Catholic Commentary on 1 Corinthians 8

"Knowledge puffs up while love builds up." (1 Corinthians 8:1)

The Knowledgeable and the Weak

Paul addresses the question of food sacrificed to idols, a major practical issue in the ancient city where most meat sold in the market had been offered at a pagan temple. The Corinthians who are strong in faith and knowledge understand that an idol is nothing, that there is only one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. Therefore food sacrificed to an idol is just food. Paul does not dispute this theology. But he immediately relativises it: Knowledge puffs up while love builds up. The person who thinks they know something does not yet know as they ought to know. The person who loves God is known by God. The epistemological priority of love over knowledge is one of the great principles of Pauline ethics.

The theological problem is the weak believer whose conscience has not been fully formed. When the weak person, whose conscience is weak, sees the strong eating in an idol's temple, they may be emboldened to eat against their conscience. Their conscience, being weak, is defiled. The weak person is destroyed by the strong person's knowledge. And when you sin against a brother or sister in this way, you sin against Christ. Therefore, Paul concludes, if food causes a brother or sister to fall, he will never eat meat again so as not to cause them to fall. The freedom of the strong is real, but it is subordinated to the love that does not destroy the weak.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, knowledge puffs up, love builds up. This single verse judges the entire culture of online theological debate, the parish disputes, the fraternal correction delivered without pastoral tenderness. You may be right. Your knowledge may be accurate. But if the exercise of your rightness destroys a person with a weaker conscience, you have won the argument and lost the brother. Love builds up. Begin there.

Prayer

Lord God, give us knowledge that serves love and not the reverse. Protect us from the pride of theological correctness that destroys those for whom Christ died. Make us willing to restrict our freedoms for the sake of the weak, as you restricted your own freedom for the sake of all of us. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

8
Food Sacrificed to Idols
(Ezekiel 14:1–11; Romans 14:13–23)
1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But the one who loves God is known by God.
 
4 So 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. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.
 
7 But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that they eat such food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us closer to God: We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
 
9 Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you who are well informed eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
 
13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.

Public Domain