Lessons #273 and 274
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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.
Recall the message of this section of 1 Corinthians 8:8-13 that we are considering is that You should use your freedom obtained through knowledge of truth in a way not to cause a weak believer to sin. In our last study, we stated that there are three elements of knowledge that you should have to enable you carry out the message of the passage we are considering. A first element of the knowledge you should have to execute the message we have stated is that which recognizes what is important before God. In other words, if you must use your freedom in Christ or the right you have in Christ, to do that which is not sinful, you must be able to distinguish what is essential from what is not in advancing your relationship with God. The second element is the impact of your action on the spiritual life of a weak believer. There are two impacts given in our passage. The first is causing the weak believer to go against the individual’s conscience that apostle presents sarcastically as the weak believer summoning courage to eat food sacrificed to an idol. A second impact on the weak believer is harming such an individual as stated in 1 Corinthians 8:11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. We stated previously that the clause this weak brother, for whom Christ died reminds us of two factors those described as strong in Corinth, and so all of us, should bear in mind as we utilize the freedom or right, we have in Christ. The first factor is the relationship between those described as weak and those described as strong. The second factor is the value God placed on the believer who would suffer spiritual harm because of the action of the strong believer. We started considering the first factor but ran out of time with promise to continue with it in today’s study.
Believers should in their interaction with their fellow believers recognize that they are related to each other, being in the same family of God in Christ. It is this truth that is conveyed in the phrase of 1 Corinthians this weak brother. Literally the Greek reads the one who is weak—the brother. The word “brother” is translated from a Greek word (adelphos) that has several meanings in the Greek. It could mean brother in the sense of a male person from the same mother as the reference person. It is in this sense that the word is used to reference those from the same mother as Jesus in His humanity in Acts 1:14:
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
By the way, the phrase with his brothers refutes those who teach perpetual virginity of Mary although some refute the phrase as a reference to the blood relatives of Jesus Christ, but it is hard to maintain such a view, especially as there is a clearer declaration of this fact in Mark 6:3:
Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
This aside, the Greek word we are considering may mean “a neighbor” as that is the sense of the word in Jesus’ teaching of judging of others without being careful of one’s own failure, as recorded in Luke 6:41:
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
The Greek word may refer to a fellow country man or a compatriot as Apostle Peter used the word to describe fellow Jews who were present during his sermon on the day of Pentecost, as narrated in Acts 2:29:
“Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.
Our word may be used to describe one who has the same beliefs with the one that uses the word, irrespective of gender, that is, the word refers to “a fellow believer.” It is in this sense of one who shares the same faith and so belongs to the Christian community, that is, a “fellow believer” that Apostle Paul used the word to describe Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:25:
But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs.
It is in this same sense of one who belongs to the same family of God regardless of gender and so with the same beliefs, that is, “a fellow believer” that Apostle Paul used the Greek word in our passage of 1 Corinthian 8:11. The point is that the phrase this weak brother is intended to remind those in Corinth that considered themselves as believers with knowledge that the others considered weak because of limited knowledge or spiritual maturity are fellow believers that belong to the same family of Christ as they. As we have argued, remembering this truth should help those in Corinth with knowledge to be more considerate and thoughtful concerning the other believers who did not have the same knowledge about the nature of idols as they.
Let me emphasize that one of the problems with us Christians today in dealing with each other is that we lack the understanding that our fellow believer is dear to us regardless of their social standing in the society. The Holy Spirit intends for us to see our fellow believers as dear to us and in a unique class of the new humanity in Christ with us, so we love and cherish them. We see this fact conveyed in the epistle of Apostle Paul to Philemon when he required him to view his former slave, Onesimus, as a “dear brother” as we read in Philemon 16:
no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.
Apostle Paul himself severally addressed believers in various local churches using the word “dear.” He used it for the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 7:1:
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
He addressed the Philippians using the same adjective in Philippians 4:1:
Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
The human author of Hebrews used the word to address the recipients of his epistle, as we read in Hebrews 6:9:
Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation.
James used the adjective to describe the recipient of his epistle in James 1:19:
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
Apostle Peter used it to describe the recipients of his epistle in 1 Peter 2:11:
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Apostle John used the word “dear” to describe believers he encouraged through the Holy Spirit to love each other in 1 John 4:7:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Jude used the word to describe believers that he instructed through the Holy Spirit in Jude 20:
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
It is not only that these writers of Scripture used the Greek word (agapētos) that means “dear” to address group of believers, but they also used the word to address individual believers, as for example, Apostle Paul used it to describe Timothy as his spiritual son in 2 Timothy 1:2:
To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thus, one gets the idea that the word “dear” is an argot (an often more or less secret vocabulary and idiom peculiar to a particular group) among the early church. It is not just a word but one that conveys love to each other. My point is that we have lost sight of how dear we should hold each other in our minds.
Be that as it may, in application, the fact we have stated regarding recognizing the relationship between believers should be helpful to all of us in dealing with fellow believers. If we remember that we are in the same family in Christ, then some of the instructions of the Scripture become easier to carry out. Let me just mention two examples of the commands that would be easier to carry out if we understand the fact we have stated. The Scripture commands us to carry each other’s burden, as instructed in Galatians 6:2:
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Generally, families normally rally around one of their own when one of them has problem. The problem could be health related or financial difficulties. It really does not matter; the point is that rallying around a suffering member of a family is what members of a family do with their own because they have the sense that both the one in trouble and they belong to the same family. I submit to you that in many instances when believers do not rally around their fellow believers, especially in the local church, it is because of not having the sense that the one suffering is a member of their family in Christ. It is also because of lack of this understanding in a practical way that many of us Christians seem not to be concerned with our fellow believers in different parts of the world who are under intense persecution. My point is that if we believers have the mindset and believe the truth that all believers are in the same family of Christ, then it would not be difficult for us to rally around a fellow believer in trouble. Of course, it is easy to misapply what I have stated because some believers expect others to help them in every financial difficulty they have. However, such help is to be controlled by intimate knowledge of the suffering believer. If the suffering is due to laziness or obvious spiritual failure that results in divine discipline then it would be wrong to help carry a fellow believer’s burden, in say, financially. That aside, the point I am making is that if believers accept that they are in the same family of God in Christ then it would be easier to carry one another’s burden, assuming they know the burden of each other. Another example of a command that would be easier to obey is that of putting the interest of others ahead of ours as stated in Philippians 2:3–4:
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Again, family members, especially parents, often consider the interests of their children ahead of theirs and may consider them better than themselves because of their love for them. This does not mean that they do not take care of themselves but that often they put their children’s need above theirs. Family members generally would consider the interests of those in their family ahead of theirs because of family bond. Thus, if believers accept the fact, they are in the same family in Christ then it would be easier to do the things commanded in this passage in Philippians 2:3-4. Again, the first factor believers should bear in mind as they utilize their freedom or rights in Christ is their relationship with fellow believers as those who belong to the same family of God in Christ.
The second factor believers should have in mind as they utilize their freedom or rights in Christ is the value God placed on all believers even the weakest among us. It is this factor that is given in the clause of 1 Corinthians 8:11 for whom Christ died. God placed great value on us that He gave His Son, the Lord Jesus, to die for our sins. We love one that we treasure, so it must be that God values us as dear or important to Him that He demonstrated such love that Christ would die for us while still sinners as we read in Romans 5:8:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
If we remind ourselves that Christ died for the other believer as He died for us, then we will recognize that He treasures the other believer as much as He treasures us. The implication is that we will be careful of doing anything that would harm another believer. The concept of harming another brings us back to the second impact of the action of the believer with knowledge on the weak believer.
The second impact of the action of the believer with knowledge on the weak believer, as we have previously stated, is harming of the weak believer spiritually. It is this impact that is given in the last verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:11 is destroyed by your knowledge. What does the apostle mean by destroying the weak believer in this verbal phrase? The answer depends in part with the key words in the Greek used in the verbal phrase we are considering.
The first key word “destroyed” is translated from a Greek word (apollymi) that may mean “to ruin” as it is used in the Lord Jesus’ description of the fate of an old wineskin to which new wine is poured as stated in Matthew 9:17:
Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
The word may mean “to lose” something or someone that a person already has, as it is used in the assurance of the Lord Jesus that He would not lose those the Father has given Him, that is, believers as we read in John 6:39:
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
The word may mean “to destroy” as Apostle Paul used the word to indicate either that he was not killed or that the work of his apostolic ministry has not been ruined as we read in 2 Corinthians 4:9:
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 8:11, the word means “to destroy” or “to ruin” in the sense of being spiritually harmed.
The second key word “knowledge” is translated from a Greek word (gnōsis) that we considered in verse 10 but let me refresh your mind about what we said regarding the Greek word. The Greek word basically means “knowledge” with two major nuances. Knowledge may refer to “the content of what is known” as it is used by Apostle Paul in describing what should be known about Jesus Christ in 2 Corinthians 2:14:
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
Knowledge may mean “comprehension or intellectual grasp of something” as the word is used by Apostle Paul in describing the comprehension of the gospel that is described as “glory of God” in 2 Corinthians 4:6:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
It is in the sense of “comprehension or intellectual grasp of something” that the word is used our passage of 1 Corinthians 8:11. Anyway, “knowledge” here refers to the comprehensive understanding that idols are nothing.
In any case, the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:11 is destroyed by your knowledge means that a weak believer is harmed spiritually by the action of the believer with knowledge that idols are nothing and so attends a banquet or party in the part of a temple of a god where meat sacrificed to idols were eaten.
Our interpretation of the verbal phrase is destroyed by your knowledge leads to the question: How is the weak believer harmed spiritually? Let me begin by stating what cannot be involved in harming weak believers spiritually. It cannot involve their loss of salvation. Apostle Paul nowhere teaches that a believer could lose his/her salvation. If anything, he teaches the opposite. He assured believers that nothing can change God’s love for them and by implication that nothing would change the work of love of God in salvation, as we read in Romans 8:38–39:
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The apostle conveyed that eternal life is God’s gift in Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Since eternal life from God is a gift, it cannot be revoked as per the statement of the Apostle recorded in Romans 11:29:
for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
Add to this fact is that when the apostle wrote of destroying the faith of some believers by the influence of false teachers, he was specific in the context in which he stated this in 2 Timothy 2:18:
who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.
What does it mean that the faith of some was destroyed? To begin with, the word “destroy” is translated from a Greek word (anatrepō) that is different from the one used in 1 Corinthians 8:11. The Greek word translated “destroy” in 2 Timothy 2:18 also means, “to upset, in the sense of jeopardizing someone’s inner wellbeing.” Here it has the sense of causing serious difficulty or trouble regarding some one’s belief.” So, the apostle when he said they destroy the faith of some means that the heretical teaching that the resurrection has already taken place has caused some to lose hope of eternal salvation that would certainly imply bodily resurrection. The false teachers in Ephesus at the time of the epistle were busy creating doubts in the mind of some believers about their faith and future bodily resurrection, the hope that Christians are looking forward. Therefore, that questioning of their future bodily resurrection had begun to affect their conduct. The difficulty some believers experienced was ongoing. These believers have not completely been discouraged but they were continuously being discouraged so that they were wavering in their faith. It seems that the false teachers had the habit of continuously teaching their error and as a result some of the believers in Ephesus lived in constant doubt about their faith and what it all means if their hope of bodily resurrection has been dashed by these false teachers. But the apostle nowhere implied that the destroying or upsetting of some believer’s faith in any way means loss of salvation. Of course, we should also remember that the idea of a believer losing salvation is contrary to the declaration of the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry. He indicated that He would not lose anyone that the Father has given Him, in the passage we cited previously, that is, John 6:39:
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
He asserted the same truth in an emphatic manner in John 10:28:
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
Thus, when Apostle Paul wrote in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:11 is destroyed by your knowledge he could not have possibly included that harming a weak believer spiritually would involve loss of salvation. By the way, in another passage where the apostle spoke of not harming believers, he was not specific as what he meant in 2 Corinthians 7:9:
yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.
As we said, the apostle did not specify in what way he did not harm the Corinthians so that several interpretations are possible. For example, the apostle could mean that the Corinthians did not lose their positive Christian attitudes or that the apostle would not return to the Corinthians. But the point is that such harm whatever it was that did not occur could not mean loss of salvation.
We have considered what harming weak believers spiritually could not involve, so what then is involved? It involves primarily causing a believer to sin. This is because when a weak believer sees one with knowledge eat meat sacrificed to an idol that may lead such an individual to go against what that person believes and so goes against the individual’s conscience and so may eat meat offered to idols. When a believer acts contrary to faith that is indeed sin as we read in Romans 14:23:
But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
Faith here refers primarily to the convictions of the conscience so that a believer who acts contrary to that conviction sins. This would probably apply to the weak believer in Corinth who, based on the action of the believer with knowledge, would eat meat sacrificed to an idol although such individual’s conscience may be saying to the individual that the person is wrong for doing so. Thus, such a person sins and so it can be said that the believer is harmed spiritually because of sin.
We have indicated that the primary harm that a believer with knowledge that eats meat sacrificed to an idol would cause the weak believer is to sin in the manner we described. However, such failure would lead to a secondary harm that has eternal consequence in the sense of loss of reward. A believer who operates not controlled by the Holy Spirit, will lose eternal reward associated with a specific action that was not sinful. The good we do will be rewarded no matter how insignificant people think it is. Many of us think of big acts of kindness to others as what the Lord will reward in eternal state and so we ignore simple acts of kindness as if they would not be rewarded by the Lord. Such thinking is incorrect since our Lord used something that many may not think means much to convey the point that all we do in His name or under the control of the Holy Spirit would be rewarded, as we read in Matthew 10:42:
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
The giving of a cup of cold water to one who is thirsty, for example, is not what many of us would consider an act that the Lord would reward but He used that here to convey the point that no matter what small kindness we show to another, it will be rewarded provided it is done in the right attitude that implies being under the control of the Holy Spirit. That aside, the point is that a believer who is controlled by sin loses eternal reward for whatever simple act of kindness the individual is involved. The implication is that a believer harmed by another so that the individual sins would be harmed spiritually in the future because of loss of future reward. No wonder the Holy Spirit through Apostle John encourages us believers to ensure we never lose our eternal reward, as stated in 2 John 8:
Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.
In any case, with the interpretation of the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:11 is destroyed by your knowledge, we have completed the second element of the knowledge you should have to execute the message we have stated. Again, this second element of knowledge is the impact of your action on the spiritual life of a weak believer. What this means is that if you consider yourself matured as a believer in Christ then you must be conscious that you do not act in a manner that would cause another believer who does not have the same spiritual knowledge you have to go astray or to do things that would cause the person to sin against God. I am saying that those who are spiritually matured have the responsibility of being careful they do not impede the spiritual growth of others. You should do everything within the power God granted you to act in such a way that you are mindful of the impact of your action on a fellow believer. Equally important is that of being conscious that how we act or what we do would not lead an unbeliever to misread the Christian life or to be so turned off regarding the Christian faith even when our action does not necessarily involve sin. In short, I am saying that we should be careful to operate as Christians bearing in mind the words of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in Romans 14:16:
Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.
With this said, we turn to the third element of knowledge in the passage we are considering that is necessary for execution of the message we have stated.
A third element of the knowledge you should have to execute the message we have stated is understanding one of the things that constitute sinning against Christ in relation to other believers. The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul wants us to become aware that any spiritual harm we cause another believer is sinning against the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this truth that is conveyed in 1 Corinthians 8:12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
There are four observations we should make before we examine the sentence of verse 12. First, verse 12 refers to what is stated in verse 11 and so it supports our interpretation that destroying a weak believer is harming such a person spiritually in the sense of causing the individual to sin. This assertion is supported by the phrase in this way that is translated from one word in the Greek that begins verse 12. In other words, the Greek of verse 12 begins with a Greek word (houtōs) that in our passage of 1 Corinthians 8:12 could either refer to what preceded so that it may be translated “in this manner, thus, so” or refers to what follows hence may mean “in this way, as follows.” The context indicates that it refers to what preceded it in verse 11 so that the NIV used the meaning “in this way” that is synonymous to the phrase “in this manner” in their translation although a handful of English versions used the meaning “so” or “thus.” Second, verse 12 is addressed to those who have knowledge in Corinth because the Greek participles used are in the plural indicating that more than one person is involved in the actions conveyed in the NIV with the words, “sin” and “wound.” This, of course, makes sense because those who are sinned against, or wounded are believers as conveyed with the word “brothers” in the verse we are considering. Hence, the apostle must be addressing those in Corinth that have knowledge. Third, there is the problem of whether the apostle meant two actions of sinning and wounding weak believers or one action. We will provide later our answer to this problem. Fourth, there is correspondence between sinning against a believer and sinning against Christ. In effect, the moment a person sins against another believer that individual sins against Christ. With these observations we proceed with our exposition of the verse.
The apostle conveys that verse 12 is concerned with explaining what it means to destroy a weak believer that is stated in verse 11. Thus, the first clause of 1 Corinthians 8:12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience. The reason we state that the clause is an explanation of what is stated in verse 11 is because of the phrase in this way, as we have already stated, refers back to the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:11 is destroyed by your knowledge. Although we interpreted it as harming a weak believer in such a way that the person sins, our clause of verse 12 gives us the confidence that our interpretation is indeed correct. We are saying that verse 12 explains what it means to destroy a weak believer.
The explanation of what is given in verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:11 is destroyed by your knowledge is that it refers to sinning against a brother in that such a believer sins against God as in the clause of verse 12 When you sin against your brothers. The word brothers as used in our passage is one that we have explained previously as a reference to believers regardless of gender. This aside, the word “sin” is translated from a Greek word (hamartanō) that means “to do wrong” or “to sin” in the sense of violating divine law as also confirmed by the Holy Spirit through Apostle John in 1 John 3:4:
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
In our passage the word means “to sin.” However, the Greek used a present participle so that literally the participle in the Greek may be translated “sinning” that does not convey the fine point the apostle makes in the verse since a main verb that means “to sin” related to Christ is used also in the verse. To unpack what the apostle intended to convey, the participle may be interpreted in one of two ways. A first interpretation is that the participle is used to convey the sense of time so that the action of sinning against a believer occurs about the same time as sinning against Christ. Most of our English versions used the word “when” to convey this interpretation. Of course, since the main verb is also in the present tense as the participle, it may even be possible to translate using the word “while” instead of “when” to convey those two actions are taking place at the same time directed towards different persons. Another interpretation is to take the participle as conveying condition that must occur for the action of the main verb to be true in which case it may be translated “if” as reflect in the NET and the CEB. The implication of this interpretation is that it is only as a person sins against a fellow believer that the person sins against Christ.
Apostle Paul indicates that destroying a weak believer involves sinning against such a person but that does not fully explain what he meant. Therefore, he provides a further explanation to what he intended to convey in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:12 and wound their weak conscience. It is our interpretation that this verbal phrase and wound their weak conscience is an explanation of what it means to sin against believer and not a second action of those with knowledge towards weak believers. This is because the conjunction “and” used is translated from a Greek conjunction (kai) that often means “and” as a marker that joins words or clauses. However, it has several usages such as being used to introduce a result that comes from what precedes and so may be translated “and then, and so.” But in our passage, it is used as a marker of explanation so that the clause that follows it explains what preceded it. We are saying that without this verbal phrase, it is still difficult to understand in what way a believer with knowledge sins against a weak believer. So, it makes sense that the verbal phrase wound their weak conscience is used to explain what it means to sin against a believer.
The word “wound” is translated from a Greek word (typtō) that literal means to inflict a blow and so means “to strike” or “beat” or “wound” as the word is used in the instruction of the Lord of how to react to mistreatment by others in Luke 6:29:
If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.
Figuratively, the word may mean “to harm” or “to injure” someone as that is the sense in which the word is used to record what Apostle Paul said to the high priest who ordered him to be struck as we read in Acts 23:3:
Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”
When the apostle said God will strike you he was using a Jewish curse formula that involves divine aid against the unjust decision of the high priest. In effect, the apostle conceives of God harming the high priest through some misfortunes conceived as blows coming from God. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 8:12, the word has the sense of “to harm,” that is, to cause serious damage to a person, conceived of as delivering a sharp blow with the fist or a weapon. By the way, the apostle used a present participle of our verb in the Greek probably to solidify the point that the word “sin” and “wound” are related as we have explained, that is, that the word “wound” explains further the word “sin.”
Anyway, the apostle indicates that it is the harming of the conscience of a weak believer that is involved as the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 8:12 and wound their weak conscience implies. Recall that we have previously stated that when the apostle described some people in Corinth as having weak consciences, he meant that their consciences were not properly informed by truth of God’s word about idols. This means that those described as weak in conscience are those weak in their faith because they have not learned the truth that idols are nothing or they are not grounded in the word of God to recognize this fact. Their conscience is wounded or harmed in the sense they are caused or misled to act contrary to what their conscience permits, that is, to eat meat sacrificed to idols that such persons previously considered to be idolatrous. Such creates a turmoil of guilt feeling in those who are described as having weak conscience or if they were considering what to do, they become unsettled as what is the right cause of action to take.
The concern of the apostle is to convey that when a believer harms another believer spiritually that is in a sense an affront against the Lord Jesus Christ who died for the weak believer. It is this affront that is described as sinning against Christ in last clause of 1 Corinthians 8:12 you sin against Christ. The Greek reveals that the personal pronoun “you” is in the plural which refers to all those with knowledge that eat meat sacrificed to idol that caused problem for the weak believers in the church of Corinth. The point the Holy Spirit conveyed to us is that when we cause spiritual problem for another believer, we have sinned against Christ. It is not difficult to conceive what the apostle stated because he learned at the point of his salvation that when a person persecutes believers such as the same as persecuting Christ, as we read in Acts 9:4–5:
4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.
Hence, you should get in your mind the truth that when you do something that causes spiritual problem to a believer then you have sinned against Christ. In any event, the third element of knowledge you should have to execute the message we have stated is understanding one of the things that constitutes sinning against Christ in relation to other believers, which is causing another believer to sin or to be harmed spiritually.
Be that as it may, recall that the message of this passage of 1 Corinthians 8:8-13 that we are considering is that you should use your freedom obtained through knowledge of truth in a way not to cause a weak believer to sin. The apostle discussed the basis of the message in verse 9 in the caution he issued to those who are spiritually strong. This was followed by three kinds of knowledge believers should have to execute the message we have stated. Finally, the apostle ends the section that we have been considering by describing the action a matured believer or one with knowledge should take in keeping with the message of the passage. This action is to avoid doing anything that although right, that is, not sinful but could lead another believer to sin. It is this the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 8:13 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.
Verse 13 is a conclusion to what the apostle has been teaching regarding the believer with knowledge eating meat sacrificed to idols that causes problem for a weak believer. This we know because of the word Therefore that begins the verse is translated from a Greek word (dioper) that is a conjunction used to state the conclusion of a previously mentioned matter and so means “therefore” or “for this very reason.” Thus, the apostle gives an action that a believer should take because the individual does not want to sin against Christ by harming a fellow believer.
The apostle presents a general principle of how we should deal with our fellow believers in matters that are not sinful but could cause another believer to sin. The general principle is that believers should be willing to sacrifice the right to act in any way one wants that is not sinful but may cause problem for the conscience of another believer. The thing that we should sacrifice is that which is right, but we can do without. We say this because the apostle did not say he would not eat food but meat as in the sentence I will never eat meat again. A person could be a vegetarian and still survive but no one could survive without food. Thus, the apostle was careful in the word he used. He was concerned that he does not act in a way to cause another believer to sin as in the clause if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin. The expression “causes to fall into sin” is translated from a Greek word (skandalizō) that literally means to cause someone to stumble and fall by placing stumbling block before an individual. Thus, the word may mean “to offend” as the word is used in the reason the Lord Jesus instructed Peter to pay His temple tax and that of himself in Matthew 17:27:
“But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
The word may mean “to cause to sin” as it is used in Apostle Paul’s concern for a believer who is led to sin in 2 Corinthians 11:29:
Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
It is in the sense of “to cause to sin” that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 8:13. Thus, the principle the apostle states, requires being careful not to be the reason a fellow believer sins because we utilize our right in Christ when avoiding the use of that right would not cause us any spiritual harm. That the apostle is concerned with an action that does not involve sin but things a person can forgo without unusual suffering of ill health is also conveyed in similar conclusion in Romans 14:21:
It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
It is interesting that the apostle says what he would not do in 1 Corinthians 8:13 I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall. The thing that is interesting about this is that the apostle wants believers to adopt the principle of sacrificing what one is at liberty to do in favor of helping another believer, but he did not say this by way of command. Instead, he spoke of what he would do. The apostle probably did this in keeping with his instruction for the Corinthians to imitate him. Thus, his approach to encouraging believers to do what the Holy Spirit definitely requires of them is to present it in form of following his example. Anyway, let me end this section by again stating the message that covers 1 Corinthians 8:8-13 which is You should use your freedom obtained through knowledge of truth in a way not to cause a weak believer to sin.
12/11//20