Using Our Freedom – 1 Corinthians 8

A text – 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

8:1 Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
8:2 Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge;
8:3 but anyone who loves God is known by him.
8:4 Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.”
8:5 Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth–as in fact there are many gods and many lords–
8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
8:7 It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8:8 “Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.
8:9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
8:10 For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols?
8:11 So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed.
8:12 But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
8:13 Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.

A reflection:

Paul is responding to a real controversy in the church in Corinth: is it OK to eat food leftover from a sacrifice to a pagan god? Paul weaves his way through the issue. He points out that since no pagan god is the One True God, the food sacrificed in this way doesn’t make any difference – sure, it’s OK. But he also points out that many people in the Corinth congregation were brand new converts to the faith and might misinterpret eating that food, or be confused by that behavior. So Paul’s argument turns to a new criterion for action in a community of faith: not whether something is right or OK, but whether it builds community or breaks it down.

Believers in Jesus have a great deal of freedom – freedom to eat meat sacrificed to idols, in this case. But Paul is suggesting there is another way of using our freedom: on behalf of others who are newer or more confused or even weaker in some ways. In Philippians, Paul makes the same argument by quoting the Christ Hymn, where Jesus empties himself of his freedom and equality with God in order to serve humans as their slave. He doesn’t just live out and use his freedom for himself; he lives out and uses his freedom on behalf of the most lowly persons he can find.

You and I have a great deal of freedom. Some days we just live in that reality and use our freedom for ourselves. But think of a time when you used your freedom on behalf of someone who really needed a lift. In that moment, you were following Paul’s instruction: you were building up trust and building up the Body of Christ.  The world needs that use of freedom more than ever.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for freeing us. Thank you for making anything possible for us. Help us to live out and use that freedom on behalf of someone else today, someone who really needs it. Amen.