Monday 13 March 2023
- Bible Book:
- 1 Corinthians
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him. (v. 2)
Background
"Better be ignorant of a matter than half know it," wrote Publilius, an Aramean, in the 1st century BC. We might know it better written in this way by Alexander Pope “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” It is still true in many areas of modern life.
Paul writing a century after Publilius would have been aware of the proverb. Paul contrasts knowledge with love in verses 1-3. While knowledge seems to build up the individual, love is what builds up community and relationship with God.
Paul writes at a time when Gnosticism (from the Greek work gnosis meaning knowledge) was spreading. An example is Simon Magus, who offers money to the disciples for knowledge in Acts 8:18. When Paul was writing, Gnosticism hadn’t quite reached the developed structure of later years. Eventually it developed into a whole system where literally ‘those in the know’ or who held the knowledge were better than individuals who knew little.
In this chapter, the challenge is about eating food that had previously been offered to idols. For as in many towns, Corinth had lots of temples, and the food offered in ceremonies was afterwards eaten.
Some converts were confident in the knowledge that, as there was only one God, the father of Jesus Christ, it didn’t matter if they ate the food ‘offered’, because it could not be tainted. Less confident converts were troubled because this was what they had always done, and they couldn’t separate it from the past.
Paul confronts both parties and shows that eating or not eating the food does not benefit the believer. Food is not the issue here. Rather the issue is how Christians use their freedom to live as children of God. They haven’t missed out on anything in their relationship with God in Christ in whatever way they choose to live with their newfound knowledge, if it is lived in the light of love. For love, as always, is more important than knowledge.
To Ponder:
- Where have you seen love to be more important than knowledge?
- How can you help others to live with the freedom that Christ brings?
Prayer
Gracious God, help me not to be superior in my knowledge that I miss the opportunity to show your love.