural beings. The third declaration covered in verses 8 to 13 is that dealing with food sacrificed to idols is to be governed by care for the weak. It is this third declaration that we are concerned at this stage in our study of 1 Corinthians.
The message the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul conveyed to the Corinthians is one of caution against one’s use of the person’s liberty when it comes to eating of food sacrificed to idols. This caution requires that a believer with knowledge of truth about idols should not act in such a way as to become a stumbling block to the weak believers in Corinth or to cause them to sin. We have already described the weak believer in the context as a believer with weak conscience, that is, a believer whose conscience is not properly informed by truth of God’s word about the nature of idols that they are nothing. The concern of the Holy Spirit through the apostle is that a believer who has knowledge has the responsibility of using the liberty the individual has in Christ in such a way to help the weak believers in Corinth. We are not particularly concerned with food sacrificed to idols at the present time although that is still a concern for believers living in some cultures of the world of today. Nonetheless, the message given to the Corinthians is applicable to the universal church of Christ. Therefore, we tailor the original message in a way that is applicable to us. The message we believe the Holy Spirit wants us to convey to you is this: You should use your freedom obtained through knowledge of truth in a way not to cause a weak believer to sin. We will expound this message by firstly noting the basis of the message as given in verse 9. Secondly, we consider the knowledge you should have to enable you apply this message. The knowledge you should have is given in verse 8 and in verses 10 to 12. Thirdly, we end by considering a specific action that you need to take to ensure you comply with the message. This action is given in verse 13. We begin with the basis of the message that we have stated.
The basis of the message we are considering is the caution given to the spiritually strong believer in 1 Corinthians 8:9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. The caution is introduced in the command Be careful. This command is one that is used for serious warning in the NT. It is the command that the Lord Jesus used in warning against being deceived regarding the end of things or the second coming as we read in Luke 21:8:
He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.
Apostle Paul used the command in warning the Jews in Pisidian Antioch as he preached the gospel to them in Acts 13:40:
Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:
The human author of Hebrews used the command to warn the recipients of his epistle from resisting God’s word in Hebrews 12:25:
See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?
Here the command is translated See to it. Apostle John used it to warn about losing one’s reward in 2 John 8:
Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.
The warning is given in the command Watch out. So, you see, that the command Be careful is one that is used for serious or solemn warning. Someone may say that the words used in our command is not the same as the ones we cited but there is no difference between the words used in our command and the words we cited because of the meanings of the Greek word so used. The expression “be careful” is translated from a Greek word (blepō) that may mean “to see,” that is, to perceive with eyes as in the instruction given by the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul to the Corinthians about focusing on heavenly things than earthly ones in 2 Corinthians 4:18:
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
The word may mean “to watch, be aware of” in the sense of being ready to learn about something that is needed or is hazardous, as it is used in the instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul to the Galatians concerning backbiting each other as in Galatians 5:15:
If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
The word may mean “to be careful” as it is used in the instruction how one conducts self as a believer as stated in Ephesians 5:15:
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 8:9 it is used with the meaning “to watch carefully,” that is, “to be vigilant,” “be on the lookout” or “to be careful.”
We are often ignorant of what is expected of us spiritually until we are instructed from the word of God regarding correct action to take. Even after hearing what we are supposed to do, there is the tendency to forget what we have heard. I am saying that we all are prone to forgetting truths of the word of God that we have heard taught and so we need constant reminder to apply the truth we have been taught. Apostle Paul considered it necessary for him to remind believers in Rome of the great truths of the gospel or the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith they had been taught as we read in Romans 15:15:
I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me
The verbal phrase as if to remind you of them again may be translated so as to remind you again. Likewise, he instructed Timothy as a pastor to do the same, according to 2 Timothy 2:14:
Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.
The phrase these things that is literally this refers either to the faithful saying in verses 11-13 or to what follows that refer to useless arguments. That aside, the point we are stressing is that it is necessary that we be reminded that once we hear truth that we should begin to apply that truth and continue to do so. This reality is conveyed to the Corinthians in the command we are considering in 1 Corinthians 8:9 Be careful. How is that you may ask? It is because the apostle issued the command using a present tense. An implication of this usage in our passage is that the command should be understood to mean to begin being careful and continue being careful regarding what is instructed. In other words, the believer commanded should be vigilant to ensure that the command is one that is obeyed immediately it is heard but not in the future. Hence, the command is that a spiritually matured believer should begin and continue being careful or be on the lookout regarding the concern of the command the apostle issued.
The caution the Holy Spirit issued through Apostle Paul concerns the use of liberty or freedom one has in Christ Jesus in such a way to harm another believer as conveyed in the clause of 1 Corinthians 8:9 that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. The verbal phrase the exercise of your freedom is literally this authority/right of yours. The literal translation implies that the apostle does not dispute the liberty of those addressed but he certainly does not agree with how that liberty or freedom is used. That aside, the literal Greek reads this authority/right of yours. This is because the word “freedom” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (exousia) that has a range of meanings. The word may mean “ability” to do something as that desired by Simon the Sorcerer to be able to lay his hand on someone, so the person receives the Holy Spirit as stated in Acts 8:19:
and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
The word may mean “power” that one exercises over another as it is used in Pilate’s question to Jesus Christ as recorded in John 19:10:
“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
The word may mean “right to act, decide” or “freedom of choice” as Apostle Paul used in his doctrine of election to indicate that a porter has the right to use clay in a way to produce whatever he decides as we read in Romans 9:21:
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
The word may mean “authority” as that possessed by those who rule others that have the right to give orders as those that need to be obeyed as we read in Titus 3:1:
Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good,
In our passage of 1 Corinthian 8:9, the word means “liberty” or “freedom to act” although some commentators prefer the meaning “right.”
It is important that as we consider the subject of freedom that we understand that there is no such thing as absolute freedom for any person on this planet. We mean that according to the Scripture, there is not a person who is free to do whatever the individual wants without consequence of some sort. This means that we remain under the domain of some controlling force. It is this truth that the Holy Spirit conveyed through Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans in Romans 6:16–18:
16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
A person is a slave to sin or to righteousness but never free. When people say that they are free to do whatever they want, they ignore the fact that every human being that is born in the natural way, that is, through sexual relationship between a husband and a wife, is under bondage of sin. It is this reality that is expressed in Galatians 3:22:
But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
To say that the whole world is a prisoner of sin is to declare that everyone born in the natural way is under the tyranny of sin. A person cannot claim to be free if the person is controlled by sin. In effect, the reason there can be no absolute freedom is because of sin. A person who claims absolute freedom is one that claims to be without sinful nature, which is false since there is only one person that has been on this planet without a sinful nature, that is, the Lord Jesus. We should emphasize that the idea of total freedom is purely unbiblical because of the character of God. He is sovereign, so for man to be totally free smacks at the face of the sovereignty of God.
Sin destroys the possibility of absolute freedom on the part of an individual or even a nation. This truth is demonstrated in the history of Israel. Israel gained political freedom when the Lord liberated them from slavery in Egypt. However, God made clear to them that sin, that is, disobedience to His commands or the terms of His covenant with them would lead them to lose their political freedom as we read in Deuteronomy 28:47–48:
47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, 48 therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
The Lord indicated that because Israel did not serve Him in terms of worshipping Him that involves obedience to His word they would be enslaved to their enemies, implying loss of political freedom. The history of Israel proved this point, especially in the early days of their occupation of the land of Canaan. They repeatedly disobeyed God and repeatedly they were enslaved. Take for example, the situation reported in Judges 3:7–8:
7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.
The punishment of Israel for idolatry in this passage is their being defeated and enslaved by foreign power. Thus, it is impossible for there to be freedom when there is sin. This means that unless a person is free from sin the individual is not free. Freedom in the sense of to do what one wants without restriction is only possible when a person is in a state of sinlessness, implying that whatever such a person would want to do would not be tainted by sin. For it is only through the Lord or from Him that freedom exists. This point we are making is made by the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:17:
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
The clause where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom is literally from the Greek and where the Spirit of the Lord, freedom. Since there is no verb supplied in the Greek, the Greek expression could be understood to mean either there is freedom where the Spirit of the Lord is present or that freedom comes from the Spirit of the Lord. Regardless of how the Greek is translated or interpretated, the point is that freedom is associated with the Spirit of the Lord that here refers to the Holy Spirit. Freedom in this passage could refer to freedom from sin or freedom from the law since only a person that is controlled by the Holy Spirit that is free from sin or free from the law as we read in Galatians 5:18:
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
Prior to this statement, the apostle had indicated that those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit are incapable of sinning as implied in Galatians 5:16:
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Anyway, we contend that only a person that is controlled by the Holy Spirit is free in the sense of not being under bondage to sin.
We have noted that because of enslavement of sin, no one can have absolute freedom. Therefore, freedom as a concept that involves escape from the control of sin and its consequence is that which comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ freed us from the enslavement of sin through His death on the cross is conveyed in Revelation 1:5:
and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
Hence, it is in Christ that we have freedom. Consequently, the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul reminds us of this freedom in Christ as we read in Galatians 5:1:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
The sentence it is for freedom in the NIV is literally for the freedom. Because of the Greek syntax involved, the Greek could be translated either by means of this freedom or for freedom. The implication of the first translation is that freedom is the instrument by which Christ has set us free. On the other hand, the implication of the second translation is that freedom is the purpose or goal that Christ has set us free. The second option is to be preferred, that is, that Christ has set us free so we can have freedom in Him. There are at least two reasons for accepting the second option. First, the Bible clearly indicates that the purpose or goal of the gospel is to set free those under spiritual repression. This goal is evident from the prophecy concerning the work of Christ as indicated in Isaiah 61:1:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
It is not to be doubted that salvation involves setting us free from the power of darkness and sin, but also so we can enjoy the type of freedom with God that as unbelievers, under the repression of sin, we could not enjoy. A second reason for accepting that the apostle is stating the goal or purpose of Christ setting us free is so we can enjoy freedom is the discovery that the Greek syntax used in our verse was used at the time of writing in “sacral manumission procedures” to indicate destiny or purpose.
The freedom we have in Jesus Christ is not a political freedom, but a spiritual freedom rooted in God’s truth. You see, the Jews of the time of Christ had the idea that the Messiah would bring political freedom from the domination of the Romans as we may gather from the declaration of one of the two disciples that the Lord Jesus appeared to on their way to Emmaus after His resurrection, as recorded in Luke 24:21:
but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.
The clause one who was going to redeem Israel is to be understood to mean that the hope of the Jews was that Jesus Christ was to deliver Israel from Roman occupation. This aside, the freedom we have in Christ is spiritual. The source of this freedom is not human document such as the constitution of this country. No! The source of our freedom as believers is God’s truth. This fact was understood by the psalmist when he stated in Psalm 119:45:
I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
When the psalmist stated I will walk about in freedom, he meant that he would live his life in freedom because of the word of God being made available to him. To live in freedom may be understood either positively or negatively that implies essentially the same thing. Positively, to live one’s life in freedom means to conduct one’s life in accordance with the word of God. Negatively, to live one’s life in freedom means to live free of sin by being obedient to God’s word. Sin enslaves, as we have already stated, so that a person who lives in sin cannot be free as determined by God. The psalmist knows this truth that later in this psalm he prayed that God should enable him not to be enslaved by sin in Psalm 119:133:
Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.
Thus, the psalmist understood that the source of freedom for believers is God’s truth. This source of freedom was also conveyed by the Lord Jesus as recorded in John 8:31-32:
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
At the time Jesus uttered these words, the Jews believed that truth was found in the Law and that as a man studied it then that made him free. Here, of course, Jesus means knowing Him as the truth since He is the One that brings transformation that sets a person free from the bondage of Satan so that the person is free to do God’s will. To know Jesus in this context involves faith in Him and living one’s life according to His teaching. By the way, let me add, if you live in true freedom, you would not worry about anything since worrying is a sin. Furthermore, you cannot live in fear of death. We are saying to you that if you worry then you are not living a life of freedom. Your fear may be the fear of death; if you live in fear of death then you cannot be living in freedom. The Holy Spirit through the human author of Hebrews tells us that such fear is Satan’s tool for enslavement of people in Hebrews 2:15:
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
A person who lives free of the fear of death because Jesus has defeated Satan and put to an end his control over death, is a person who lives in true freedom. This person also lives free of fear of death because he knows that Jesus promised him that if even, he dies, he will still live, according to the promise of the Lord Jesus recorded in John 11:25-26:
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
A person who believes this promise is one who feels secured in his life that it does not matter what the situation is; he is confident in the Lord’s ability to protect him until it is time for him to depart from this life. Under such situation a person can be said to live in security because he lives his life in accordance with the Scripture. The point is that the source of freedom for us as believers is the truth from God as delineated in the Scripture.
In any case, we have freedom in Christ. So, it is not surprising that our freedom in Christ is described as glorious by Apostle Paul in Romans 8:21:
that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Although we have glorious freedom in Christ, we should be careful not to misuse our freedom. Thus, the Holy Spirit warns us about misuse of our freedom through Apostle Paul as recorded in Galatians 5:13:
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
The same warning is issued through Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:16:
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
The passage of 1 Corinthians 8:9 that we are considering is indeed concerned with being careful not to misuse the freedom we have in Christ as given in the instruction of verse 9 Be careful, however that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
The instruction we have is not that we should not enjoy the freedom in Christ or right we have in Him but that we do so wisely, being sensitive to other believers. In effect, we should safeguard the use of our freedom in Christ by love for our fellow believers. Why do I mention love in a believer’s exercise of the freedom in Christ, you may wonder? There are four reasons I do so. First, love for fellow believers ensures that we will not harm them in anyway, as we read in Romans 13:10:
Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Second, the Holy Spirit expects us to function in love as per the instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 16:14:
Do everything in love.
The command to do all we do in love, means that we should allow love to control all we do. In other words, our thought should be focused in doing that which is beneficial to a fellow believer while avoiding anything that would harm such a person. If love governs what we do, then our exercise of the freedom we have in Christ would be such that we are concerned with the spiritual welfare of a fellow believer. Love expresses itself in being sensitive to others as we interact with them. Third, the Holy Spirit indicates that it is through love that we can be of help to each other or in serving each other as stated in the passage we cited previously, that is, Galatians 5:13:
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
Fourth, love involves sacrifice to benefit others. Thus, love is embodied in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf as we are informed in 1 John 3:16:
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Understanding the four reasons we have given should help us recognize the importance of using our freedom in Christ in love.
Be that as it may, we contend that love should govern our exercise of our freedom in Christ because of the instruction of 1 Corinthians 8: 9 Be careful, however that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. The caution we should pay attention is in the clause that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. Literally, the Greek reads lest somehow this authority/right of yours become (an) occasion to sin to the weak (ones). This is because the expression “stumbling block” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (proskomma) that appears six times in the NT primarily in the epistle of Apostle Paul since he used it five of the six occurrences. The only usage of the word outside the epistles of Paul is by Apostle Peter who used it with meaning of “act of stumbling” in his quotation from the OT, as we read in 1 Peter 2:8:
and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
The sentence of the NIV A stone that causes men to stumble is literally a stone of stumbling. Apostle Paul used the word in his epistles with the meaning of that which provides an occasion for stumbling in the faith or conscience. Thus, the word is used in the sense of “hindrance” or “occasion for offense” in the Apostle Paul’s instruction in Romans 14:13:
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
It is in the sense of “giving offense to conscience” that the word is used in Romans 14:20:
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 8:9, the word is used in the sense of that which provides an opportunity or occasion for causing someone to sin hence means “that which causes someone to sin” or “that which provides an occasion for someone to sin” or simply “any cause that results in a person sinning.”
The caution given to believers in 1 Corinthians 8:9 is against causing a fellow believer to sin. So, what is the Holy Spirit cautioning the believer in this verse? Before we get to the answer, let me remind us that according to our Lord’s teaching, causing another believer to sin is a dangerous situation that calls for punishment from Him as conveyed in Matthew 18:6:
But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
The seriousness of leading another person to sin is also conveyed in the literal command to Israel not to put a stumbling block before a blind person in Leviticus 19:14:
“‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.
Anyway, we should recognize that there are at least two ways people may lead us to sin. The first is the use of a person’s authority to lead others into idolatry. This was the case in Israel when Jeroboam used his authority as king to cause Israel to become involved in idolatry since he set up idols that he wanted the people to worship. His action was followed by subsequent rulers of Israel so that when later kings were condemned by the Lord, reference was made to the way Jeroboam caused Israel to sin as we read, for example, in 1 Kings 16:26:
He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols.
Another way someone may cause others to sin is through false teaching. This way of causing someone to sin is what Balaam used to cause Israel to sin in that he offered advice to Balak that since he could not defeat Israel in battle, he could get them to sin against their God so He would punish them. The advice was to invite the Israelites to eat meals with the Midianites during their sacrifice to their gods as we read in Revelation 2:14:
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.
This kind of action was also the case of the woman described as Jezebel in the church of Thyatira who through her false teaching caused some members to be involved in sexual immorality and eating of food sacrificed to idols, according to Revelation 2:20:
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
The person in 1 Corinthians 8:9 that would be led to sin is described as the weak. The word “weak” is translated from a Greek word (asthenēs) that may pertain to suffering from a debilitating illness hence may mean “ill, sick.” The word may also pertain to experiencing some incapacity or limitation either physically or spiritually. It is in the sense of being “unimpressive” that the word is used in describing what some people in Corinth say about Apostle Paul indicating that his personal presence is weak as recorded in 2 Corinthians 10:10:
For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.”
In a spiritual sense, the word may mean “helpless” or “powerless” morally as it is used to describe our state before Christ died for our sins as stated in Romans 5:6:
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 8:9, it refers to weakness in faith that is due to lack of knowledge of the word of God of the type that should cause a person to recognize that idols are nothing. The weak believer as we have indicated is not yet grounded in the doctrines of the Christian faith and so is still influenced by a previous knowledge regarding idols that were considered gods. Thus, instead of a matured believer doing something that would cause an immature believer to sin, the matured believer should do everything possible to accommodate the immature as per the instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul as stated in Romans 15:1:
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
The verse implies that those who are strong in the faith or the mature believers should curtail the use of their liberty or right in Christ or they should practice self-denial of what is not in and of itself sinful to benefit those who are weak in the faith. Mature believers should not because of their own conviction do things to satisfy them at the expense of the immature believers. They should think about how to help the immature than merely to satisfy themselves. So let me end by reminding you of the message of the section we are considering which is: You should use your freedom obtained through knowledge of truth in a way not to cause a weak believer to sin.