Full of Knowledge But Empty of Love - 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon Series: Confused?

Chapter 8 begins with the words, “Now concerning food offered to idols . . .” From the outset of this chapter we see that Paul is changing topics. In chapter 7 he had offered several points of clarification concerning how the Gospel was to impact marriage. Now in chapter 8 and in some of the following chapters Paul is going to address some questions that the church at Corinth had regarding the Gospel and idolatry. The first part of verse 1 makes it sound as if this chapter is going to deal primarily with the issue of ‘food.’ But that isn’t necessarily the case. Verse 10 is going to provide us with a little more clarity regarding what was taking place. So let’s begin with a look at the context and try to understand what is going on in this community so that we understand the context that many of these Gentile believers were coming out of and why the church at Corinth was wrestling with these issues.

Remember that the city of Corinth was very much a pagan city with many different temples where a variety of different gods were worshipped. One of the rituals practiced among many of the Corinthian citizens was regular involvement in different temple feasts. It was not uncommon for the different temples to offer different feasts where the people would come together to worship the specified deity through sacrifices and shared meals. But in the same way that there are many people today who attend religious services for many reasons other than to truly worship, there were probably a large number of people in the city of Corinth who would participate in these feasts largely because it was ritual, because it was a time to socialize, or because it was something one’s family had always done. The trouble we are going to discover in our text today is that some of the believers in Corinth were present for and participating in these pagan feasts inside the pagan temples. But before you start asking how in the world they could do such a thing, remember that this was very much a normal part of the culture. Most of these believers probably grew up attending these feasts with their families prior to coming to faith in Jesus. In fact one commentator even suggested that attendance at these feasts for many in Corinth may have been looked at in the same way that we think about and view going to a local restaurant. So continuing to go to these pagan temples and continuing to participate in these pagan feasts may not have seemed like a big deal to some who professed to be believers in Christ. And besides, it appears that some of them believed that the rights and freedoms that they felt belonged to them as a result of the Gospel was additional justification for their participation and involvement at these feasts. So Paul is going to turn his attention to addressing this specific issue and once again help the believers at Corinth to look through the lense of the Gospel in order to see how God, Jesus, and the good news of the Gospel should be influencing their everyday lives.

“Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows [i.e. has arrived at knowledge], he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves, he is truly known” (1 Corinthians 8:1-3).

As Paul had done in parts of chapter 7, he once again appears to start off this new topic by quoting parts of the letter that the church at Corinth had written to him. He appears to do that in verse 1 when he wrote, “we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’” This possession of knowledge seems to be what some of the believers in Corinth were using to justify their presence and participation in the feasts which were taking place in pagan temples and thrown to celebrate and exalt other gods, as well as justification to encourage other believers in Christ to participate with them. Within the Corinthians' errors there were hints of Gospel truth. That is true here. As I have argued from the beginning of this letter the believers in Corinth seemed to possess the right understanding that their faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord had radically transformed them. The problems they ran into just seemed to be points where they lacked clarity about the Gospel’s true implications for certain aspects of life. In verse 1 of chapter 8 we see that the believers in Corinth seemed to understand that with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit came some special ‘spiritual knowledge.’ This is altogether different from the ‘worldly wisdom’ they sought after and boasted in in the first few chapters of this letter. This was a ‘knowledge’ that accompanied the Holy Spirit that they believed every believer in Christ had access to. This also serves as an explanation as to why they would have written in their letter to Paul that they knew “all of us possess knowledge.” The problem lies in what these believers believed about the ‘spiritual knowledge’ they possessed. (We have to read into the text a little bit here, but I  think you’ll see we aren’t going beyond what the text gives us.) Paul responds to their letter by saying, “This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up.” It appears that these believers in Corinth thought that acting on and living out this ‘knowledge’ that they possessed would build them up in their faith. But Paul corrects that position. He says to the believers at Corinth, “Don’t be confused. This ‘knowledge’ that you are so particularly proud of doesn’t build you up in your faith, in your relationship with Christ, or in your relationship with others. The truth is that this ‘knowledge’ puffs you up with pride and arrogance. Love for God and for your brothers and sisters in Christ is what truly builds us up, as well as our brothers and sisters in Christ.” The theology of some of these believers was just a little bit off. They believed that the ‘spiritual knowledge’ which they believed they had come into possession of as a result of the gift of the Holy Spirit, gave them the right and freedom to act as they wanted. But Paul says that’s not the case! Their ‘knowledge’ (much like their ‘worldly wisdom’ in the first few chapters of this letter) was producing in them great pride and was causing them to turn their attention almost entirely to themselves – not others. We’ll talk about how we see this worked out in the specific scenario a little later.

So Paul says in verses 2-3 that there are a couple of things that they ought to keep in mind. We need to take our time through these verses and examine them carefully because there are a few textual variants that exist which make getting back to the original challenging. So we’ll make note of the variants so that you can know what they are and strive to continue to progress through chapter 8 in the right context. First Paul says, “If anyone imagines that he knows something” Most (if not all) of our English translations include the word ‘something’ at the end of this phrase. This is consistent with most of the Greek manuscripts that we have. However, a few of the earliest Greek manuscripts we have omit the word ‘something,’ as well as the word ‘God’ in verse 3. This makes for an interesting discussion. If the word ‘something’ is original then Paul is emphasizing the content of what is known. In other words he is saying, “If any of you thinks he has a special knowledge about a specific thing or truth . . .” However, if the word ‘something’ is not original then verse 2 begins, “If anyone imagines that he knows . . .” which might be paraphrased, “If anyone thinks he has arrived at knowledge” and places the emphasis on the fact of having knowledge. This is definitely worth some consideration given the context. Paul is addressing a specific issue – the eating of pagan meals in pagan temples. On the other hand, it also appears that he is dealing with a group of believers in the church at Corinth who believed they had arrived in regards to knowledge and who were being puffed up with pride. Either way, the variants in the text don’t change the first part of verse 2 all that much and therefore aren’t incredibly significant. In my opinion it seems more likely that a scribe would have inserted the word ‘something’ at a later time to offer what he believed was clarification to the text rather than omitting the word, so I tend to favor reading verse 2 without the word ‘something.’ Verse 2 continues, “If anyone imagines that he knows, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” Paul says that an individual’s belief that he or she knows something in particular or has arrived at knowledge in general is evidence that he or she has not come into possession of real knowledge about that particular thing or real knowledge in general. When one has really arrived at knowledge about a particular thing or knowledge in general it becomes evident in the way that one loves. Listen to verse 3 (which like verse 2 includes some textual variants), “But if anyone loves (God), he is known by God (or truly knows).” As I mentioned just a moment ago while we were working through verse 2, most (if not all) of our English translations include the wording about God; it is only a few of the earlier Greek manuscripts that omit that wording. The thing that is most challenging about verse 3 is that when we include the wording about God it makes verse 3 into a verse talking about an individual’s love for God – and that doesn’t seem to fit the context of this passage as well. In this particular passage Paul seems to be dealing with some of the believers' failure to act in love toward other believers who were part of the church at Corinth. Therefore, I tend to favor the omissions here in verse 3 as well and would paraphrase Paul by saying, “If anyone truly loves his brothers and sisters in Christ, he is the one who has truly arrived at knowledge.” Listen carefully! God is far more concerned about the way we live out our theology than He is about how much knowledge we can obtain and possess. We can have all the ‘right’ knowledge in the world and use it wrongly. In fact one commentator wrote this, “Once one’s theology is properly in hand, it is especially tempting to use it as a club on others.” That is a frightening thought! But it’s so true of many in our churches. Perhaps they come to greater knowledge of the Scriptures and theology from great personal study, or perhaps God enlightens them to truths they haven’t grasped well before. But what so many believers do with their knowledge is they go to those who haven’t come to that knowledge yet and they start beating them with the knowledge they think they ought to possess. They open up their Bibles and say things like, “Don’t you see what Scripture says! What’s so hard to understand about that! This is God’s truth! You need to get your life and your behavior in line with this!” And what ultimately happens isn’t a building up of our brothers and sisters in Christ – we end up tearing them down. Listen to Jesus’ words in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jesus doesn’t say that the world will know that we are His disciples based on our Bible knowledge and right theology. There are many who have great Bible knowledge and great theology and who use it in wrong ways and ultimately end up tearing down their brothers and sisters in Christ. Our knowledge and theology has to always be used in love so that it serves a greater purpose of building others up.

Having spoken a word of correction to their warped theology which he quotes from their letter in verse 1, Paul moves on to address some other points in their letter to him. “Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ‘an idol has no real existence,’ and that ‘there is no God but one’” (verse 4). The believers in Corinth were right about some things. They had written to Paul and said, “We understand that idols aren’t real and that there is only one real God.” This was true and Paul absolutely agreed with these truths. He affirmed that in verses 5-6, “For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth – as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’ – 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.” In Corinth one needed only to walk down the street and see the different temples to know that there were several different concepts of ‘so-called gods.’ The Greek culture believed that our world was governed by many different gods and that those who inhabited the earth needed to worship and appease all of them in order to keep our world in right balance. But Paul rightly said to the Christians in Corinth, “You have the right understanding. There is only one God. He is the Father, who is the Creator and source of all things and the One for whom we exist. There is also only one Lord. He is Jesus, who was the means of creation and the means of our new life.” In verses 4-6 it isn’t the content of their belief that is the problem – in fact Paul affirms what they have written to him in their letter. The problem shows itself in the next few verses when the Corinthian believers attempt to use this ‘right’ theology to give them the freedom to do what they want to do. They argued that because there was only one real God, they could not be faulted for eating meals at the temples of imaginary gods. But note how once again the Gospel must be the lense through which we view our world and determine our behavior! Their theology about God was right. But more important than basing our behavior on the nature of God is basing our behavior on the work of God through Jesus! God loves us and demonstrated that love for us by sending His Son to die in our place (see Romans 5:8) and to suffer God’s wrath for our sin so that we might be redeemed and reconciled. Jesus gave up His rights for our good (see Philippians 2:5-11). Paul is going to suggest in the verses that follow that rather than fighting for our own rights, we ought to be laying them down for the good of others.

 “However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to the idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to east food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died” (verses 7-11). Paul begins verse 7 with the word ‘however’ or ‘but.’ Paul does this in order to point out that he is getting ready to qualify something which he as just said. Paul said that some of the believers in Corinth were firmly rooted in the truth that there was only one God. Some others acknowledged that on a ‘head level’ – that is intellectually they understood that there was only one God. But because many of them had grown up attending these temple feasts and worshipping these false gods, their hearts continued to wrestle with separating themselves emotionally from their former false gods. This may not be something you feel like you can relate to or that you believe would be a source of temptation, but allow me to give an example from my own life.

I can say in all honesty that there was a season in my life when NC State football was a practical idol in my life. I spent large portions of my day on message boards reading any and everything I could about NC State football. I spent time looking over the depth charts so I could recognize all of the players by number and so I would always be able to identify who was on the field. I even spent time reading articles about who we were recruiting so that I would have a better familiarity with our future players – where they were from, what their strengths were, and what they might contribute to the team. Additionally, I spent any spare money I had on things to help me celebrate (maybe I ought to use the word ‘worship’) better on Saturday afternoons. I got Wolfpack gear to wear, I got Wolfpack chairs to sit in at our tailgate, and I acquired flags and magnets to put on my car while driving to and from the games. By the time I walked into the stadium to a sea of red and white I was incredibly invested and emotionally connected, and as a result I poured everything I had into cheering for the football team for the 3.5 hours the game would last. Guys – Carter Finley Stadium had become a modern day temple and every Saturday afternoon I was there with fellow worshippers to exalt a bunch of football players and coaches. It was nothing short of idolatry. As a believer in Jesus I knew that there was only one God and that those players and coaches weren’t really gods. But my heart was so connected, that going to those games over and over again only flamed my love and passion for the game. I was too weak spiritually to separate those things and to keep Wolfpack football in its proper place – as a game that had no eternal significance or value. By attending those games I was continuing to fall into idol worship and to defile my heart.

That’s what Paul was suggesting was taking place with some of the believers in Corinth who had not come to a firm enough understanding of what it meant for God to be the only God. Intellectually they knew that God was the only God, but they were still so emotionally connected to the false gods that when they attended these temple feasts they fell back into idolatry and the worship of the idol. That’s what Paul meant when he wrote, “through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to the idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.” When he said to these believers in verse 8, “Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do” Paul gives us further insight into what may have been taking place. The believers who were claiming to possess knowledge (*Note – I’m being careful not to call them ‘stronger’ because Paul never refers to them as being stronger; only as claiming to possess knowledge.) seemed to be making this argument with those who were weaker, “In order to be built up in your faith you must act on what you know. You know that there is only one God and that the idols the culture worships are only imaginary. So you need to go to these feasts and participate in them – even if it makes you a little uncomfortable. By going to these feasts and participating in them you are practicing your freedom in Christ and working out what you say you know to be true – that there is only one God and because of that you have the freedom to participate in the feasts at these pagan temples.” But Paul refutes this argument and way of thinking. Paul says, “God isn’t judging our discipleship by the food we eat. Therefore, by choosing not to participate in these pagan feasts you aren’t any worse off. God isn’t looking at you and thinking to Himself, ‘Man, he says he believes that I’m the only God, but he still refuses to eat at these pagan feasts. Perhaps he’s not fully convinced that I’m the only God and is making an effort not to participate in these feasts because he thinks some of these gods might actually be real.’ On the other hand, you aren’t any better if you do eat at these pagan feasts. God isn’t going to see you eating at one of these feasts and say to Himself, “That a boy! Look, he’s demonstrating that he really does believe I’m the only God because he’s showing his freedom to eat at these pagan feasts.’” Again, God doesn’t base our discipleship on what we do or don’t eat. But He will be able to tell something about our discipleship based on how we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ. So Paul says in verse 9, “But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?” This is where Paul really gets after the brothers and sisters in Christ who are declaring their own freedoms and rights, who are eating in the temples of idols, and who are encouraging their brothers and sisters in Christ to do as they are doing. Paul argues that our rights and freedoms are not nearly as important as the spiritual well-being of their brothers and sisters in Christ. If we make choices to live based solely on what we are free to do and without taking into consideration the spiritual well-being of others then we can inadvertently encourage others to do things that are going to cause them to stumble and fall in their own faith. Paul says specifically that by going to the temple of an idol and encouraging other believers in Christ to do the same thing, someone who isn’t as grounded in their knowledge may see you, may participate like you, and may fall back into a pattern of idolatry.

Understand that God hates idolatry! God is the only One who is worthy of our worship, our praise, our adoration, and our love. When we direct our worship, praise, adoration, and love to something other than God we are robbing Him of what He alone deserves and directing it towards someone or something that isn’t worthy at all. In doing that we aren’t building up other believers – we’re tearing down and destroying the faith of those whom Christ, Himself, died for. Listen to that again! When our behavior encourages another to commit idolatry we aren’t building that individual up, we are tearing down one that Jesus died to save and build up. We’re working against Christ and all that He has done to provide new and abundant life to humanity, which without Him is dead in their trespasses and sins. Paul then goes on to say, “Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.” So not only does our behavior tear down the faith of another, it also becomes sin on our part against Jesus. We can’t make little of this! This is an awful offense that we must not treat as an insignificant oversight. In leading others into idolatry we are sinning against Jesus. Since that is the case Paul concludes this chapter by saying, “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” In chapter 8 Paul’s concern seems to be more on the practice of going to the temples of idols and participating in their feasts – not so much the specific kinds of foods that are (or are not) permissible to eat. But Paul seems to go a step further in his personal application of what he has been teaching. Paul says that by attending these temple feasts believers in Christ may have been inadvertently causing others to fall back into idolatry. And if that was the case, Paul was going to give special attention to his own decision making to make sure that he was always encouraging and building up his brothers and sisters in Christ. So not only was he refusing to participate in these feasts, but he was even willing to give up his personal rights to eat a type of food like meat if it would mean preventing a brother or sister in Christ from stumbling. Paul wanted his life to exalt Christ, but he also wanted it to build others up – not tear them down.

So how does all of this apply to those of us living in the Bible-belt of the United States of America? Most of us probably haven’t been to a feast in the temple of an idol in the last 6 months. We don’t drive down the street and see temples of Greek gods and goddess as evidence of our culture’s fascination with idols. If anything is true it’s the opposite. We drive down the street and see church building after church building. But don’t be mistaken! All of these church buildings aren’t a sign that our culture is obsessed with the worship of God and that idol worship isn’t a part of our culture or society. In fact, if we look at the culture around us carefully there is a great deal of evidence that suggests that our culture wrestles very much with an obsession with idolatry. Perhaps you haven’t noticed or perhaps you haven’t looked carefully enough. But in the United States we have idols that we have grown up loving and having a fascination with – idols like money, career, and pornography. But the most prominent idol in the United States of America is ‘self.’ Everything in our culture says to us, “Make much of yourself! Do whatever will delight your own heart! And don’t let anyone or anything withhold something from you that you want!” We are constantly hearing the message that our own ‘self’ is far greater and more important than anything else in this world – and we have been conditioned by that message so much that we have bought into it and believed it. What’s so hard to believe (or maybe the word should be ‘scary’) is that so many believers of Christ acknowledge intellectually that there is only one God – God the Father – but still wrestle with the habits of the past and the emotional ties we have to loving ourselves. We possess a right theology that there is only one God. And we know that in Christ we have certain freedoms. But too often we use that freedom to pursue selfish desires or encourage others to act in ways that may encourage selfishness rather than selflessness.

Let’s try to give a few specific examples of where we see this fleshing itself out in our churches. Maybe a brother or sister in Christ sinned against you or sinned against someone you are close to. It’s true that the brother or sister in Christ who sinned against you or against someone you are close to will have to give an account to God for their words or behavior. But how often do we have the mindset that would say to our friend, “You were wronged and you have every right to be mad. Their words or action against you were clearly a sin. So if you don’t want to and if it would make you feel better, you have the right not to forgive.” Where is the truth of the Gospel in that?!?! By not extending forgiveness and working towards reconciliation we aren’t helping build that brother or sister in Christ up. We are modeling that self is more important than forgiveness – an idea that promotes idolatry and the over-valuing of self. What about those who are in your church that need to grow in their discipleship by serving more. But how often do we have the mindset that would say to that individual, “You have the right to grow in your knowledge of God’s Word and to deepen your theology. If you really want to do that you have to make sure you take advantage of every sermon, class, and opportunity to learn. Don’t worry about serving, someone else can do that. God’s going to be more pleased if you’re spending that time growing in your understanding.” Where is the truth of the Gospel in that mindset?!?! That kind of thinking promotes the idea that knowledge and understanding our rights is more important than loving our brothers and sisters in Christ by serving them. We’re modeling that self is more important than the needs of others – an idea that promotes idolatry. How about this one? In a society that sees material things as a means of gratifying self and that constantly promotes an ideology of consumerism, we have believers in Christ who encourage others who may wrestle with materialism to feed that temptation for the sake of personal growth in their faith. A brother or sister in Christ comes in with their new iPhone 5 and says to a brother or sister in Christ who has the iPhone 4 and says, “You need to upgrade your iPhone bro! Have you not seen the latest Bible app? It gives you so many more features! You’re going to be hindered in your faith if you don’t upgrade that phone and download this new app!” For someone who may be wrestling with materialism and who knows intellectually that only God alone can satisfy – we throw them into a mindset of thinking that they need the latest ‘thing’ to really be satisfied. And when God isn’t enough to satisfy, but some ‘thing’ is, we have just encouraged them to stumble into idolatry.

As believers in Christ greater knowledge and superior theology alone cannot be the aim of our faith! Knowledge void of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ and others leads us to self-centered pursuits of our own rights and freedoms. The aim of our faith must therefore be love – love for our God, love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and love for others. We have to strive to let our personal behavior be dictated not by our knowledge, freedom, or law, but by love for those within the community of faith. Everything one does that affects relationships within the body of Christ should have care for brothers and sisters as its primary motivation. And what shook me to the core this week is the thought that the problem within so many of our churches probably isn’t a lack of knowledge – it’s more likely a lack of love for God and one another.

How are we doing with this at Escalate? Is there more evidence that we are striving and working for our own rights and freedoms than we are that of our brothers’ and sisters’ in Christ? Are you hoping that God sees your growing knowledge and understanding and is pleased with that – all the while you are doing little to nothing to love, serve, and build up your brothers and sisters in Christ? Is there any self-centered behavior in your life that your brothers or sisters in Christ might see and be tempted to fall back into the idolatry of worshiping ‘self’ in their own lives. We cannot settle for being a church that is full of knowledge but empty of love. And if that’s where we are, we need to repent and ask God to grow our love for one another and to help us use our knowledge to not simply puff ourselves up, but to build others up by the way we translate our knowledge into loving and serving others.

Connection Point Questions for Discussion:

1. Do you think that idolatry is really a problem in our culture, why or why not? If so, (a) what is it that our culture is guilty of worshipping, and (b) do you think that Christians in our culture wrestle with worshipping these same things?  Should we really be concerned about this as a church, or have I blown things out of proportion?

2. What evidence is there in our churches today that would suggest that some Christians love knowledge?  Is their pursuit of knowledge always self-centered or are their other reasons that Christians might give for their passionate pursuit of knowledge.  Read John 13:34-35.  According to these verses, what is it that will reveal to others that we are Jesus' disciples?

3. It's long been said that "20% of the people who are part of a church do 80% of the work."  Assuming that there is some truth to this - that a small percentage of people in the church are doing a large percentage of the work - what might some of the truths we have learned in this passage reveal about this problem.  Is the lack of knowledge the problem?  Are so few serving because our churches only have a few who have a good enough understanding and knowledge of Scripture to serve?  If the problem isn't a lack of knowledge, what else might it be?  (Could it be that we just don't love one another enough?)  How might one's lack of serving encourage others in the church to refrain from serving?

4. (Rhetorical question for personal prayer and consideration) Are there any areas in your own life that might suggest you are regularly wrestling with the idol of self?  If so, is there anything you are doing (because you have the freedom to do it) that might inadvertantly be encouraging others to imitate your behavior and cause them to stumble into exalting the idol of self?  Is there any area in your faith that you are proud of?  Do you need to look at that area through the lense of the Gospel to assure that you are allowing God to use that area/thing to build others up and not tear them down by leading them into idolatry?