and the weak [one], the brother for whose sake Christ died, will perish through thy knowledge.
Paul is dealing with a practical question in Corinth: may a Christian eat meat that had been offered to an idol? Some said yes, because they knew an idol is nothing. This verse is Paul's warning about what that knowledge can cost someone else.
The danger was not the meat but the example. A believer with clear understanding could sit down to eat in the idol's temple. A weaker believer could watch him and copy the act, with no conviction of his own.
Suppose a man without this knowledge saw a man who had it sitting at a table in an idol's temple. Might that not encourage him to eat things sacrificed to an idol, even though his own conscience was not clear about it? He would only be copying another man's faith, and copied faith is not faith.
The ESV says this weak believer "is destroyed." Older translations read "perish," and the writers here use that older word. The word is strong either way. Commentators take it as the direction my act pushes my brother, not a verdict already fixed on him.
In verse 11, "shall the weak brother perish?" shows where my eating tends, as far as I can take it. I am leading him to sin against his conscience. It is not that the Lord will not step in and save him, but that is what I am doing... though I do not believe from other texts that God will leave him there, yet I am making my brother perish.
Other writers measure the ruin by lost usefulness. The believer is not lost, but he is finished as a witness.
The perishing has nothing to do with the salvation of the soul. It means that a wound to his weak conscience puts the weak brother out of action. It destroys his spiritual state, and so his testimony and service too. No believer who falls under a cloud, owing to a defiled conscience, is of any use in the wars of the Lord.
The verse speaks from the side of human responsibility. It does not reopen Christ's promise about His sheep.
This does not raise the question of whether a believer can perish, because the Lord Himself says, "they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." One passage looks at the believer from the Lord's side; the other looks from man's side. We may fail in our responsibility, and do something that, as far as we are concerned, would cause our brother to perish.
That safeguard does not reduce my guilt.
1 Corinthians 8 teaches us the high value God sets on conscience. So those who force the conscience of a brother are guilty of a crime. If I cannot give up what offends the weaker conscience of another, then as far as I am concerned I am working for his destruction. The Lord will preserve him. He will make good His Word toward him. But if it depended on me — as far as my influence goes — my will would even land my brother in the fire of hell. In that sense I "destroy" him. God charges me with this sin. In His faithfulness He still guards the weak brother from the effect of my unfaithfulness.
One writer puts the division of labour in a single sentence:
We are our brother's keepers, not their Savior. Well has it been said, "out of our careless hands they fall for safety into His."
Paul does not describe the weak believer by his weakness. He describes him by what he cost.
Some of us might feel inclined to say, "Oh, but he is only a weak brother, of very little account as a servant or soldier of the Lord." If we spoke like that, we would forget that he is one of those "for whom Christ died." That makes him of immense value to Him. This is the true light in which to view our brother. So dear is he that to sin against him is to sin against Christ.
Knowledge is the instrument of the damage here.
Human nature has a great thirst for knowledge. But if I chase knowledge just to gain knowledge, it will only puff me up. Love, on the other hand, builds up my brother. And we only know in part, so trusting our partial knowledge to settle questions will often lead us badly astray.
- Knowledge acts. Being right about idols is not the issue. The issue is what my liberty does when a weaker believer copies it without faith of his own.
- Knowledge wounds. Leading him against his own conscience defiles it. A believer under that cloud is no use in testimony or service.
- Knowledge is charged. God preserves the weak brother, but He still charges the sin to me. His faithfulness shields my brother from my unfaithfulness.
- Knowledge is measured by the cross. He is not "only a weak brother"; he is one for whom Christ died, so wounding him is sin against Christ.
- Knowledge must yield to love. Knowledge puffs up and knows only in part. Love builds the brother up, and gives up a right rather than trip him.
Now, thus sinning against the brethren, and wounding their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
Paul has been discussing meat offered to idols — a small matter in itself. Here he shows where a careless act against another believer's conscience really lands.
The chapter opens by setting knowledge beside love.
First, he says, "We all have knowledge", in measure at any rate. Knowledge, however, is not enough; we need love as well. Human nature has a great thirst for knowledge. But if I chase knowledge just to have knowledge, it will only puff me up, while love will build up my brother. We also know only in part. So trusting our partial knowledge to settle questions will often lead us badly astray.
The word "thus" points back to something the strong Corinthians thought too small to argue about. One writer measures the gap between how the two sides saw the same plate of food.
Now this "sin against Christ" was all about a "trivial matter": whether a Christian should eat meat that had been offered to idols. Some saw that the meat was no worse for being offered that way, and that eating it made them neither better nor worse. To them it truly seemed a trifling thing. But to the weak ones, eating such food seemed a very serious matter — a most heinous sin. The apostle's counsel here is of extreme importance. The strong were to look at the matter, not from their own standpoint, but from that of the weak. What is so trifling in itself becomes of the utmost importance because of the weak brothers.
The previous verse warns that the weak brother may perish. One writer shows how that happens, and what the word does not mean.
Some of the Corinthians, strong in their knowledge that idols are nothing, went as far as sitting at the meat inside the idol's temple. Some of the weaker ones might be tempted to copy them, wanting a larger liberty, and then become stricken by an accusing conscience, and perish. The perishing has nothing to do with the salvation of the soul. It means instead that a wounded conscience puts the weak brother out of action. It destroys him as to his spiritual state, and so as to his testimony and service. No believer who falls under a cloud, owing to a defiled conscience, is of any use in the wars of the Lord.
It is easy to treat an over-careful believer as unimportant. The verse before answers that with four words: for whom Christ died.
Some of us might feel inclined to say, "Oh, but he is after all only a weak brother, and so of very little account as a servant or soldier of the Lord." If we speak like that, we are guilty of forgetting that he is one of those "for whom Christ died," and therefore of immeasurable value to Him. This is the true light in which to view our brother. So dear is he that to sin against him is to sin against Christ.
The verse does not stop at the brother. One writer explains why, and points to how Paul first learned it.
The real nature of all such inconsiderate acts is here touchingly, as well as solemnly, declared. To wound a Christian conscience is to offend the Lord. Because we forget that we are members of one another, we sin against Christ whenever we wrong our brothers. He is in His people, and what is done to them is done to Him. Paul knew this well. It was the very edge of that sharp sword from Jesus' mouth that had split his own self-righteous heart in two.
If harm done to a believer reaches Christ, so does help. That turns the warning into a test of what real love for Him looks like.
The Apostle never forgot those words, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And we must never forget them. The truth held in them meets us in many scriptures. Those who would strike a blow at Christ today, strike at His saints. Those who would serve Christ today, care for and serve His saints. Whatever is done to even the least of His brothers, He will accept as done to Himself. God grant that we may not forget this. Serving His cause and His people shows real devotion to Christ far better than pouring out warm, loving words to Him or about Him.
- Knowledge starts it. Knowledge held on its own inflates the one who has it; love is what builds up the other person.
- The trifle wounds. The issue was food — trivial to the strong, a grave sin to the weak. Measure the matter by the other man's conscience, not by yours.
- The wound ruins. "Perish" here is not the loss of salvation. It means a believer put out of action — no use in service or testimony, because his conscience is defiled.
- The ruined man is priceless. He is one "for whom Christ died" — the true measure of a weak brother's worth.
- The blow lands on Christ. Christ is in His people; what is done to them is done to Him. So serving His people, more than warm words about Him, is the real proof of devotion.