Knowledge Puffs Up, Love Builds Up (1 Cor. 8:1-6)

 

This was apparently raised in a letter from the Corinthians – 7:1, 25; 8:1a. There are two frameworks here: one is conceptual (the issue of idolatry), and the other is relational (how to interact with others).

  1. Knowledge requires love.
    • 8:1-3. This is the way of God always – Isa. 57:15; Ps.34:18. Leon Morris quotes an old commentator: ‘Knowledge is proud that it has learnt so much. Wisdom is humble that it knows no more.’
    • Swelling is not the same as growing.
  2. An idol has no real existence.
    • 8:4. The New Testament Church forbade in a general way eating what had been sacrificed to idols – Acts 15:29; 21:25; Rev.2:14, 20.
    • Ps.115:4-8; 1 Kings 18:27. Note Acts 19:26.
  3. There is only one God and one Lord.
    • 8:5-6. The Jew in the Old Testament would recite the Shema – Deut. 6:4. This is the Christian Shema; it reaffirms it, and reshapes it. There is still a devil and his demons – 1 Cor.10:20.
    • Deut.10:17. God in Himself is God, but once there is world, He is Lord in relation to it. Now, what about the Holy Spirit? The answer seems to be that the Father makes Himself known in the Son – John 14:9.