Feb. 1 I Cor. 8
Judging others is one of those areas where we say the words but the church does not give nearly enough help in how to do it.In I Corinthians Paul is dealing with a church that seems capable of fighting about almost anything, in other words, they were a typical congregation. All of us feel being in the cross hairs of criticizing and judging. An offshoot from judging is in the word scrutinize/poke around inside/discern.The Spirit of God gives us insight into spiritual matters. With this special insight, we grasp the patterns of the world.. Earlier, I would see him saying that we scarcely understand ourselves, but claim to know God?
Paul's words on judging center on an intra-religious dispute in the new communities about eating meat that had been used in pagan rites at temples. I realize that it is hard for us to grasp the extent of the difficulty inherent in the controversy over eating some meat, but it is a hot button issue. We do have a tendency to make matters of principle out of fairly trivial matters. . Kosher food was and is an identity marker in Jewish communities, along with sabbath observance and circumcision. In our time, people make ethical statements as vegans, or in slow foods, or in locally grown foods, foods organically produced, or food without chemical additives, on not eating veal or animals raised in confinement. This was a trigger/valence issue since it deals directly with the issue of boundary, who is in and who is out. As the Jewish/Christian sect started to draw more Gentiles, this issue became contentious. People did not want to give tacit approval or credence to pagan worship by consuming meat offered in their rituals/rites. To what degree would this community, rooted in Judaism, relax its boundaries with the influx of Gentile believers? After all, we consistently raise up matters of personal preference and raise them to the matter of principle. Think of the seemingly trivial reasons people decide to leave their congregation or their broader denomination.
Paul begins by stipulating that some of the arguments are indeed correct. Yes, God is one. Yes, we pay no heed to idols. Paul knows full well the weight of biblical tradition against honoring an idol. Paul makes his concern the formation and maintenance of Christian community. Paul is looking for ties of cohesion instead of the splintering nature of dissent. Unlike our time, he is less concerned with exit strategies and protest resignations and spinning off new groups. All Christians have knowledge, not just the in-group. A sense of superior knowledge causes arrogance, but love upbuilds. Yet, they live in a culture filled with idols and the gods whom they represent. What's the problem, they know better than to ascribe importance to mere idols. Let the weak ones get built up. No, love builds up, not puffs up, no matter who we are.. So, should love take on a mantle of being supercilious toward those with whom we disagree? Can we look down on anyone when we are gazing through the eyes of love? Love extended to the weak ones should be the norm. For Americans, to say that it's my right tends to stop any discussion. Does failing to assert a right make one too passive? At 8:11-13, look at how Paul uses family language to get at basic equality and respect. As Bruce Springsteen sings, "we take care of our own." Paul goes to the point of saying that he would forgo meat, period, if it caused one person to stumble. At this point, he is becoming an example of foregoing his personal liberty and knowledge to accommodate the perceived needs of others in the community who are more easily swayed and "scandalized" than is he.
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