Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 8:12
But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
12. ye sin against Christ ] Cf. St Mat 25:40; Mat 25:45. For the reason of this compare St John 17 throughout, as also such passages as Rom 12:5; Eph 1:23; Eph 3:17; Eph 4:15-16; Col 2:19; and ch. 1Co 10:17, 1Co 12:17 of this Epistle, where the indwelling of Christ in the individual believer is taught.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But when ye sin so against the brethren – This is designed further to show the evil of causing others to sin; and hence, the evil which might arise from partaking of the meat offered to idols. The word sin here is to be taken in the sense of injuring, offending, leading into sin. You violate the law which requires you to love your brethren, and to seek their welfare, and thus you sin against them. Sin is properly against God; but there may be a course of injury pursued against people, or doing them injustice or wrong, and this is sin against them. Christians are bound to do right toward all.
And wound their weak conscience – The word wound here ( tuptontes, smiting, beating) is taken in the sense of injure. Their consciences are ill-informed. They have not the knowledge which you have. And by your conduct they are led further into error, and believe that the idol is something, and is to be honored. They are thus led into sin, and their conscience is more and more perverted, and oppressed more and more with a sense of guilt.
Ye sin against Christ – Because:
(1) Christ has commanded you to love them, and seek their good, and not to lead them into sin, and,
(2) Because they are so intimately united to Christ (see the notes at Joh 15:1 ff) that to offend them is to offend him; to injure the members is to injure the head; to destroy their souls is to pain his heart and to injure his cause; see the note at Mat 10:40; compare Luk 10:16.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. But when ye sin so against the brethren] Against Christians, who are called by the Gospel to abhor and detest all such abominations.
Ye sin against Christ.] By sending to perdition, through your bad example, a soul for whom he shed his blood; and so far defeating the gracious intentions of his sacrificial death. This is a farther intimation, that a person for whom Christ died may perish; and this is the drift of the apostle’s argument.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But when ye sin so against the brethren: sin is properly against God, for it is a breach of the Divine law; but the violations of that part of the Divine law which concerneth our duty to our neighbour, are called sins against our brethren, that is, sins against God in matters which concern our duty towards our brethren.
And wound their weak conscience; the giving the weak judgments of others, by your examples, an occasion of sin, by venturing upon actions which they think sinful, is that which is here called a beating, or a wounding, their weak consciences, because it is indeed a hurting and defiling of them.
Ye sin against Christ; this the apostle determineth to be a sinning against Christ; both against the law of Christ, concerning loving one another, and against the love of Christ, who, in dying for the weakest believers, hath showed the highest degree of love imaginable to them; whom they are far from following, who will not abate themselves a small matter of liberty, where the use of it this or that way may very probably be an occasion of sin and ruin to their brethrens souls.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. wound their weakconscienceliterally, “smite their conscience,being (as yet) in a weak state.” It aggravates thecruelty of the act that it is committed on the weak, just as if onewere to strike an invalid.
against Christonaccount of the sympathy between Christ and His members (Mat 25:40;Act 9:4; Act 9:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But when ye sin so against the brethren,…. Through sitting at meat in an idol’s temple, and thereby violating the new commandment of love; by which saints are obliged to love one another as brethren, and take care to do nothing that may hurt and prejudice one another’s peace and comfort, it being an incumbent duty upon them by love to serve one another: and
wound their weak conscience: as before observed: it is contrary to the law of love to wound a brother; it is an aggravation of the sin to wound a weak one; what greater cruelty than to strike or beat, as the word here used signifies, a sick and infirm man? and greater still to strike and wound his conscience than any part of his body; for a wounded spirit is insupportable without divine aid and influence; and what serves most to enhance the crime and guilt is,
ye sin against Christ, who has so loved this weak brother as to die for him; and between whom there is so close an union, as between head and members; and from whence such a sympathy arises, that what is done to or against such a person, Christ takes as done to himself. The Syriac version emphatically adds, , “himself”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Wounding their conscience ( ). Old verb , to smite with fist, staff, whip. The conscience is sensitive to a blow like that, a slap in the face.
Ye sin against Christ ( ). That fact they were overlooking. Jesus had said to Saul that he was persecuting him when he persecuted his disciples (Ac 9:5). One may wonder if Paul knew the words of Jesus in Mt 25:40, “ye did it unto me.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) But when ye sin so against the brethren. To sin against a weak brother is said to be a sin against Jesus Christ, or to live so that weak brethren may be led to do wrong is to sin against Jesus. Gal 5:24-26.
2) And wound their weak conscience. (kai tuptontes auton ten suneidesin asthenouson) And wounding the conscience of the weak ones – A child of God may wound or injure the conscience of a weaker brother through using bad judgement or speech or conduct of personal influence. Mat 5:15-16; Jas 4:17.
3) Ye sin against Christ. (Gk. eis christon amartanete) Ye sin against Christ. Joh 15:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. When ye sin so against the brethren, etc. For if the soul of every one that is weak is the price of Christ’s blood, that man who, for the sake of a very small portion of meat, hurries back again to death the brother who has been redeemed by Christ, shows how contemptible the blood of Christ is in his view. Hence contempt of this kind is an open insult to Christ. In what way a weak conscience may be wounded has been already explained — when it is built up in what is evil (1Co 8:10) so as daringly and rashly to rush on farther than the individual thinks to be lawful for him.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Appleburys Comments
Text
1Co. 8:12-13. And thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ. 13 Wherefore, if meat causeth my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh for evermore, that I cause not my brother to stumble.
The Limitation of Christian Liberty (13)
Commentary
Wherefore.The apostle is ready for the conclusion of this part of his argument about meats sacrificed to idols. Christian love may cause one to give up a right for the sake of a brother in Christ. We may have a perfect right to do a thing, but if in doing so we wound another our right must be given up. This principle will solve many problems about what is right or wrong for the Christian.
if meat causeth my brother to stumble.Paul states a condition that is real. He does not say If some one should be found at some future time, making the condition general. He is saying what he would do when he faced the real problem. He has indicated all along that it was not wrong in itself to eat the meat that had been sacrificed to an idol. The whole problem had to do with causing a brother for whom Christ died to stumble. That he would never do.
I will eat no flesh forever.This did not bind Paul to become a vegetarian. It was only in the case of offending a brother. There is no particular point in his using flesh instead of food except that it is specific, referring to the flesh of the animal that had been sacrificed.
that I cause not my brother to stumble.This is the real reason for the course he had chosen and which he had recommended to the church. Do we really think of others as brothers in the family of God? Are we really concerned lest they stumble? Jesus died for them; Paul was unwilling to cause them to stumble and perish.
Summary
The eighth chapter which begins with the discussion of Things sacrificed to idols raises the question of the limitation of Christian liberty. This topic continues through chapter ten.
Meats used in idol worship were not only eaten in the feasts connected with idol worship, but were commonly sold in the markets. Thus the Christian was confronted with a serious problem: Was he participating in idol worship by using such food?
Paul says, We know that we all have knowledge. It is possible that this was an opinion of the Corinthians. More probably, it was Pauls estimate of the situation in general. All know certain things about idolatry: there is really no such thing as a god represented by an idol.
If, however, one assumes that this is complete knowledge, he is reminded that such knowledge only puffs up while love for God expressed in proper consideration for those who are not fully informed about idolatry builds up the church. The particular knowledge that God created all things and that we are to serve Him through Christ is not shared by some. The custom of eating at idol feasts caused some to believe that they were worshiping the idol. The conscience was defiled because it was weak. A strong conscience would have forbidden such eating by one who believed it to be idolatry.
While Paul recognized that eating such food in reality neither commended nor condemned one, nevertheless, it was wrong to set an example that would lead a brother to do this who supposed that he was actually worshiping the idol. The one whose conscience isnt strong enough to keep him from doing what he believes to be wrong is destroyed by your knowledge. He is the brother for whom Christ died. Thus sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
Relationship to Christ is the controlling principle that limits ones liberty. Therefore Paul says, If food is causing my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh forever.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(12) When ye sin so.When you sin in this wayand he explains further what the sin is: Striking a blow upon their weak consciencesyou sin against Christ. You wound a member of that body which is His. (See Mat. 25:40.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Sin against Christ By destroying the fruit of his death. This was a new argument in the world, drawn from a new source, and in behalf of a new virtue, namely, tenderness for the souls of men.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 8:12 . ] When ye sin against the brethren in this way , as described in 1Co 8:10-11 .
] and especially .
] in substance the same thing as in 1Co 8:7 , only expressed by a different metaphor, which makes the cruelty of the procedure more apparent. What befits a weak conscience is forbearance , not that it should morally receive blows , should be smitten through offence done to it as with a wounding weapon (Hom. Il. xix. 125; Herod, iii. 64; Xen. Cyr. v. 4. 5; Pro 26:22 ), so that now, instead of being but a weak , it becomes a bad conscience.
] put first because correlative to the which follows; in the latter is finally concentrated the whole heinousness of the offence.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
Ver. 12. And wound their weak consciences ] Gr. , beat upon it to make it sound heavily, as a shaulm (shawm). a Sin is as a stroke upon the heart,2Sa 24:102Sa 24:10 .
Ye sin against Christ ] Who holds himself highly concerned in the misusages of his servants. It is an idle misprision to sever the sense of an injury done to any of the members, from the head. Joab had slain Abner and Amasa. David appropriates it; “Thou knowest” (saith he to Solomon) “what Joab did to me.” The arraignment of mean malefactors runs in the style of wrong to the king’s crown and dignity. So here.
a A mediaeval musical instrument of the oboe class, having a double reed enclosed in a globular mouthpiece. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12. ] , viz. as in 1Co 8:10-11 . fixes and explains what is meant by . . .
] smiting: ; Chrys. p. 176
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 8:12 . In such case, not only the weak brother sins by yielding, but the strong who tempted him; and the latter sins directly “against Christ” (for the construction, cf. 1Co 6:18 ): “But sinning in this way against the brethren, and inflicting a blow on their conscience while it is weak, you sin against Christ”. , not “their weak conscience” ( .), but “their conscience weak as it is”: how base to strike the weak! describes as the violent wrong of the injurer, what is a . and (1Co 8:7 ; 1Co 8:9 ) in its effect upon the injured. A blow on the conscience shocks and deranges it. For the bearing of such an act on Christ , see Mat 18:6 ff; Mat 25:40 ; Mat 25:45 ; also Zec 2:8 , etc. The principle of union with Christ, which forbids sin against oneself (1Co 6:15 ), forbids sin against one’s brother.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
sin. App-128.
against. App-104.
wound = strike.
their, &c. = their conscience since it is weak.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12.] , viz. as in 1Co 8:10-11. fixes and explains what is meant by . . .
] smiting: ; Chrys. p. 176
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 8:12. , striking) [Engl. V. not so well, wounding], as the weary cattle are urged on by the lash. Striking is elegantly used, not wounding, for a wound is seen, a stroke is not so discernible. You strike brethren, or make them strike themselves.- , against Christ) to whom the brethren are united. The expression, against Christ, in the latter clause bears the chief emphasis; when ye sin, in the former.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 8:12
1Co 8:12
And thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ.-To sin against the weakest of the brethren in Christ, and wound the weakest conscience by drawing it into sin, is to sin against Christ, for he said: Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me. (Mat 25:40). Jesus here personifies himself in the poorest of his brethren in want, so that what is done to them is done to him. Here Paul tells us that he who causes that brother to stumble sins against Christ.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
sin
Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
when: Gen 20:9, Gen 42:22, Exo 32:21, 1Sa 2:25, 1Sa 19:4, 1Sa 19:5, 1Sa 24:11, Mat 18:21
ye sin against: 1Co 12:12, Exo 16:8, Mat 12:49, Mat 12:50, Mat 18:10, Mat 18:11, Mat 25:40, Mat 25:45, Act 9:4, Act 9:5
Reciprocal: Num 32:15 – ye shall Mat 18:15 – if Luk 15:21 – against Luk 17:2 – one Rom 14:15 – thy brother 1Co 8:9 – weak Gal 2:18 – General Heb 10:24 – consider
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 8:12. Anything that is done toward the disciples of Christ, whether good or bad, is counted as being done unto Him. (See Mat 25:40 Mat 25:45.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 8:12. And (not only so, but) thus sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christwho is wounded in their wounds.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The apostle goes on to show, that such an use of our Christian liberty as doth embolden and encourage others to do that which is evil, is both an act of uncharitableness towards our brother, and also an act of sin against our Lord Jesus Christ, in betraying a soul to ruin as much as in us lieth, and hindering his salvation, for the saving of whom Christ died; wounding the members of his body, defeating the great end of his death, and destroying them whom he designed to save.
Learn, 1. That Christ, in dying for the weakest believers, hath shown the highest degree of love imaginable unto them.
Learn, 2. That such as will not abate or abridge themselves of their Christian liberty, when the use of it may probably be an occasion of sin, and the ruin of their brethren’s souls, do at once wound their weak brethren, and sin against Christ.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 12, 13. But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. 13. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
Every violence done to a brother’s conscience, even though he should not thereby be drawn into a deed of unfaithfulness, is a sin committed against Christ, whose work so painfully accomplished we compromise. Here again there is a marked force in every term: , strictly speaking, to strike; , conscience, the most sacred of things; , weak, tottering with weakness, and consequently claiming the greatest regard; , against Christ, the highest of crimes.
Vv. 13. This thought of 1Co 8:12 tells so vividly on the apostle’s heart, that it inspires him with a sort of vow whereby he is ready to devote his whole life. The , wherefore, sums up all the grounds previously indicated, in particular that of 1Co 8:12 : against Christ.
Instead of, a [kind of] meat, we ought logically to read, this [kind of] meat, or a [kind of] flesh. But the apostle generalizes the idea; though in the second part of the verse, by the use of the expression: flesh, he returns to the particular case. He employs the first person, because the sacrifice in question is one which a man may impose on himself, but which he has no right to impose on others. He would rather abstain from flesh all his life than by using it cause one of his brethren to fall even once.
Holsten well sums up the idea of the chapter thus: The strong sought the solution of the question from the standpoint of knowledge and its rights; the apostle finds it from the standpoint of love and its obligations.
The last words of this chapter evidently form the transition to the following passage, in which Paul continues to present to the Corinthians his own example, by reminding them of the great and constant voluntary sacrifice with which he accompanies the exercise of his apostleship. As Calvin observes to perfection (and such is the real transition from chap. 8 to chap. 9): Quia in futurum pollicendo non omnibus fecisset fidem, quid jam fecerit, allegat. To the contingent sacrifice of 1Co 8:13 he adds, as a still more convincing example, the sacrifice which he has already made, and which he renews daily, his renunciation of all recompense from the Churches founded by him.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
And thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ. [who suffers with the very least of his servants (Mat 18:6; Mat 25:40; Mat 25:45). Corinth was full of temples, and sacrifices were daily and abundant. Part of the meat of these sacrifices went to the priests, part was burnt on the altar, and part was returned to the worshiper. The priests’ and the worshiper’s parts were frequently sold to the butchers, who in turn vended the same in the public markets. Such sacrificial meat was so plentiful, and was so indistinguishably mingled with other meats, that a Christian could hardly avoid using it unless he refrained from meat altogether. He could not attend any of the public banquets, nor dine with his pagan friends or relatives, without being almost sure to eat such meat. The Jews illustrated the difficulty, for wherever they lived they required a butcher of their own who certified the meat which he sold by affixing to it a leaden seal, on which was engraved the word kashar–“lawful.” Under such circumstances the strong-minded made bold to eat such sacrificial meat, contending that the idol, being a nonentity, could in no way contaminate it. But there were others having less knowledge, and weaker consciences, who could not shake off the power of old habits, thoughts and associations, and who therefore could not free themselves from their former reverence for the idol, but looked upon it as really representing something–a false something, but still a reality. To such the sacrificial meat was part of a real sacrifice, and was contaminating. In answering, therefore, Paul states the correctness of the position that the idol, being nothing, does not contaminate meat sacrificed to it, and urges that the Christian’s knowledge of God and relationship to him preclude all thought of reality in idols. But, nevertheless, because it is a cruel sin against Christ to wound those already weak in conscience, he pleads that the strong use forbearance, not privilege; love, not knowledge, lest they make the death of Christ of none effect as to such weaklings. The principle may be applied to many modern amusements and indulgences which the strong regard as harmless, but which they should rejoice to sacrifice rather than endanger weaker lives.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
12. You thus sinning against the brethren, and wounding their weak conscience, sin against Christ.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
8:12 {8} But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
(8) Another amplification: such offending of our weak brethren, results in the offending of Christ, and therefore do not let these men think that they have to deal only with their brethren.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
We are not free to damage another person’s relationship with God. We sin against God and that person when we put an occasion for stumbling before him or her. This is the very opposite of what God has called us to do, namely, love God and other people (cf. Mat 22:37-39). The ultimate wrong of the person who lives only by his knowledge is not just that he lacks true knowledge or that he causes a brother to stumble. It is that he sins against Christ.