“And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.”
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"But meat commendeth us not to God; for neither, if we eat, are we any better; neither if we eat not, are we the worse. But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak."
The issue in 1 Corinthians 8 is whether or not Christians should eat meat that has been offered to idols. This meat was on sale at the meat market (called "the shambles") and because it had been offered to idols it was usually the best cuts of meat. Paul made it plain that eating meat offered to idols was not really a sin for a mature Christian, because the mature Christian knew that an idol was not anything and that eating that meat would not contaminate him. However, mature Christians were not the only Christians. There were immature Christians who would think it wrong to eat this meat. Paul's conclusion was that if mature Christians used this liberty they might be a stumblingblock to immature Christians. If they loved these fellow Christians they would not offend them by eating this meat in their presence. Meat offered to idols is not an issue today but we can still be stumblingblocks. We need to be careful that we do not use our Christian liberty to offend immature or weaker Christians or people who are not Christians. Why? Look at 1 Corinthians 8:12 "But when you sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ." It is a sin to be a stumblingblock; therefore, we need to be careful how we live our lives and not be stumblingblocks to either novice Christians or non-christians. We will be held accountable for this. Heed the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:13 "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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