Comments on First Corinthians - Part 7

1 Corinthians 8-10 (Part 1): "Rights" of a Christian.

As someone has said, freedom isn't being able to do whatever you want, it is the power to do what you ought. Christians have gained truth that sets us free from things that harm and destroy life.

Intellectual knowledge is like cotton candy -- it gives the appearance of substance, but is really just a little sugar "fluffed up". Love (the action, not the "feeling") is substantial. As with the Corinthians, knowledge can become an instrument of individualism, separation, of competition. Instead of acting in the interest of their weaker brethren, those who had "knowledge" about the non-reality of idols and sacrifices to them used that knowledge to prove their "superiority" to those unenlightened ones who let those kinds of things trouble them.

To be clear, we are not to remain children and this concern for the weaker should not be construed as a reason to let the immature stay that way. It is the responsibility of the mature to lovingly build up the maturity of the weaker members. That may take time and patience but it is essential for the growth of the body.