Yesterday evening I heard a wonderful message on
unity. The main point of the message was that none of us should ever have to
feel alone. With that in mind, a portion of my scripture reading stood out to
me this morning. It is found in I Corinthians 8:1 –
Now
concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge.
Knowledge puffs up, but (love) edifies.
In this setting of scripture the Apostle Paul is
dealing with a problem that had arisen in the church over foods that were
considered clean and unclean. Many of the first Christians were Jewish and had
been raised with strict dietary laws. Jewish law forbade anyone to eat meat
that had been prepared in a way that was not considered kosher. This especially
meant food from an animal that had been killed as part of a ritualistic
sacrifice to a pagan god.
The problem was that these early Christians were
living in a Greco-Roman world where almost all the meat sold in any public market
had been dedicated to some idol. This presented no problem for most of the
newly converted gentile Christians. They had not been raised with such strict
laws and, as such, were not bothered over eating “unclean” foods. Many of the
early churches were made up of a combination of Jewish and Greek or Roman
Christians worshipping together. One can see the instant conflict that would
arise from this type of situation.
Paul’s solution was simple; if eating meat doesn’t
bother my conscience then I will give God thanks for the food and eat it. If it
does bother my conscience, I am free not to eat. If a Roman Christian knew that
his Jewish brother would be offended by the meat, he would not bring that meat
to a church supper. If a Jewish brother saw his Roman brother buying meat in
the market he should not judge him. The more important thing was to have unity.
In the opening verse of this chapter Paul says something
that I find interesting: “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.” This simple
principle not only applied to the Corinthian church but applies to us as well.
It is easy to think that I know more
than my brother or sister knows about a certain situation. I can rely on experience,
education, or any number of things for this knowledge. But knowledge can have a
way of making one prideful. My pride about how much I know does no one any
good. Love, however, will cause me to edify my brother or sister.
We are all entitled to our own opinions. None of us
will ever agree on everything. The one who does not eat meat could easily label
his brother as worldly; the one who does eat meat might label her sister as old-fashioned.
Neither of these opinions edifies anyone. They only cause confusion and offense.
True love will always be willing to put aside knowledge for the good of a
brother or a sister.
This does not mean that one must compromise
genuinely held Biblical principles. There are many things the word of God is
clear on, such as the identity of God, the divinity of Jesus, God’s moral
nature, and righteous living. The Bible says clearly, “thou shalt not lie.”
There is no way to change this to fit a personal idea or conviction. Yet there
are many ideas we have that may not be as clear in scripture. A sign of
spiritual maturity is to understand the difference between Biblical teaching
and my own sense of what is right and proper.
Even when I know I have scripture to back up my convictions,
there is a way to present this to a brother or sister. Perhaps this person has
never been taught what I know. If so, I should pray that God will help me to
show him his error in a way that builds up his faith. I should also be willing
to concede that some of my own ideas come from my upbringing and may not
necessarily be sound doctrine. Either way, I must do everything in love.
Knowledge is good, but used out of context it can
cause me to be proud. True love will always edify the church. As Paul said later
on in this same letter to the Corinthian church, the greatest of all spiritual
gifts is love (I Corinthians 13:13).
Meditation:
Lord,
help me to show someone love today instead of my knowledge. Perhaps, in time, I
will be able to also offer instruction. However, I will never be able to offer
instruction if a person doesn’t first realize how much I love him.