BOOK
BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY
larrydalexanderbiblestudies.blogspot.com
BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday December 10, 2017
THE
DISPUTE OVER ISSUES OF DOCTRINE
1
Corinthians 8
Now Paul moves on to try to resolve the
issue in the Corinthian Church concerning the dispute in certain areas of
Christian doctrine. Here he uses “food
that has been sacrificed to idols”, “eidolothuton” (i-do-loth-oo-ton) (v.1), as
an example, or case in point.
Knowledge of GOD may be what makes us feel
good, but love of GOD is really what builds the Church up. Anyone who claims to
know everything there is about GOD, really doesn’t know very much of everything
at all. And whereas GOD loves all of HIS creation in general, the person who
loves GOD is the person who GOD knows and cares about in particular (Vs.2-3).
In the first century, animals that were
sacrificed to idols by pagans were divided into three portions;
·
One portion
to be burned
·
One
portion for the pagan priest
·
And one
portion for the person who gave the sacrifice
Most often, the priest would sell the
unused portions of the meat at the market place, and as a result, doctrinal
problems and questions arose in the Church concerning “spiritual
contamination”, as oftentimes this meat was purchased by many Christians to eat
with their meals. Some Christians believed that the meat was contaminated, and
that, people who purchased and ate it were participating in idolatry. Still
other Christians balked at that notion, saying that it was all in their mind,
because pagan gods aren’t really real (4-5).
Even though Christians know that there is
only one true GOD, through the attention, affection, and adoration we give to
things made by the hands of man, or to vile people who gain their celebrity
from satan by entering into covenants with him, we ascribe power and worship to
that which is inferior in GOD the CREATOR. Little do most people know that these
people and things are used by satan to embody his demons, or “nephilim spirits”
so that he himself can receive worship from us, through them.
However, GOD our FATHER created everything,
and we exist for HIM (v.6). Also, there is only one LORD, JESUS CHRIST, through
WHOM GOD made everything, and through WHOM we have been given life. The idols
that are sacrificed to, are not real gods, but rather, are objects used by
satan, through which he can receive the worship of those who condone the
demonic power that is ascribed to them. And so the worship of these idols,
although they are not real, still has a dangerous spiritual affect on those who
give themselves to them for worship and sacrifice.
Things and food that are made by GOD can
never be evil in themselves (everything GOD made is good - Genesis 1:31), but
rather, it is our conscience, contributions, and attitude toward those things that
ascribe to them their evil power and influence. Satan cannot even come into our
lives and dwell unless we allow him to, or invite him in, and superstition and
witchcraft are two of the effective ways that people relent and concede to evil
forces.
Remember, we can’t win GOD’s approval based
on what we eat or don’t eat, and neither do we gain anything if we do eat
whatever we want (v.8). JESUS says it is not what we eat that defiles us, but
rather it is what we allow to creep into our heart (thoughts) that defile us
from the inside out.
Also, Paul also warns us here to be careful
regarding our GOD-given “freedom of choice” that we do not cause another
Christian to stumble because of their weaker conscience (feeling about
something that may not be intrinsically wrong, but rather, may be personally
wrong for them).
Those Christians who think it wrong to eat
certain foods may see you eating it and be encouraged to violate their
conscience, or ignore their own personal relationship with the HOLY SPIRIT as
HE guides them personally to not partake in certain foods. It may be a food
that their, own personal body, won’t tolerate, while yours will. Therefore, if
they are encouraged by you to do so, you would be guilty of sinning against your
fellow Christian Brother or Sister (even though it may be unwittingly) by doing
physical harm to their body.
Every Christian has their own personal
relationship with CHRIST, and thereby, the HOLY SPIRIT in us works not only to
keep us within the general Will of GOD, but also keeps us from personal harm by
things that not necessarily characterized as sinful. Things that harm us
personally, although they may not be classified by Scripture as “sin”, are sin
to us personally. Therefore, if we do or eat anything that we believe is not
right, we are, in effect, sinning against ourselves. For “Whatsoever is not of
faith is sin” (Romans 14:23b-KJV).
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
No comments:
Post a Comment