The Blessed Hope Podcast -- with Dr. Kim Riddlebarger "The Strong and the Weak" Season Three/Episode Fifteen (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)
Sep 30, 2024
A biblical look at the Corinthian split between the strong and the weak over food from pagan sacrifices. Discussion of Greco-Roman dining, temple meals, and why meat mattered to the poor. Explores Paul’s four arguments, the stumbling-block principle, and how love and self-restraint protect fragile consciences. Ends with pastoral solutions for teaching and unity.
57:41
Knowledge Versus Love
- Knowledge about idols puffs up, but love builds up the body of Christ.
- Kim Riddlebarger emphasizes that theological knowledge must be governed by love toward others.
Meat Tied To Temple Culture
- In the Greco-Roman world meat was rare for the poor and tied to temple sacrifices.
- Riddlebarger shows temple dining and leftover meat created practical and ethical pressure for Christians.
Correct Fact, Wrong Application
- Corinthians argued idols had no reality, so eating sacrificed food seemed harmless.
- Paul agrees idols are nothing but warns that application of that knowledge can be misguided.
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Intro
00:00 • 3min
Context: Corinthians' Divisions and Topic Overview
02:54 • 48sec
Reading and Theme: Knowledge Versus Love
03:42 • 2min
Practical Questions About Idol Food
05:22 • 1min
Historical Background: Diet and Garum
06:29 • 3min
Temples, Dining Halls, and Sacrificial Meals
09:23 • 4min
Paul's Four Corinthian Arguments
13:07 • 2min
New Testament Context and Jerusalem Council
15:03 • 2min
Love as the Basis for Ethical Conduct
16:58 • 9min
The Creed: One God and One Lord
26:19 • 8min
Ad break
34:05 • 4min
Who Are the Weak and Their Consciences
38:06 • 3min
Food Is Indifferent but Not Always Appropriate
41:21 • 2min
Stumbling Block Principle Explained
43:11 • 3min
Consequences: Spiritual Harm to the Weak
45:59 • 7min
Sinning Against Brothers Is Sin Against Christ
53:03 • 47sec
Paul's Resolution: Sacrificial Love and Self-Restraint
53:50 • 2min
Pastoral Solution: Teach and Build Up the Weak
55:45 • 2min
Outro
57:37 • 4sec
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Episode Synopsis:
The church in Corinth was plagued by factions. One source of division was ethnicity–the church was made up of Jews, Greeks, Romans, and likely a number of other nationalities. Then there were the factions formed by church members who identified with Paul, Peter, or Apollos, as their favorite teachers. There were also deep cultural divisions between the wealthy and the poor who found it difficult to socialize with one another even within the body of Christ. But in this section of Paul’s Corinthian letter (chapter 8), we encounter yet another kind of division–that between the strong and the weak.
The strong were those who understood that if God created all things, then the idols invented by pagans were nothing but lifeless statues, with assorted trinkets and amulets, and pointless ceremonies and useless sacrifices. There is no occult reality behind these images and the temples which housed them. Therefore, why should Christians not be free to eat the leftover meat and food which the pagans sacrificed to their imaginary gods. The weak, on the other hand, were those who had trouble understanding how any Christian could eat food that had come remotely near a pagan feast or temple–seeing such food as possessing an occult reality.
Paul warns the strong (who are correct about the falsity of pagan religion) not to attempt to coerce the weak to violate their consciences, as that might destroy the faith of those (the weak) who have not yet advanced in their knowledge of the Christian faith sufficiently to leave such concerns behind. Until the weak Corinthian Christians gain sufficient knowledge to dismiss paganism as the mere superstition which it is, Paul challenges the strong to put the weak first and give up the freedom to eat all foods. In light of the harm the strong can bring upon those weak in faith, Paul tells the strong that just because they are free to eat all things, doesn’t mean that they should. This is not about food but about the circumstances in which it is eaten.
For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/