1 CORINTHIANS 8:11\u201313<\/b><\/p>\n
And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?<\/i><\/p>\n
(1 Cor. 8:11).<\/i><\/p>\n
The word \u201cperish\u201d in verse 11 means \u201cguilt, condemnation, and perdition.\u201d One might ask how a person \u201cfor whom Christ died\u201d could perish. Does this verse contradict other passages that teach the perseverance of the saints? As in so many places in Scripture where a Christian is warned against falling into sin, warned against the consequences of being condemned, such verses are put in the context of the grand scheme of God\u2019s design for redemption. Those He has chosen, those for whom Christ has died, will be saved. If there is a warning given, the means for salvation will be supplied. \u201cGod\u2019s purposes embrace the means as well as the end,\u201d Hodge wrote. \u201cIf the means fail, the end will fail. He secures the end by securing the means. It is just as certain that those for whom Christ died shall be saved, as that the elect shall be saved. Yet in both cases the event is spoken of as conditional. There is not only a possibility, but an absolute certainty of their perishing if they fall away. But this is precisely what God has promised to prevent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul\u2019s terminology here has a twofold purpose. It emphasizes the seriousness of causing others to stumble (it can be compared with Jesus\u2019 teaching that anyone who causes little ones to sin will perish), and it is designed to pierce the conscience of the knowledgeable believer. If Christ was willing to give up His life for those He loved, are you not willing to give up eating food sacrificed to idols? You must also consider that if you sin against a weaker brother by causing him to stumble, you sin against Christ Himself: \u201cAssuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me\u201d (Matt. 25:40).<\/p>\n
Paul concludes by saying \u201cif food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat.\u2026\u201d He did not want to cause another to sin or even to take offense: \u201cIt is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak\u201d (Rom. 14:21). Paul was not in bondage to a weaker conscience (which would be legalistic), but was bound by the law of love. He was therefore free to be conformed to the image of Christ who gave up His life for the church.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Kings 21\u201322<\/p>\n
John 5:31\u201347<\/p>\n
Paul\u2019s decision not to eat meat does not imply that you can never exercise your liberties just because there might be someone who would be offended. It does mean, however, that love for another always comes first (Gal. 5:6). Is there someone in your sphere today to whom you should act in love rather than to use your liberties?<\/p>\n
For further study: Matt. 18:6\u20139 \u2022 Mark 9:42\u201348 \u2022 Luke 17:1\u20134 \u2022 1 John 3:16<\/i><\/p>\n
friday<\/p>\n
may<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1 CORINTHIANS 8:11\u201313 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? (1 Cor. 8:11). The word \u201cperish\u201d in verse 11 means \u201cguilt, condemnation, and perdition.\u201d One might ask how a person \u201cfor whom Christ died\u201d could perish. Does this verse contradict other passages that teach the perseverance of the … Continue reading “BOUND BY LOVE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}