Warning: “Christian Liberty” is Not a License to Sin or Offend! (1 Corinthians 8)

Scripture reading – 1 Corinthians 8

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1 Corinthians 8

Today, our study of 1 Corinthians continues with a controversial topic. “Christian Liberty” has been the theme of sermons and Bible studies for over two decades. Under a mistaken notion of freedom from the Law, Christian leaders have led their churches, institutions, and schools down paths that have, in effect, become a license to sin. Tragically, the emphasis on freedom has led to a rise in carnality, a development predictable to those who know the Scriptures and rightly interpret the immutable Word of God.

What do the Scriptures teach about “Christian Liberty”? Today’s Bible study examines that question in 1 Corinthians 8. 

The Problem with Pride (1 Corinthians 8:1-3)

In 1 Corinthians 7:1, Paul mentions receiving a letter from believers in Corinth. In addition to questions about sexual morality, marriage, and divorce (1 Corinthians 7), the letter also asked for Paul’s judgment on another topic: “things offered unto idols” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Before answering that question, he addresses a fundamental issue that prompted it: pride in one’s knowledge.

Paul wrote: “We know that we all have knowledge” (1 Corinthians 8:1a). Knowledge of what? The understanding that an idol is nothing! This knowledge that an idol is nothing led some to be proud (“Knowledge puffeth up,” 1 Corinthians 8:1b). Then Paul asserted, “charity edifieth” (1 Corinthians 8:1b), meaning that love in action builds up and strengthens fellow believers.

Isn’t it interesting that the debate over individual liberty arose within a church that boasted of its knowledge yet was unloving in its practice (1 Corinthians 8:1)? The believers who championed the freedom to eat food offered to idols overlooked the most fundamental doctrine—charity (i.e., love; 1 Corinthians 8:1-2). Those who boasted of their liberty were unloving toward fellow believers. Paul judged them, saying, “he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2).

Regarding Eating Things Offered to Idols (1 Corinthians 8:4-8)

It is unlikely that 21st-century believers will face the question of whether to eat meat offered to idols. However, we can grasp and apply the spiritual principle Paul taught.

There is evidence that idol worshippers would sacrifice animals or offer food in temples, and that heathen priests would then sell the excess of those offerings in marketplaces. The question arose: Do believers have the liberty to purchase and eat meat or produce from a market, knowing it was offered to an idol? (1 Corinthians 8:4)

Regarding “the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols,” Paul asserted, “we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4). He went on to affirm that believers have the liberty to purchase and eat meat or any other food offered to an idol (1 Corinthians 8:8; 10:25). Though a heathen will worship his idol as a god (of which there were many, 1 Corinthians 8:5), believers understand that “there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (1 Corinthians 8:6).

The question of eating food offered to idols was a matter of liberty, but not one to be taken lightly. In essence, the issue was not a believer’s freedom but the effect that liberty would have on other believers. Why? Because not every believer could eat food offered to an idol with a clear conscience (1 Corinthians 8:7).

Rather than a question of liberty or freedom, it was an issue of one believer’s influence on another. Not eating meat offered to idols was not a formal commandment (1 Corinthians 8:8). However, when Israel ate foods offered to idols, they often strayed from God, worshipped idols, and brought God’s wrath upon themselves. Although Scripture does not forbid eating meat purchased in the marketplace, some were sensitive and did not want to stray from the Lord (Romans 14:14-15; 1 Corinthians 10:25).

Mature Brotherly Love Is Concerned with How One’s Liberty Affects Others (1 Corinthians 8:9-11)

The apostle faced a difficult matter to rectify. Rather than defending personal freedom or insisting on a questionable decision, Paul issued a warning: “Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock [an offense] to them that are weak” (1 Corinthians 8:9). In other words, insisting on your right to do something when you know it offends others is unloving.

Some believers chose to eat meat offered to idols, even though they knew it offended other believers (1 Corinthians 8:10). In doing so, they acted unlovingly and became “a stumblingblock” (1 Corinthians 8:9). Paul appealed to those with knowledge who were unloving in their demands for liberty. He asked, “Through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?” (1 Corinthians 8:11).

What a tragedy! Some understood that there was only one God and that an idol was nothing; however, they failed the love test and willfully imperiled other believers’ spiritual lives and walk

Closing Thoughts (1 Corinthians 8:12-13)

I fear some may read this devotion and believe they have the liberty to make decisions that harm others. Your liberty may not include eating meat offered to idols; however, many areas of our society fall into what some might call “gray areas.”

Are you guilty of taking liberties, even at the risk of offending fellow believers? Paul warned that when believers exercise freedom in ways that offend others, they not only sin “against the brethren” but also “sin against Christ” (1 Corinthians 8:12). In essence, a believer has no liberty if that liberty offends.

Therefore, Paul determined: “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).

Warning: When your liberty offends and wounds other believers, you also “sin against Christ” (1 Corinthians 8:12).