Meat Offered to Idols
Meat Offered to Idols is a Systematics Commentary on 1 Corinthians 8 (vs 1-13) exploring how relational knowledge leads to right conduct in situations of diverse spiritual knowledge, thought, or experience.
8 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know. 3 But anyone who loves God is known by him.
Preamble: sets criteria of argument or discourse.
3 couplets, roughly Chiastic structure:
- knowledge puffs/love builds
- thinks he knows/doesn’t know
- loves God/known by him
Knowledge puffs up seems to relate to a particular [x] Carts Before Horses error related to [7] The Seven Spirits. In this error, Knowledge is loaded into position (1) or (2) in [7] The Matrix of the system, when it should be loaded in position (6). This means the corresponding Beta, in this case Awe (lit. fear of the Lord), is a false Beta. In other words, in this case knowledge leads to false glory: a prideful person often boasts of what they know, but they do not actually have the power to make what they know do good.
Paul corrects this with thinks he knows/doesn’t know — which references a common problem in explained in Wisdom Literature. See Proverbs 12:15, 26:5 & 12. A wise person has the humility to see that knowing one thing illuminates many things one doesn’t know and so is always aware of one’s ignorance.
Love is the solution because in couplet 1 it is substantive (building capacity in self and others rather than falsely inflating one’s own) and in couplet 2 it is a relationship with God, producing the right position to decide the matter at hand — being know by God. This sets two kinds of knowledge in contrast: knowing something and knowing someone. Knowing something requires no context, no experience, and is therefore likely to lead to disintegration, arrogance, and illusory capacity.1 On the other hand, you cannot know someone without context2 and experience — you must live life-on-life with them in some way — so any knowledge would naturally be integrative, grounded, and represent real capacity. Knowledge is a key part of [7] The Seven Spirits, but it should arrive in the correct flow, resulting from relationship that is first experiential (Being, Wisdom, Understanding), second applied (Council and Might), and third integrated into identity (Knowledge and Awe).
Being know by God loads [7] The Seven Spirits correctly, since position (1) (the Prime) should be occupied by The Spirit of LORD (YHWH, “I am”; being). In other words, the preamble means we should proceed from identity: relationally knowing God who knows us better than we know ourselves.
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one. 5 For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.
Paul proceeds out of relational identity into his argument, stating that idols are nothing because of how the people of God know God, invoking there is no other God but one which is the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 — the central reality of the Kingdom of God as revealed in the Torah. In the scope of human experience and culture, there may be many so called “gods” and “lords” that are personifications and spiritual entities representing principles, experiences, artifacts, and realities.3 But to Paul and the followers of the Way, the One God is know through relational identity as Father who is the Source — from whom are all things — thus we exist for him, whose being (knowing Him) is the center of our existential purpose. Also, we have one resulting authority in our reality — Jesus Christ — through whom are all things, which clearly relates to process and thus Cycle, since the process through which things are is the process of endless continuation and renewal.4 This invokes Jesus as the creative Logos of God in John 1: “all things were made through him” (v. 3). Not only that but, “in him was life, and the life was the light of men” (v. 4), thus we live through him eternally (John 3:16, 4:14).
7 However, that knowledge isn’t in all men. But some, with consciousness of an idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat are we the worse, nor if we eat are we the better. 9 But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol’s temple, won’t his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? 11 And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.
But, Paul says that knowledge isn’t known by all — referring to all that proceeded — apparently even unknown by some “brothers in Christ”. This knowledge is not primarily ideas about idols, but actually, is the direct and relational knowledge of God. Of course, this knowledge of God bears strongly on our understanding of the reality and power of idols, but if we focus on idols and how to handle the “weak brother” in our own reason, we practice Deism, and we fail to remain in our own “knowing of God” in this or any moment. This makes the same mistake of those who become puffed up with knowledge without walking with the God who is Love (1 John 4:8) through the issues of loving people and building them up.
A person who remains systemically connected to the power of idols by considering them to be something significant in their conscience, does not fall into sin because of the absolute wrong of what they eat, as if God is offended by food. The sin is the damage this does, in their current understanding, to their relationship with Christ.
Here, one could point to [3] Tricotomy, namely that it contains two flows, not just one and is therefore dialogical. One can think of Spirit as experienced as being, Soul as knowing, and Body as doing. The “spiritual flow” then goes being, knowing, doing, in that order. However, when we think formationally, especially the formation of identity — as in a young child in the process of becoming their own individual — the flow is reversed as doing, knowing, being. In other words, as we do things, we come to knowledge, and that knowledge effects our self-understanding and understanding of others. This is in play with the brother who, based on the culture of his origin, still sees idols as something. If he follows the “strong”, doing by eating meat offered to idols, he will find himself knowing himself as an idolater and sinner, and that will surely impact his being in the Lord: how he knows God and perceives God’s knowledge of him.
Therefore, if Jesus has not yet progressed a brother in his relationship to your same point of knowledge and you by your behavior cause them to violate their conscience, you sin against Christ not paying attention to how you could know Jesus in the moment and participate with him in the building up of your brother. Better to give up anything in this world than to do that.
The importance, therefore, in issues where there is diversity of thought, knowledge, and experience is discerning the Father and Lord (Son) first. First, we must secure ourselves in knowing God and being known. Then we must desire to know others as they are coming to know God and are known by him and not based on judgements fueled by arrogant knowledge.
All scripture is World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.
Application
Using [7] The Matrix as the basis for Allegorical Application through [7] The Seven Spirits, this geometry of this passage has strong bearing on any human system facing a problem of significant diversity of knowledge, thought, and experience. A helpful framework for Context would be [7] Emergent Leadership:
Pick one of these cases in your mind:
- A church or non-profit releasing a new major mission and vision
- A business launching a new service, product, or process
- Two diverse cultural groups converging on a mutual crisis or opportunity
In many cases — especially in European-dominated Western culture — our elevation of abstraction and propositional knowledge gets the best of us and we start the process of change by a presentation explaining ideas to people, often followed by the proposed individual action step of “learn more” i.e. read this report, take this training, get this book, got to this website, buy this course, etc.. This is because we make a [X] Carts Before Horses error by thinking that knowing an idea opens a position in the world for us (a missional call, a market position, a prophetic stance). This is the knowledge that puffs up and it universally lacks the developmental, relational experience of the stakeholders and participants: love leading to knowing and being known.
Just like the weak brother, we need to discern the true position of people.5 If they haven’t had the chance to evolve to the new position trough an organic, generative process, we will inevitably introduce problems into our project and hurt into their life. Love builds up, so if we have heard from the Lord that he desires us to join Him in the work of changing people’s position, and therefore their knowledge — first of Him, themselves, and the people involved, and next the project or subject involved — then we must lead them through a relational experience towards that knowledge and not starting with it.
When this geometry isn’t present, those who have not evolved into the knowledge are hurt because we set a stumbling block in their spiritual path, they are emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols and/or their spirit/soul perishes at least in some way and to some extent. These effects can be allegorically explored through [3] The Four Soils and [3] The Four Soils for Organizations, where perishing represents the traumatized heart and the passive organization, emboldened represents the shallow heart and the imperious organization, and stumbling represents the distracted heart and insular organization.
These geometry of errors show up as the following symptoms in our different suggested cases:
| Case | Road/Low Prime | Rocky/Too Alpha | Weedy/Too Beta |
|---|---|---|---|
| perishing = traumatized hearts & passive organization | emboldened = shallow hearts & imperious organization | stumbling = distracted hearts & insular organization | |
| church / org | self-condemnation, confusion, unholy disruption, org hurt | idolatry of fads and methods, shallow action | non-action and inoculation against further change, conflict |
| business launch | loss of engagement, stakeholder alienation | over-extension, lack of capacity building | development bog, bad support, in-fighting |
| cultural groups | loss of trust, erasure, alienation, intra-group disintegration | virtue signaling, false justice, assimilation, masked superiority | elitism, canceling, institutional bloat, endless talking, factions |
In the case of both [3] The Four Soils, and [3] The Four Soils of Organizations, the ideal position is the integrative and incarnational approach of missional heart and intercessory organization, respectively. Which is exactly the posture of one who, knowing God and being know by God, builds up in love by allowing people to evolve properly on their relational experience with Jesus.
Additional Applications
This same thinking and geometry would apply when working within worldviews and paradigms like those articulated in the Emergent Value Systems, especially in cases where the worker’s primary paradigm is of high complexity than those they are working with. If we look at [7] A Value System, we will see the parallel:
Workers from high-complexity systems are often puffed up with knowledge based on their own worldview, so they see their job as moving people operating in lower complexity worldviews towards their exit revolution. This is a hazardous and arrogant idea to begin with. It will usually mean they will try to speed the Late / Decline Phase of the worldview by sharing knowledge critical of the worldview. This disrupts how people have come to know themselves, others, and God through their worldview so that they do not complete the legacy stage effectively. This prevents proper toolboxing and will lead to a gap in people’s social and psychological capacity and an idolatrous and distorted transition into a higher-complexity worldview.
A current example is mass media’s and academia’s role in pushing transition from System VS into Universe VS for young people by criticizing the System VS innovation of social media, etc. Rather than a balanced approach to the gains and losses of System VS, coverage often sensationalizes the risk and catastrophic network effects, implying the inherent failure of System VS’s project of authenticity due to complete corruption of the geek/hacker identity. Because young people’s experience and relationships are limited, their transition at media’s and academia’s insistence into Universe VS with very little legacy self-understanding (poor navigation of the branding crisis) and no meaningful toolboxing in opensource tech strategies — they are being exposed to idolatry of cybernets, technoglobalism, and (regressively) access to equity networks 6, and further risks of a hyper-virtualized world in Universe VS.
References & Notes
- It is here necessary to point out that people can be known as “somethings” when we simply know something about them but do not engage deeply with them. This is a key problem in all types of relationships, especially knowing God.
- The etymology of context is (con) with + (text) woven (as in textile), creating the picture of knowledge as a thread wound up and down around other ideas into a whole tapestry of information. When applied to relational knowledge, this is a powerful word picture.
- It is interesting at this point to consider Kabbalah, a Jewish esoteric system formalized in medieval Judaism. Kabbalah produces numerous entities that personalize aspects of God and so are criticized by some Rabbis as being polytheistic. The argument of adherents is that it is not possible for humans to know the Infinite and High God in His unity, therefore it is permissible and necessary to know God in parts. Those who follow the Biblical text closely would have to admit to a diversity of spirits, but would have to confront, both from the Old Testament and New, the idea that God cannot be known as he should and must, therefore he can be deconstructed into a esoteric or occult system. To know someone in Jesus-defined love is to know as much of them as possible all together.
- It is interesting that Paul does not follow a Trinitarian formula here. The is One God, who is the Father. Jesus is Lord. The Holy Spirit is not mentioned.
- For those who have true spiritual capacity, this should be governed by the paradigm of the Child of God who says only what they hear the Father saying and do what they see the Father doing.
- Equity networks are the system innovation of Village VS. Much political outreach and justification for recruitment of young people into progressive spaces hinges on the argument that young people will be given unrestricted (and often free) access to various kinds of equity networks: health care, reproductive care, gender transition care, education, loan forgiveness, etc.