Plymothian

Looking at the whole chapter allows us to see how Paul’s argument builds.  He starts by asserting the importance of loving relationships when dealing with disagreements.  Secondly, Paul argues his side of the case on the issue.  He then advocates a general principle that those who have attained a stronger understanding of God sometimes have to give that up if they believe it will lead a weaker one into sin.

In a modern case, someone may believe that they are mature enough to see “R” rated movies and be unaffected by them.  They may be correct in their assumption.  However, they should be careful how they act around impressionable children or members of the church who think that “R” rated movies are inherently corrupting.  The more mature Christian should see in each case that maintaining the relationship is more important than being correct.  The weaker Christian is less likely to be able to cope with diversity within the faith.  The one who can entertain more possibilities must give way to maintain the peace.

1 Corinthians 8

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge.^[a] Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ²The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. ³But the man who loves God is known by God.

 ⁴So 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. ⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), ⁶yet 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.

 ⁷But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. ⁸But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

 ⁹Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? ¹¹So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹²When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

Questions

1. What words are repeated in the passage?
2. What do sentences say that contain words about knowledge?
3. Why would Paul choose never to eat meat again?
4. Where do you think Paul would draw the line between a debatable item and a non-negotiable?
5. How do you treat those who are less well-versed in the faith?  Do you have hot-button issues?  Do they?

On Sunday we had a discussion in our small group about things we feel strongly about as we have matured.  I said that I want to see preaching that comes from the text, rather than preaching that starts with a topic and then searches for texts.  Another said that they think there should be a cross visible around our church because it the central symbol of the faith.  Another said that their church was inappropriate when someone dressed casually in a football shirt served communion.  Another said that hymns, and their rich experience of God, should be sung in our church.  What do you do when others disagree with your ‘mature’ position?  Many church splits have started this way.  Yes, there are non-negotiables but is a Brethren church splitting over whether women wear hats really reflecting the spirit of Christ?  In this passage Paul knew that he could eat the meat offered to idols.  What did he do to assert his position?

1 Corinthians 8:9-13

⁹Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? ¹¹So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹²When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

Questions

1. What should you be careful that your freedom does not lead to?
2. How will Paul following through on what he is entitled to do affect his brother?
3. What is Paul prepared to do?
4. What have you learned in the faith that some Christians do not know?
5. How must you behave with regard to other Christians who don’t agree with you?

Going Deeper

Think through your stance on each of these issues.  How would you maintain the peace in a church where people strongly disagreed with you?

1. Alcohol consumption
2. Dancing with the opposite sex
3. Listening to Rock and Roll
4. Watching ‘R’ rated movies
5. Speaking in Tongues
6. Women as elders
7. Inerrancy of Scripture
8. Baptism
9. Placing a cross in the church
10. Salvation through Christ alone
11. Standard of dress
12. Hymns vs. modern songs in worship
13. Exegetical v. topical preaching

The answer to how you should act might not always be the same.

Some things are neutral until we get hold of them.  For example, the internet is just a means of communicating information.  However, some people are addicted to surfing the web so that essential tasks are neglected.  When they surf the internet they sin.  Driving a car is neutral.  It is just a means to get from point A to point B.  However, some people feel the need to drive over the speed limit and change lanes without indicating.  When these people drive, they sin.  I have to be careful when I eat.  I know that God has designed my body for a certain intake of calories, but I am fond of chocolate cake and particularly Oberweis ice-cream.  I don’t stop when I should.  In the passage, Paul points out that eating food that has been offered to idols is neutral. However, in some people’s minds it connects them to a former life where they served those idols.  For the people who make that connection in their minds it is a sin to eat the food.  What neutral thing causes you to sin?  T.V.?  Computers? Conversation with a certain neighbour?

1 Corinthians 8:7,8

 ⁷But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. ⁸But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

Questions

1. What are some people accustomed to?
2. How does being accustomed to a way of thinking affect some Corinthian Christians?
3. Is the person who takes a rigid stance on food sacrificed to idols weak or strong?
4. How might a Christian response to alcohol reflect the response to idols in the passage?
5. Should a church use grape juice instead of wine in their communion because of associations between wine and sin in the minds of the weak?

Going Deeper

Think of an area which is neutral that may be having a negative affect on your life (e.g. texting, eating sugar, computer use).  Take a day off from that activity. 

Think of an area where you do not have a problem, but a friend does.  How would you giving up that area affect your friendship?

 The people of Corinth lived in a pluralistic, pagan society.  As we have studied earlier in our introduction to Corinthians, there are ruins of large temple structures still in Corinth.  When people were new to the faith, they would have found it hard to move straight from their pagan past to a Christian way of thinking.  Paul emphasizes that, compared to God, the gods of the pagans are nothing, although spiritual realities corresponding to ‘gods’ and ‘lords’ exist.  Now imagine the struggle of a person who has offered meat to the gods each day (and has turned away from that practice when they found Christ) who sees someone from their church eating the meat that was part of their former life.  There would be a pull, not only into eating the meat that was on offer, but to entertain thoughts about the ‘lords’ and the ‘gods’ to whom they had previously committed themselves.  What do you think the church should do about the meat that has been offered to idols?

1 Corinthians 8:4-6

⁴So 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. ⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), ⁶yet 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.

Questions:

1. To what subject does 1 Corinthians 8 now turn?
2. How many Gods are there?
3. How many gods and lords are there?
4. What religions believe in more than one God and still offer sacrifices to them?
5. Do you know any people who formerly belonged to another religion?  What was their view of God, gods, and lords?

Going Deeper

Observation

1. What three distinct words does Paul use to describe the domains he is talking about?
2. What other name does Paul give the one God?
3. What came from the Father?
4. Who is the one Lord?
5. What comes through the one Lord?

Interpretation

1. Is Paul talking about spiritual realities or physical realities in this passage?  Does it fluctuate?
2. Are ‘gods’ and ‘lords’ really demons?  What influences your answer?
3. Why doesn’t the passage say that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are also God?
4. Is Jesus the only Lord, or fluctuate God The Father and The Holy Spirit also Lords?
5. Why is Paul careful to state his position on the reality of idols, God, gods and lords?

Application

1. How are you aware of the spiritual realities behind daily phenomena?
2. Do you think demons are behind other religions?  How does your belief in this area influence your actions to those who leave other religions behind?
3. How can you remember the unique importance of God?
4. How can you powerfully make your point, like Paul does in this passage, and then act as if you didn’t believe it?  Paul does this for the good of all in this chapter.
5. Why do you think people become combative and aggressive when they disagree in the church?  What needs to change in people for them to assert their perspective, disagree and also love each other?

Each time I learn something new, it seems to open up a new index of possibilities.  Each time I study some amazing attribute of God, I find myself contemplating all the different ways it will affect my life.  The more I know, the more I am convinced I know very little.  I must admit that it then annoys me more when I meet people who think that they know everything. 

I think that the way we educate can affect people’s attitudes to knowledge.  Some pastors distil a passage down to ‘all you need to know’; some teachers want to give you all you could possibly need; some professors do not want to open up their students to possibilities only to certainties.  God is infinite.  Each day, by reading our Bibles, praying and viewing the Creation around us, we should be in awe of what we don’t know about him.  How deep he is!  Then we move further on and further into the mystery of our faith.  A loving relationship doesn’t puff up, it builds up.

1 Corinthians 8: 1-3

 ¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge.^[a] Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ²The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. ³But the man who loves God is known by God.

Questions

1. What controversy is 1 Corinthians 8 going to address?
2. What do we all possess?
3. What does Paul mean by, “The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know what he ought to know”?
4. How does this passage address the issue of Christians being satisfied just with ‘getting saved’?  In other words, why don’t some people grow after they are saved?
5. What are you reading or where are you studying that reveals to you the depths of God that you don’t understand yet? 

Going Deeper

Meditate on verse 3 and take it with you today.  How does meditating on the verse show you more aspects of the verse that you didn’t think of when you first looked at it?

In summary, the law binds two people together ’til death do them part.  There are official times when the marriage is dissolved.  When one person dies, their partner is free to marry again.  However, Paul says that in circumstances like that, it is best to stay single and focus on good works.  So, my mother, for example can focus on giving people lifts to church, studying at her church’s Bible College, baking for bake sales, helping with Mothers-and-Toddlers, and attending church.  Being a widow does not mean that life is over.  A relationship should not define us except our relationship with God. 

Just as a note:  If you are married and you do not depend on your spouse or a human  relationship to be your primary support, it is easier to stay married.

1 Corinthians 7: 39,40

³⁹A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. ⁴⁰In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

Questions

1. How long is the husband bound to the  wife in a marriage?
2. What kind of person must a widow marry?
3. What gives Paul the authority of a sound opinion?
4. What would you say to people dating non-Christians?
5. How do you view the possibility of your spouse remarrying after you are dead?  What does that reveal about you?

In my mind I have a narrow idea of what God wants.  If I am at a junction, I think of how I must choose one of the paths before me.  God could only possibly want me to take one path.  As for my will, my will, preferences and authentic choices are often obliterated by my view of God.  Not only is this stressful, according to our passage today I think that it is wrong.  We can see here the authentic choice an engaged person has – they can marry or stay single.  Even though one choice is better than the other neither choice is sinful.  Now is when the perfectionism creeps in.  We do not have to always make the best possible choice.  Sometimes second best is okay – even with God.  Of course, evil is not okay.  However, choosing to give less to one area is acceptable.

Here is an example.  Could you spend more time with your spouse?  Could you spend more time with your parents?  How much time should you spend with your children?  Do we have to give 1/3 to each so as not to sin?  Each person will find their own answer.  None of the good answers involve sin.  No-one cusses out their parents in this scenario.  One person may spend 50% of their time with their spouse.  Another may have a spouse who is in Iraq.  God will work with you and through you as you could make a spectrum of good choices.  Do you get the picture? 

1 Corinthians 7:36-38

³⁶If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. ³⁷But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing. ³⁸So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does even better.^[b]

^Questions

1. ^{What is the choice presented in this paragraph?}
2. ^{What are the two possible outcomes?}
3. ^{Which one is sinful?}
4. ^{When do you have to choose between two good things?}
5. ^{How do you make a choice between two good things?}

Imagine how much work you would get done at the office if you were always worried about your spouse.  Imagine if your spouse was disabled, chronically ill, or in fear for her life.  It is the last category that Paul had in mind in today’s passage.  Persecution and hardship were on the rise for Christians in a world that valued religious pluralism and tolerance.  A religion that did not compromise its Truth to fit with the patricians, the pantheon, or popular philosophy was becoming increasingly irksome to the people of Corinth.  In light of such opposition, being concerned for the well-being of one particular individual would be an added burden on life.  Paul says that being unmarried will help you to maintain your concern for the Lord’s affairs.

1 Corinthians 7:32-35

³²I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. ³³But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— ³⁴and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. ³⁵I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

Questions

1. What does Paul want those in the church at Corinth to be free from?
2. What is an unmarried person concerned with?
3. What is not the reason that Paul is giving this advice?
4. How are times becoming harder, if at all, for Christians?
5. How would being unmarried allow you personally to face difficult times more easily?

If there is no soul or no God, having a baby is about as pointless as buying a new car.  Both would be machines of sorts.  Both lack the weight of longevity.  With good care a car can run as along as a baby, though the car always requires direct attention.  Raising this point tends to annoy people who think that child rearing is more important for the species.  I could point out that is a highly subjective opinion based on your species.  I am sure T-Rex thought that raising lots of T-Rexes was important (depending on how conscious T-Rex was).  Eternity adds weight to things.  If we live with eternity, the soul, and God in mind our priorities change.  We must remember that, although God gives this world significance, not everything is eternal.  A basketball or football star may find themselves impoverished after a fatal car crash in the Mercedes or Bentley.  A film star or singer may find themselves destitute after the final curtain.  You may provide shelter, food, water, and safety for your family.  Do you provide the more important necessities of life eternal? 

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

²⁹What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; ³⁰those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; ³¹those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

Questions

1. What is said about time?
2. How should we live?
3. Why get an education?
4. Why have a family?
5. Why get up in the morning?

There must have been some present crisis.  Was it the pressures of an immoral life and hostile environment?  It seems that there was a level of persecution in Corinth, but it was only to escalate for the next two hundred years.  In times of crisis, worry can be debilitating, especially worry about family.  Paul wants the unmarried to be spared the troubles of seeing a spouse fall prey to temptation or persecution.  However, marriage (and by inference sex within marriage) is not sinful.

1 Corinthians 7: 25-28

²⁵Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. ²⁶Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. ²⁷Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. ²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

Questions

1. What class of people are we speaking about?
2. In light of present circumstances how is it best to live?
3. Has a virgin sinned if they marry?
4. How does this passage apply to our times?
5. How does this passage speak to the cult of romance in the culture?