ESOCS Devotional 20 January 2022
TEXT: 1 CORINTHIANS 8:1-13
MEMORY VERSE:
“For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meant in the idols temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak to be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?”1 Corinthians 8:10-11 KJV
34 And Peter opened his mouth and said: Most certainly and thoroughly I now perceive and understand that God shows no partiality and is no respecter of persons,
35 But in every nation he who venerates and has a reverential fear for God, treating Him with worshipful obedience and living uprightly, is acceptable to Him and [a]sure of being received and welcomed [by Him].
36 You know the contents of the message which He sent to Israel, announcing the good news (Gospel) of peace by Jesus Christ, Who is Lord of all—
37 The [same] message which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee after the baptism preached by John—
38 How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, [b]in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him.
39 And we are [eye and ear] witnesses of everything that He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And [yet] they put Him out of the way (murdered Him) by hanging Him on a tree;
40 But God raised Him to life on the third day and caused Him to be manifest (to be plainly seen),
41 Not by all the people but to us who were chosen (designated) beforehand by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.
42 And He charged us to preach to the people and to bear solemn testimony that He is the God-appointed and God-ordained Judge of the living and the dead.
43 To Him all the prophets testify (bear witness) that everyone who believes in Him [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him, giving himself up to Him] receives forgiveness of sins through His name.
Corinth was an environment of idol worship and religious immorality. In religions that were created after the imaginations of immoral men who sought to gratify their own lusts of the flesh, animals were sacrificed to false gods. The meat of these sacrifices were partially consumed in the temple at the time of sacrifice, while the remainder was sold in the public market place.
Concerning what the Corinthians wrote to Paul about meat offered to idols, Paul put up thirteen (13) main arguments/principles in order to maintain unity in the midst different opinions :
- Knowledge is fundamental (v 1- 3)
- Idols are not real gods (v 4 – 5)
- There is but one God (v 4 – 6)
- Men, not idols, are of God (v 6)
- All men do not have knowledge (v 7)
- Problems arise from ignorance and a weak conscience (v 7)
- Meats being offered to idols do not defile the meats themselves (v 8)
- Meats do not make any difference in our relationship to God (v 8)
- Knowledge and liberty can become stumbling blocks to the weak (v 9)
- The example of the strong could cause the weak to commit sin (v 10)
- Persons thus emboldened to commit sin will perish regardless of Christ’s death for them (v 11)
- By causing weak brothers to perish, the strong also commit sin (v 12)
- The strong must set the proper example for the weak to save themselves, as well as the weak (v 13)
Our conduct should be governed by the consciences of the new converts/weak brethren in faith (Rom. 15:1). We make men worse, if by our example we teach them to act in contradiction to their conscience. Your action as a stronger believer in faith could very well fall out to the spiritual destruction of the one who is “weak”. To sin against a brother in any capacity is to sin against Christ. Everything we do must be done always with the idea of how it affects others.
Freedom in Christ is a fundamental teaching that must not be endangered, lest we take ourselves back into religions of bondage, form which we escaped in our obedience to the gospel. It is in Christ that we are truly free, and thus, disciples must maintain their freedom within the context of being proper examples to others. Patience and love must be exercised towards the new converts and the weak in faith until they grow in the faith to understand what God places religious significance on.
- Are your actions good examples to the new converts and those weaker than you in the faith?
- Pray God’s grace upon yourself, so you help grow the church to greater height
Read Other ESOCS Devotional here
FURTHER READING: Isaiah 47: 1-9; Amos. 2:1-5; Luke 7:11-23
Thank you for reading the ESOCS Devotional today. Please share and follow us on all our platforms to contribute to the spread of the Gospel.
ESOCS Devotional 20 January 2022
