Bible Version: New International Version (NIV)
Application Notes: Life Application Study Bible (NIV)
1 CORINTHIANS 8
Concerning Food Sacrificed to Idols
1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God.
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 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 rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.
Application Notes
8:1-3 Love is more important than knowledge. Knowledge can make us look good and feel important, but we can all too easily develop an arrogant, know-it-all attitude. Many people with strong opinions are unwilling to listen to and learn from God and others. If you want a vibrant relationship with God, you must get to know him, not just know about him. The way to know him is by understanding and recognising the depth of his love for all people and the lengths to which he goes to reach us with his love. We, in turn, will love him and model that love to others. Those who live in love with God and show love to others have found the secret to true knowledge and wisdom (see James 3:17-18). We can know and be known by God only when we understand the wisdom of love and model it in everything we do (1 John 4:7-8).
8:1 Meat bought in the marketplace could have been offered earlier to an idol in one of the many pagan temples. Animals were brought to a temple, killed before an idol as part of a pagan religious ceremony, and either eaten at a feast to the idol or taken to butchers who would sell the meat in the marketplace. The believers wondered if by eating such meat they were somehow participating in the worship of idols.
8:4-9 Paul addressed these words to believers who weren't bothered by eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Although idols were phoney, and the pagan ritual of sacrificing to them was meaningless, eating such meat offended some Christians with more sensitive consciences. Paul said, therefore, that if a weaker or less mature believer misunderstood their actions, they should, out of consideration, avoid eating meat offered to idols.
8:10-13 Christian freedom does not mean that anything goes. It means that we obtain salvation not by good deeds or legalistic rules but by the free gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christian freedom, then, is inseparably tied to Christian responsibility. New believers are often very sensitive to what is right or wrong--what they should or shouldn't do. Some actions may be perfectly all right for us to do but may harm a Christian brother or sister who is still young in the faith and learning what the Christian life is all about. We must be careful not to offend a sensitive or younger Christian or, by our example, cause him or her to sin. When we love others, our freedom should be less important to us than strengthening the faith of a brother or sister in Christ. (For more on freedom in Christ, see Romans 14.)
Taken from Life Application Study Bible - Third Edition - (NIV)