1 Corinthians 8:1-13: Being Right But Oh So Wrong

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God.

So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. - 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

I have historically liked to win arguments, with the right rebuttal for any opposing view. Some of these were well thought out and some were less well thought out but designed as the one line zinger. Satisfied that I had the answers to all possible points brought in support of a view I didn't agree with. As a high school student this made me a terror. In college, I still fought on as valiantly as before but for the first time, I ran into people who (a) I liked and (b) who intelligently disagreed with me. 

It was during this period that I learned what it meant when Paul said, "Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know." I didn't know as I ought to know. Strangely, this put me on the side of the weaker brother in this passage. I was the weaker brother.

In my final year of college, I recall a particular discussion I was having with my roommate, and I could not accept what he was saying. So I pulled out each and every trick in my bag, taking us down paths that I thought were sure-fire wins for me. But they weren't working that night. We plunged on into the early hours of the morning, my tactics became more and more desperate until I realized at some point, that I didn't care any more about my room mate, just about winning. I broke down in tears and could not explain, at least not coherently, to my friend what had just happened. In asserting my "rightness" I had forgotten about my friend.

That is what Paul is trying to help the Corinthian believers guard against. Being "right" but being oh so "wrong" because winning the argument and losing the friend is losing. I have never forgotten that night and it has changed how far I'm willing to go in order to be proven right.