Christians Should Not Offend
Winter 2024
Key Verse: “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Corinthians 10:32).
Should a Christian go to the meat market (“the shambles” 10:25), and purchase meat that was used as a sacrifice offered unto idols in a heathen temple to eat of it? This is the second major question raised by the Corinthian Christians in their communication with the apostle Paul. It was a pressing issue in a predominantly Gentile city.
Christians are the easiest people in the world to offend. Unlike ungodly people who care less about pleasing God, God-fearing Christians are to be scrupulously careful to keep a good conscience by weighing everything in the balance of what is right and what is wrong. Even if it be in eating or drinking, they desire to do all to the glory of God.
Living in a Gentile world required daily decisions on how to please the Lord. The problem is worsened by the reality that not all professing Christians comprehend what is right and wrong in the same way. It should be no surprise that the apostle began his response with the need for “knowledge” (1 Corinthians 8:1).
In chapters 8–11, the apostle laid out the believer’s responsibility to avoid offence at all costs. He established some firm principles to guide believers on what is right and what is wrong. These principles may apply to many forms of social behavior for the Christian including music, dress, alcohol, speech, and superstitions of all kinds.
Always keep to the central truth.
The apostle wrote, “We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4). God’s oneness is an essential, irreducible doctrine of the Christian faith. This was Paul’s starting point as he worked to untangle this issue of eating meat offered to idols. He argued from the solid truth that as God is one, or single, then all other objects of worship are vanities and no gods at all. Pagans in the Greek and Roman world attributed deity to multitudes of objects as gods, but this core truth of Christianity, that God is one, exposed idolatry as a lie.
Always act in love.
The apostle went on to warn his readers of the misuse of this knowledge. He pleaded, “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak” (1 Corinthians 8:9). By using the term “liberty” translated from the Greek word for authority, the apostle empowered Christians to withstand idolatry, and he removed all grounds for even the suspicion of idol worship. As a closing argument in his response he made the concrete statement, “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils” (1 Corinthians 10:21).
Paul knew, however, that if not twinned with love, the knowledge of the one living and true God that outlaws all idolatry would puff believers up. So, with a pastoral concern for the whole church, the apostle pointed out, “Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled” (1 Corinthians 8:7). Here was the issue at stake. One’s misuse of the knowledge of the true God may do harm as much as one’s ignorance of idols. So, what is to be done? The answer is to use love. Let everything be done in love for the good of the weaker brother, or sister.
Always consider those who struggle over matters of conscience.
The apostle caused the whole congregation at Corinth to think hard about the weaker brother or sister. These weaker believers were not practicing idolatry, but they could quickly leap to the conclusion that any professing Christian who would dare to eat meat that had been offered to idols was guilty of idol worship. It was the weaker brother who would be quick to accuse the stronger of sinning by eating meat that had been offered to idols.
The apostle set forth the responsibility of the strong believer to help the weaker: the one who has not come to the full knowledge of the oneness of God and, therefore, has not been fully delivered from all notions of the powers of idols.
Always use your liberty in Christ wisely.
While the strong believer knows that God is one, and he knows he may use his liberty to participate in various things, yet he must think about what exercising his right as a Christian will do to others. The considerate Christian will say to himself, “I may do this without going against my conscience, but what about my brother or my sister?” Will this trouble their conscience, or even worse, will they be “emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols” (1 Corinthians 8:10), and thus be led into error and away from faith in Christ alone? Believer, that should always be your genuine concern.
Always be ready to deny yourself for your brother’s sake.
In his conclusion, Paul cited his own self-denial in avoiding offence and this must be your response on the many issues of Christian liberty. He wrote, “Wherefore, If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend” (1 Corinthians 8:13).
Rev. Ian Goligher