1Corinthians Commentary Chapter 8 (2)

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1 Corinthians Commentary Chapter 8 (2)

1 Corinthians 8 is about the issue of offerings to idols. The ‘Parthenon’ referred to as virgins in 1 Corinthians 7:25 is, as we all know, the name of the Parthenon temple in Greece.

In this temple, the priestesses, or so-called saints, performed acts of prostitution.

This was a common practice, and combining with prostitutes was a religious ritual at the time.

The pagan tribes around Israel who worshipped the god of abundance also had such rituals, and the Bible records that some Israelite men were deceived by them.

If people at that time did not go to a shrine and eat food sacrificed to idols, in our terms, it would have been the same as refusing to visit a shrine during the Japanese Empire.

Acts 15:20 says, “they abstain from pollutions of 

 idols, and from fornication, and things strangled, and from blood.”

This is something that Jews never have, but it is a problem for people living in the Greek culture.

The reason this is a problem is the conflict between Christian faith and Greek culture.

Since this has nothing to do with salvation but can lead to misunderstanding of the gospel, the intention of Chapter 8 of Corinthians is to eliminate this problem.

Abusing freedom is a harmful effect of knowledge. However, being hypocritical is even worse.

Verse 1 is about the difference between knowledge and love. See verses 3 and 4.

"Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies."

Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.

Love makes us conscious of God, and knowledge makes us conscious of ourselves.

When you become conscious of God, you become conscious of others.

Love grows and expands, eventually reaching into love of God, love of people, and love of nature.

If verse 4 is wrong, it can become knowledge of idols.

“As concerning therefore the eating of of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.”

It can be a problem of acknowledging idols and thinking that food are nothing.

Since we do not acknowledge idols at all, we should not think of food sacrificed to idols.

Verse 2 “If any man think that he knows any thing, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.”

What he ought to know is to love God in verse 3.

Verse 3 “If any man loves God, the same is known of him.”

To have knowledge without this love is pride.

So if you think you know something, it becomes knowledge.

If you know verse 6, it is love.

“But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.”

All things are by him, and we by him.

John 3:8 says, “but canst not tell whence it comes, and whither it goes; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

The concept of heaven is where God is, where you come from and where you are going.

From there, all things came out and so did we.

If you do not realize the content of the Gospel of John, the Spirit of truth, and only know the content of knowledge, you will end up like the early church’s gnosticism. It is truly gnosticism.

These days, there are many people on the Internet who say they know the Bible, but they are like this.

Verse 5 “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)”

Idols are man-made products.

Man has deified creation.

This is especially true of statues of Buddha.

So idols are nothing. They are just a piece of all things.

However, there is a divine meaning that the devil has put into them.

The answer to this kind of incident is verse 6.

One thing to watch out for is that if you deify an idol, you will be infected with evil spirits.

Should I say that it is possessed by a ghost? 

Even the guardian angels that protect the Catholic church are idols. When you enter the main gate of a temple, it is creepy, right?

One thing to watch out for is that if you deify an idol, you will be infected with evil spirits.

Should I say that it is possessed by a ghost? 

Even the guardian angels that protect the Catholic church are idols. When you enter the main gate of a temple, it is creepy, right?

Spirits, whether they are the Holy Spirit or evil spirits, all try to attach themselves to our bodies.

Therefore, we must use our bodies well.

We must become weapons of righteousness.

Bacteria and germs exist on their own, but viruses always attach to living things and become parasitic. Spirits are like viruses. Look at the coronavirus.

When you see a patient, there are physical, mental, and spiritual illnesses. The UN also recognizes this.

When you go to the hospital, there are patients who are completely fine. They are spiritually ill.

The characteristic of these people is that their eyes are strange. They are not normal eyes.

Therefore, saved Christians have a spirit of love and must protect their eyes with wisdom and intelligence.

You can't lose a  fight of the eyes.

Your inner self must be strong with the power of the Holy Spirit and always be filled with the knowledge of Christ.

We are fighting a spiritual battle every day.

And after a ghost leaves, you must definitely fill it with the food of God.

You must not be absent-minded.

And you need a period of treatment equal to the time the ghost took over.

In fact, all people who live extremely human lives using their soul and body are in contact with ghosts.

The only difference is whether they are evil spirits or moral gods.

In fact, you must not only cast out ghosts from people, but also eliminate the objects of idols.

It's a man-made word, but if you look at an idol and believe that's what happens, the ghost are at work.

However, if an idol is nothing, then it becomes nothing.

The difference between God and gods is that God is personal and a loving relationship.

For example, when you think of the Lord, you think of him as a loving husband.

But other gods always want to be served. You have to give them something.

Verse 6 "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and through  we by him"

Idols are also in all things.

However, humans have deified them (1 Corinthians 10:19ff.)

They are all worthless, made by humans, desire and vanity (Isaiah 41:21, 24, 29).

They are expressed as sacrifices to the devil, unknown gods, and new gods that have come in recently (Deuteronomy 32:17).

But God knows us.

Galatians 4:9 Known of God

Exodus 33:12,17 God knew Moses.

Jeremiah 1:5 God knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the womb.

Numbers 16:5 God knows those who are his and those who are holy.

John 10:14 Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, knows his sheep.

There is one God and one Lord Jesus Christ.

Idols are all things that are His creation, and we also belong to Him among all things.

God is the source, and Jesus Christ is the one who connects to that source and provides.

Nevertheless, humans foolishly make idols out of things that exist among all things.

God, then Jesus Christ, and then me, must be connected like this for Genesis 1 to be restored, but all things are interleaved between Jesus Christ and humans.

If money is interleaved, then that money eventually becomes Mammon.

Verse 7 “Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge, for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.”

People do not have the knowledge of verse 6. Since they live because of all things, they serve all things.

That is why all things become the divine objects of humans. Wealth, food, etc...

Habits are rules. Stephen’s translation ‘conscience’ is the conscience that is not born again, that is, a weak conscience.

For example, it is like being afraid, thinking, ‘If I believe in Jesus, something bad will happen.’

Morality and ethics are laws that say, You must do it that way.

However, these things do not work with love.

In the end, we end up making rules because of our weak conscience.

For example, we make standards such as saying that we must pray at dawn.

In fact, there is no need to say that to a mature person. It becomes an active dawn prayer.

This knowledge is the content of verse 6, that from one God the Father all things are made, and we are for him (toward him) and by one Lord Jesus Christ all things are supplied and we are supplied by him, if we know this knowledge of salvation, we do not see all things as gods. 

Therefore, idols and sacrifices to idols are nothing.

However, those with weak consciences still have the conscience and habits of idols.

If they do something and then stop, they feel awkward. For example, it is like ancestor worship.

If they do it wrong, God can become like an idol to people.

This means that they can worship God according to their own conscience and habits without accepting God's will.

Verse 8 “But meat  commendes us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we worse.”

This means that there is no difference between lack and abundance in what goes into the mouth.

Therefore, it means that food is not sinful.

Verse 9 “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak.”

But use that liberty (authority) carefully for the sake of the weak.

The weak are those who have a sense of guilt and hesitate.

In chapter 9, Paul reveals that he can take power or give it up.

Just as there is nothing more unpleasant to see than a rich person talking about money  money, it is also the case when a believer uses religious terms such as faith, holiness, and prayer first.

It is right to give personal influence first and then talk about status later.

However, what influence can a weak Christian who has no convictions and is careful about what others think have on others?

Therefore, do Christians struggle because of the shell of the flesh or do they mourn because of the essence inside? We must always think about this.

Verse 9 “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of your become a stumbling block to them that are weak.”

If you misuse your authority, it can become a stumbling block to those who are weak.

It can be a stumbling block to call a church building a temple and a pulpit an altar.

You must use authority from the standpoint of those who are free.

We must learn from Paul, who used the one who has as if he had not, the one who is happy as if he is not happy, the one who is Jewish as if he is Gentile, the one who is circumcised as if he is uncircumcised.

Verse 10 “For if any man see you, which has knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols?” 

Food sacrificed to idols is food from the Parthenon temple.

Paul warns that this food should not be eaten in front of the weak.

He warns that it could become a habit.

Verse 11 "And through your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died.”

The knowledge that it is okay to eat destroys the weak.

The current conscience of the weak is in a state of destruction that has not received salvation.

Therefore, because it is effective to educate the weak primarily through the law, the modern church has become like this.

For example, they have taught, “If you touch that, you will be in trouble! Then you will go to hell!”

God's judgment is a loss of connection with him and an interruption of his provision.

It was the same with Adam and it is the same now.

The life of faith is not beginning and is not progressing.

The last is burning. It is like the electricity being cut off.

Verse 12 “But when you sin so against the brothers and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.”

A sin against a brother is a sin against Christ.

Liberty is the freedom of love and service.

It is the freedom to eat or not to eat.

Just as mothers think that it is okay to starve themselves as long as they eat their children, we should think of the weak saints with such a serving heart.

Verse 13 “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standes, lest I make my brother to offend.”

Meat, that is, meat-eating. We must be careful for our brothers who have weak consciences because of meat.

Paul says that if meat causes our brothers to offend, he will never eat meat again.

Liberty is used by those who have love, but if it is used by those who only have knowledge, it will have side effects.

There should be personal self-control, but there was only knowledge and no love.

Paul’s words that he will never eat meat hit my heart hard.

I can eat, but eating because I want is not true freedom, but not eating because of love is true freedom...

Regarding the current issue of Sunday observance and tithes, some people say that Sunday observance and tithes are nothing, so there are people who do anything on Sunday.

Because of those who abuse this knowledge, the weak are being influenced and the church is in trouble.

Therefore, it is not good to have knowledge but not love.

Therefore, Paul continues to remind us through 1 Corinthians that through Christ, we have become the temple of God's Spirit, one bread, one body, and one spirit with Christ.

The reason is because God supplies us with the spirit of love in this communion of mixture.

Christian who has such a spiritual secret needs to have the control that he cannot dare to do as he pleases because of God's love, because of God's value, because of the glory of God, because of God's zeal.

But, O Lord! Forgive me for my past sins that were not like that.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.

Translated by  Nancy Chung

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To God be the glory.