Actions Speak Louder Than Words
“But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. For if any man see thee which hast 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; And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?” I Corinthians 8:9-11
Paul had received a letter from the church at Corinth which included a question about eating food that had been offered to idols. There were different opinions among the church members (so what else is new?) as to whether this was permissible or not for a Christian to join in with idol worshippers in their feasts. There were two thoughts on this: some of the believers were not completely convinced that an idol was nothing and still had feelings of loyalty to what they once believed. Thus, they would eat food offered to idols because their conscience was weak, and they had not wholly surrendered to the Lord. They were saved, but had difficulty pulling away from their old lifestyles. The other thought was that an idol was nothing so to eat food offered to it was not tainted in any way. However, both thoughts could present a problem.
It is not what we eat that God is concerned about. I think that He would prefer for us to eat healthy and not let our appetite rule us. Jesus said in Mark 7:15 that it wasn’t the food that we put into our bodies, but what comes out of our hearts that defiles us. Food is provided to us by God to sustain life and not to be used as rewards, punishment, or substitutes for worship. Some people use food for more than nutrition according to the vast number of Americans, in particular, that are obese. Many do not follow that old advice about eating to live and not living to eat.
Those to whom Paul was writing were no better or worse off if they ate food that was dedicated to idols as long as they did not hold any respect or loyalty to those idols. There was one stipulation, though, in the consumption of these foods: it could become an obstacle to new or immature believers in that it could cause their faith to be somewhat weakened. Since eating foods offered to idols doesn’t come up that often in modern conversation, we will give a different example. We could use the example of drinking. Suppose a new Christian, who felt that drinking was not acceptable among Christians and had made his opinion known, was invited by a fellow church member who ordered a glass of wine with his meal. When this new believer ordered his food, he decided that since the more mature believer was drinking wine, he would order a glass for himself, even though he still believed it was wrong to drink alcohol. It wasn’t wrong for him to do this, but if he believed it was wrong, then for him it was wrong. He violated his own conscience. He went home feeling guilty. (I do not drink alcohol, but I do not condemn anyone who has a glass of wine with a meal. The Bible doesn’t condemn wine, but it does condemn drunkenness and gluttony (Proverbs 23:21). Many Christians choose to not drink alcohol, not because they are weak in faith, but as a personal choice. Alcohol can make folks do and say things that they wouldn’t ordinarily do and/or say. Also, the wine in scripture had much less alcohol content that today’s wines.
Paul asked the question, “Through your knowledge, shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?” In other words, if one mature believer does something in front of a person whom he knows is weaker in the faith and who believes whatever the mature person did is sinful, even though it is not sinful in God’s eyes, would not the weaker person who copies the mature person’s actions be harmed in his spirit? After all, he, too, is one for whom Christ died. Paul used the word “perish”, which in the Greek is “apollumi”. It can mean death, but in this context, likely means “lose” or “mar”, not lose his salvation, but rather lose the joy of his salvation, hence, be harmed in his spirit. To feel guilt is discouraging whether it is real guilt or supposed guilt. If Christ cared enough about the weaker brother to die for him, should we not deny ourselves permission to do what is rightfully ours to do in order that the one weaker in faith will not violate his own conscience and bring a feeling of condemnation upon himself?
The one who is really guilty is the one who leads a fellow believer astray. Why would a believer who should be putting others’ needs ahead of his own be more concerned about being denied his own liberty than hurting the spirit of a weaker brother? To sin against a fellow believer is to sin against Christ Himself. It all goes back to the “golden rule”: “as ye would that men should do unto you do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31). However, we don’t always know what offends others that does not offend us. Paul had an answer for that: he decided to abstain from any food that was offered to idols. It wasn’t the food that brought condemnation, it was the lack of consideration for those who were weaker in the faith. In the earlier example, if a mature Christian wasn’t sure how those with whom he was dining felt about wine, he should do like Paul–abstain. We are our brother’s keeper when it comes to living before others as believers in Christ. Actions do speak louder than words.