But meat does not commend us to God; neither if we should not eat do we come short; nor if we should eat have we an advantage.
The Corinthians had asked Paul about the meat in their markets, much of which came from idol sacrifices. Verse 8 settles the food question itself: food counts for nothing with God, which frees the strong and restrains them at the same time.
Paul first defends the believer who eats freely. His reason is a matter of accounting, and the sum is exact.
The answer is very instructive. The Apostle firmly maintains the freedom of the stronger brother. It is a fact that food does not commend us to God. Our practices may differ. Some may eat and some not eat. But there is no advantage in the one, nor is there any falling short in the other. There is neither plus nor minus in the question, as before God.
This is not a small concession. God Himself once drew strict lines between clean and unclean food for His people. This verse marks a real change.
This verse shows the sharp contrast between the old yoke of bondage and the true liberty of Christ. It was God who had once set up for His people the strict law that separated one food from another. But bodily ordinances end with the flesh they were made for. The believer is no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit... To a risen man all natural things must be indifferent in themselves. Each creature of God is thankfully acknowledged in its place and kind, as a passing mercy from the Father of lights.
If eating gains nothing, then giving it up costs nothing. So Paul grants the point, then turns it against those who pressed their rights.
The apostle admits that food will not commend us to God. Those who claimed this right should make sure that using it did not make the weak stumble. What if the weak one copied it with a conscience that was not free? What if he was emboldened, or built up the wrong way, and the brother for whom Christ died perished?
Not every believer in Corinth was strong in faith. So the food question does not end with the food. What it does to another person's conscience matters more.
Verse 8 shows that eating meat or not eating meat has no advantage whatever before God. The important thing is then stated. "But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." One who is weak in faith sees a brother eating meat in the idol's temple. That example emboldens him to go against his own conscience and do the same. In doing it he sins. He acts not in faith, but copies another, and worse things may follow.
Paul would give up his own rights for another believer's good. But no one should turn that personal choice into a diet law, and verse 8 shows why.
Here is the very real personal exercise of one whose care for souls is such that he will gladly sacrifice his personal rights for the sake of the blessing of another. But this is far removed from making any rule about avoiding certain foods. Nor does he consider that eating or refraining from eating has any effect on the spiritual state of his own soul (1 Cor. 8:8). These things must be kept clearly distinct. God created foods themselves to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
Since food settles nothing before God, something else must. One writer ties this verse to Romans 14, where Paul defines the kingdom of God.
It is not food and drink. It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit... In themselves, they deserve neither blame nor praise (1 Cor. 8:8). But if they are not used in subjection to the truth that is above them, they certainly work evil and not good... Food and drink can establish no heart before God. They may, and often do, unsettle it, but it is grace alone which can establish, strengthen and settle the soul.
- Zero — Food does not present us to God. Eating gains no advantage; abstaining leaves no shortfall. Neither plus nor minus.
- Freedom — The old law of clean and unclean has ended. The believer now takes every created thing in its place as a mercy from the Father of lights.
- Restraint — The zero cuts both ways. If eating gains you nothing, giving it up costs you nothing. The strong have no argument left.
- Conscience — Food does nothing to your own soul. But your example can move a weaker believer to act against his conscience, and he sins.
- Grace — Meats can establish no heart before God. Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit can — and grace alone settles the soul.
But see lest anywise this your right [to eat] itself be a stumbling-block to the weak.
The question at Corinth was whether a Christian could eat meat that had first been offered to an idol. Paul has already granted the knowledge that settles it: an idol is nothing. Now he puts a guard on that freedom, because someone else is watching.
Some at Corinth pressed a claim, and the word Paul picks up is theirs.
The next question was about eating things offered to idols. It seems to have been raised by the conduct of those who pleaded their liberty or right (exousia) in such a matter. The apostle examined this plea and dealt with it. In doing so he raised a point they had clearly overlooked. He fully admitted that the idol is nothing (v. 4), yet knowledge in such matters is not everything; for knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
Paul does not withdraw the liberty. He asks how we carry it.
The liberty of God's children is absolute, but they are expected to use it as imitators of God. We have to consider not ourselves only, but both our brothers and the world. A believer may be walking without care and yet with an untroubled conscience. But this is dangerous. We must take care. While we enjoy our liberty — in one sense blamelessly — we can become a stumbling block to others without knowing it. A showy use of liberty rarely fails to injure both the boaster and those who watch his ways. True grace, because it is free and knows its happiness in fellowship with God, makes no effort to seem free. Instead it will seek to use its liberty in love. It considers the weak. It neither despises them nor tempts them by a bad example to act in anything beyond their faith.
Weakness here is not moral failure. It is a conscience that cannot yet act on what the mind knows.
There will always be many believers who cannot see such matters in the calm, level light of pure knowledge. They do not rise above their feelings and other personal impressions. Once they knew the meat had been offered that way, they could not get away from the feelings it stirred. They had "conscience of the idol" and it troubled them constantly. Their conscience was weak, because it lacked the clear and happy knowledge Paul enjoyed. Being weak, it was defiled.
The danger is imitation. A weaker believer copies the act without sharing the conviction behind it. This reaches far beyond the question of meat.
Suppose someone had liberty to eat meat offered to idols, with no scruples of conscience. He must still be careful not to stumble those whose conscience is weak. True knowledge is considerate, not overbearing... This principle applies to all kinds of situations we may be in today. A weak Christian may see another go somewhere his own conscience forbids. Because the stronger Christian went, he goes too. The stronger has therefore encouraged the other to ignore his conscience. God would not let any believer perish. But my heartless treatment of him is, in effect, showing no concern about whether he perishes. And Christ died for him!
Paul goes on to warn that the weak brother may be destroyed. One writer explains what is lost, and what is not.
The perishing has nothing to do with the salvation of the soul. It means instead that a wounded conscience would put the weak brother out of action. It would destroy him as to his spiritual state, and so as to his testimony and service. No believer who falls under a cloud through a defiled conscience is of any use in the wars of the Lord.
Yet the safety of the sheep should not soften the warning.
It is of the greatest importance to let Scripture have its full effect on the soul. We must not blunt its edge with the dogmas of systematic theology... The same authority that says "My sheep shall never perish" also warns us. We must not cause a weak brother to perish by a self-indulgent, unloving use of our liberty. It will be our wisdom, and certainly our moral safety, to listen to the one as well as to the other.
Waiving a liberty is not giving it up. You can still hold it before God.
"Are we then never to use our undoubted liberty?" Yes, says the apostle. If you have faith to use it, keep it to yourself before God. Use it in private, not in public, when using it might stumble a weak brother.
- Knowledge — the Corinthians were right about the idol. But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Being right was never the whole question.
- Right — the word Paul takes up is exousia, a liberty or right. He never denies it; he places a guard on it.
- Love — true grace makes no effort to seem free. It uses liberty with the weak in mind, and never pushes them past their faith.
- Restraint — a weak conscience copies the example without the conviction. A Christian under that cloud is no use for service — and Christ died for him.
- Result — hold the liberty before God in private, not in public. Do not blunt the warning by telling yourself the sheep are safe anyway.