1 Corinthians 8 (Wednesday June 4th)
To preface this entire post, I want us all to read 1 Cor. 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Be above reproach. Be a man or woman of good reputation because you represent our great God.
If you have been a Christian for any amount of time, you have had the question okay well what do I do if the Bible doesn’t talk about a certain topic? For example, the Bible doesn’t always give us specific verses on if you can or cannot take in certain media, to smoke, to drink alcohol (the Bible clearly warns against getting drunk Eph. 5:18), and many other hot topics in our culture. So, what do we do?
This passage of scripture was specifically for the Corinthian church. There were many pagans turned Christians in this church. Something that they would have done in their previous worldview was to sacrifice meat to the various idols they worshipped. Then that same meat would be sold in the market. So, the Christians are now asking okay now that we worship Jesus, can we still eat this meat, or should we not eat this meat? Paul’s answer is simple. He says that some people have the knowledge in their heart and mind that all other idols are not true gods, therefore their conscience is not weak when they eat the meat that was offered to these idols. Then there are the people who may have practiced the actual offering before and their conscience is weak towards this practice because it reminds them of idolatry they previously committed.
So, let’s make this more personal. Say you had a sin struggle with getting drunk before you came to Christ for salvation. Now after you are a Christian, you understand that just having a drink is okay, but because you have abused it, your conscience is weak towards even having a drink. Obviously that Christian should not drink because going against their conscience would be sin.
Now, Paul goes back to everyone and clarifies some things.
1. Our freedom should not be a stumbling block for another Christian (v.9).
2. Give up your freedom for the sake of others (v.13).
So, to put this all together, there are some areas where you have freedom to trust your conscience that God created in you and the Spirit He put in you. BUT you should never favor your liberty over your brother and sister in Christ. AND you should be willing (not that you must) to give up your liberty, even though your conscience is not weak, for the sake of someone else.