Up & Out
The Morality of Knowledge
october 20, 2024 | chris winans | 1 corinthians 8:1-3
Sermon Questions
- Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess __________.” This “__________” puffs up, but love builds up. 2If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
- What are the two different types of knowledge that Pastor Winans refers to in his message?
- In his Paul’s messages in 1 Cor 8 and Romans 14, he is dealing with different groups of people. Which two groups is Paul addressing in his message in 1 Cor 8 and in Romans?
- 1 Cor 8:
- Romans 14:
- Pride is to intoxicated, as sober is to ___________________.
- Search and find two other verses in the Bible that use the language “puffed up” or similar words:
- TRUE or FALSE: In 1 Cor 8 Paul is saying those who think they know do not know as they ought to know
- Name the book and verse from which these words come from: The Lord set his heart in love on your fathers
Discussion Questions
- 1 Cor 8:1 says: This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
- Contrast the two phrases “puff up” and “build up” and discuss the foundations underlying these two phrases.
- What causes us to puff up ourselves vs building up others?
- 1 Cor 8:2 says: If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know?
- Discuss this verse considering verse 1: How do I discern which knowledge to build up and which knowledge will puff up?
- How should Christians today approach cultural or societal practices that could be seen as 'modern idols'?
- How does Paul's teaching about food sacrificed to idols apply to the way Christians should handle disputed matters today?
- How does this passage challenge your understanding of Christian liberty?
- Deut 10:12-22 was written for the people of Israel and to us. Read Deut 10:12-22 and discuss the following:
- Discuss how these verses serve as the foundation for our knowledge and building up of others.
- How do these verses in Deut 10, inform us how we should live out 1 Cor 8:1-3? i.e. If Deut 10 is the foundation for our lives as Christians, does this make it clear what builds up? Discuss in your groups.
Sermon Outline
1Corithians 8:1-3 – 1Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
Pastor Chris returns to 1Corinthians beginning with Chapter 8 in a sermon series entitled Up and Out. In chapters 8 through 10, Paul is helping us see what it means to live up and out, where we are loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. We have been looking at different issues in 1Corinthians along the way, but chapters 8 through 10 are about one thing. He is going to deal with one thing in many different ways, but there is one overarching question and that has to do with meat that is offered to idols. Can a believer who lived in Corinth eat meat that has knowingly been offered to idols? Starting with the first 3 versus the apostle Paul is really laying down a principle that is going to carry through the rest of the argument that he is going to be making.
In verse 2 Paul is saying those who think they know do not know as they ought to know. As soon as you use that kind of language, you are within the realm of ethics. You are talking about what is right and wrong. Paul here seems to say that there is a knowledge that we ought not, there is an ethical component to what we know.
Background
We begin with what is going on with meat offered to idols and then explore two ways of knowledge. One is knowledge that puffs up and the other is knowledge that leads to love that builds up. We need to understand the background here in Corinth, regarding meat being offered to idols. Within the Greco Roman world, it was quite common that in Pagan worship there would be animal sacrifice. When the animals were sacrificed to these Pagan gods, the animals as they are offered would be eaten and sometimes would be eaten in a restaurant setting associated with Pagan temples. If there were any leftovers, you would find them in the marketplace. One commentator says this...
In Roman Corinth, Pagan worship often involved the slaughtering of sacrificial animals, which would then be eaten in a temple dining room, often as part of a pagan rite of worship or sold in the meat market for ordinary people to buy and cook at home. – Andrew Wilson 1 Corinthians For You
- The other thing that is important for how people think about these chapters is in relationship to what Paul says in Romans 14, which spills over into chapter 15 as well. Paul is talking about eating and a mistake that we might make is to think he is talking about the same thing in Romans 14 as it is in 1Corinthians 8 through 10, where there are similarities. It is not that there is not any overlap, but it is not the same situation. In the Book of Romans, Paul is talking about the relationship between Jew and Gentile Christians and the debate is about Jewish food laws, sabbaths, and festivals. Paul is navigating through some of the tension that has arisen in the Roman church as Gentile and Jewish Christians are talking about how to navigate Jewish food laws, Sabbaths, and festivals. He talks about the weak and the strong and clearly identifies himself with the strong in Romans 14 and into 15. In Romans, he says it is OK to eat meat as long as it does not hurt your weaker brother. But those that are strong and they are strong in faith because the language there is the language of faith; those that are strong do not need to worry. But if your weaker brother is hurt, you should always act on behalf of your weaker brother, who is weak in faith versus the strong.
- In 1Corinthians, the situation is not between Jew and Gentile Christians. The situation is between Christian worship and Pagan worship, it is not the same situation there and it is not between the weak and the strong. The comparison is between the weak and what Paul calls the knowers, those who have knowledge. He never identifies himself with the knowers. In the book of Romans, he identifies himself clearly with the strong, but in 1Corinthians he does not identify himself with the knowers, but the problem is between those who know and those that are weak, and in Romans Paul gives permission. If you are strong in faith, you can partake as long as it does not hurt your weaker brother. 1Corinthians is different because you have to follow all the way through to the end of chapter 10.
- Remember when Paul wrote his letter there were no chapter or verse divisions. Chapters 8 through 10 is one long argument or letter, and when Paul gets to the end of chapter 10 it says no Christian at all can partake of meat that has knowingly been offered to idols. That can be confusing because when you read chapter 8, it almost seems like Paul is saying that you can and then when we get to chapter 10, he seems to say that you cannot. What is happening is Paul is building his argument. If you have ever read writings where people argue, they start in a place and then they build on it, and you will not know what the conclusion is until you get to the end. The reason Chapter 8 reads the way that it does is because Paul is arguing with the knowers on their own turf. Then he goes from there along the way saying you knowers don't know as much as you think you do. The reason this is helpful is because there are other places in the scriptures where it says you cannot offer meat offered to idols. Paul is saying actually you can it is no big deal, it really is, while other places in scripture seem to disagree.
- As an example, in the Book of Revelation chapters 1 through 3, the Lord Jesus is addressing the seven churches of Asia Minor. Now the Apostle John records them, but they are the words of Jesus to the churches.
Revelation 2:14 – 14But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
The sense here is that Jesus is saying this is not something you should do. If Paul in Chapter 8 is saying I can, but Jesus says you cannot that is a problem.
- Later in the same chapter Jesus is addressing a different church.
Revelation 2:20 - 20But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Obviously, the New Testament says the Christian cannot eat meat that has knowingly been sacrificed to idols and Paul agrees, but you have to follow his argument all the way through. Paul talks about two kinds of knowledge. There is knowledge that puffs up, a knowledge that tears down, and there is knowledge that builds up, a knowledge that is based on love.
Knowledge That Tears Down
What is knowledge that puffs up or knowledge that tears down? What does he mean when he says the knowers have knowledge that puffs up?
1Corinthians 8:1 - 1Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
The language of puffing up is the language of pride, the language of thinking highly of ourselves and elevating ourselves up above others. The apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 12...
Romans 12:3 – 3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment.
Paul says when we have pride it is like we are not sober. The opposite of being sober is being intoxicated in some way and when you are intoxicated your sense of reality is distorted. Paul is saying when you act out of pride your sense of reality is distorted and Paul in 1Corinthians is saying this is like being puffed up. This sense of pride, puffed up, is found throughout the scriptures.
- We find this with the Prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk was a prophet to the southern Kingdom of Judah towards the end of its life before Babylon comes down, so we are looking at the end of Josiah's reign and then his four sons leading up finally to Zedekiah. There was a lot of sin and lawlessness in the land and that really upsets Habakkuk, and he calls out to God. He asks God how can you put up with this, there is a lot of harmful stuff going on. God answers back, I am not putting up with it and I am going to bring the Babylonians from the north to judge the people. Habakkuk thinks that does not seem quite right; the Babylonians are even worse. So, when God responds to Habakkuk and he talks about the Babylonians and the pride of the Babylonians, here is what he says.
Habakkuk 2:4 – 4“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
- The apostle Paul knew this verse. What this shows is that the life of faith following after the Lord Jesus Christ is in direct opposition to a life of pride, a life of being puffed up, a life like the rest of the world. When we look out into the world, do we not see pride lifting up? When we see it in the church Paul says that you are at cross purposes with the gospel, that you are not to be puffed up. Having said that, does that mean that Paul is against knowledge? He says knowledge puffs up. If knowledge puffs up, then it sounds like knowledge is something that is bad. The apostle Paul over 10 times in 1Corinthians, the letter we are looking at says do you not know?
1Corinthians 6:19 - 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?
1Corinthians 6:3 – 3Do you not know that we are to judge angels?
Knowledge is not a terrible thing, in fact as believers we should desire more knowledge. I think one of the issues facing the American evangelical church is biblical ignorance. They do not know their Bibles. If the answer is I want less knowledge, then what we are saying is biblical ignorance is some kind of a good thing. Biblical ignorance is not good. The issue is not knowledge; the issue is the manner by which we know.
1Corinthians 8:2 – 2If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
The issue is not the knowing, the issue is the manner in which you know. In some way I think we can see a similarity to money. It would be saying virtuous Christians will not earn any money because money is bad. Having said that, is there a manner in which we are to steward our money, does that matter? It is not the issue of money; the problem is what you do with it. If your money is all for you, to bless yourself, then that is not the manner of the outness of money. What is money for? Part of what money is for is to provide for our own needs, to be able to purchase food and pay our rent. But if we are to understand the outness of money, then we need to be generous. We love the Lord our God with all our hearts and mind and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. If you are not giving it to the Lord, are you managing your money correctly? The point is that there is an outness of money. If you are not using the money that God has given you to be generous to others, are you using it the way that you should?
- It is the same thing with knowledge. The issue is not knowledge, the issue is not money, the issue is what are you doing with it? How or what is the manner which you hold it? 1Timothy 6 talks about this knowledge and being puffed up, and here is what Paul says...
1Timothy 6:3-4 – 3If anyone...does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ...4he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.
He says if anyone does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, he has puffed up with conceit, and he understands nothing. The manner of his knowledge is puffed up, he is prideful, he does not understand. Notice what Paul says because of the wrongness of his knowledge...
1Timothy 6:5 – 5He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth...
Paul is saying that knowledge leads to controversy. It leads to quarrelling. It leads to envy, to dissension. It leads to slandering, suspicions, and friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth. Have you ever met someone that exemplifies some of this? Some people use their knowledge as a weapon to smack someone across the face, rather than with a loving hand to pick them up. The question is not knowledge, the question is what are you doing with it? Are you tearing others down, are you demonstrating that you are better than others and lifting yourself up or are you using that knowledge as the apostle Paul commands to build up?
Knowledge That Builds Up
Are we using what God has given us to be servants in love towards others, because Paul is contrasting knowledge with love. What he is not talking about here is love apart from knowledge, he is saying there is knowledge that leads to pride and later in the chapter to destruction. But there is another knowledge that builds.
1Corinthians 8:1 – 1This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
- The key is to understand the nature of agape love, which is Christian love, is to understand what Paul says in verse 3. In a sense it seems to come out of nowhere.
1Corinthians 8:3 – 3But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
Why did Paul say this? It does not necessarily seem to logically follow. As you meditate and think if anyone loves God he is known by God, that a love that builds up seems to be intimately connected, not primarily with a love for the neighbor, but primarily with the love for God. He starts with a love for God, and he says that if you are going to live a life that is marked by this kind of love then it will begin with God first. But where it begins is not with you but with God himself. That the love that we are called to exhibit does not begin with you, it begins with God and God's knowing you. The apostle Paul is a Hebrew scholar; Paul knows his Old Testament.
- In the book of Amos chapter 3 when God is addressing the Israelites, he says...
Amos 3:2 – 2You only have I known of all the families of the earth.
Consider what this means. Does that mean that God does not have any knowledge of the Babylonians or any knowledge of the Edomites or any knowledge of the Egyptians? There is a particular kind of knowing here. Do you see that you only of all the peoples of the earth have I known? The Prophet Amos is drawing upon Moses, where in the Book of Deuteronomy Moses is describing God's relationship with his people and he says you only have I known or the Lord has set his heart in love on your fathers, and he chose them. He knew them and their offspring after them.
Deuteronomy 10:15 – 15The Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples.
You of all the peoples of the Earth have I known. You of all the people of the earth did I set my heart upon in love, and I chose you to be my people. The love that we have begins with God knowing us, choosing us, and setting his love upon us. This is exactly what the apostle John says.
1John 4:19 – 19We love because he first loved us.
The Bible is consistent all the way through. It is God knowing you, God setting his love upon you, a sinner. A rebellious sinner who had turned away from God in order to pursue his own way in the midst of his rebellion. God knew you even before the foundations of the earth. He set his love upon you, and he sent his son Jesus to die for you and because he loves you, you are now free to love others. Now what does this mean? The life that we have and the love that we have flows into us from God. To love is to be known by God. To love is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to allow the life of God to overflow into the life of others, otherwise if we are honest, we are selfish. This is why Daniel prayed three times a day because if we do not pray, we will quickly fall back into ourselves and become puffed up. Who is most important? It is not our family, it is not our spouse, it is not the church. What is most important in our life is Jesus and we need to live that way. When we do, we really become lovers, and that love builds up rather than tearing down.
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