Bible Popcorn: hymns and poems about 1Cor. 8, the order of utmost knowledge

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1st Corinthians 8
Truth We Seek of Thee Who Sought Us
melody

Truth we seek of Thee who sought us,
Thou the one true God of all,
Is the Bread of Life who bought us,
And sustains us toward His call.
All designs of Thy creation
Come to be by Thy Right Hand,
Who transforms our mind and fashions
Golden wheat of heav'nly stand.

May we be in truth found humble,
Prideful not in what we're shown,
Causing not the sheep to stumble,
Where their conscience would not go.
Let Thy knowledge be our vision
Of our union, laying bare
Works of love for Thy commission:
To now seek Thy Body's care.

Words: ©2015 by Stephen Popovich
Music: Beecher 1870 John Zundel

1st Corinthians 8

The Order of Utmost Knowledge

Summary:
There is much knowledge of God revealed to us in the scriptures, but until we grasp God's utmost knowledge revealed there we really haven't taken in as much as we think.

Beginner Knowledge

Knowledge and pride
(1)Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.

Is the Bread of Life who bought us,
And sustains us toward His call

It came as eye opening news to the Corinthians when Paul revealed to them the one true God. Many of the Corinthian church flaunted this new knowledge by eating things offered to idols. They did not know that by their actions they were causing some to stumble in their faith. They had not yet arrived at a higher knowledge.

Partial knowledge
(2)If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know.

May we be in truth found humble
Prideful not in what we're shown

Paul received more special knowledge about God than perhaps any man in history, but God did not allow Paul become proud (2Cor.12:2-4). God saw to it that Paul remained humble as he poured himself out in service to the body of Christ. By contrast, the boasting of the Corinthians was merely placing their lack of higher knowledge on full display.

A glimpse of utmost knowledge
(3)but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

We keep our knowledge on track by remembering two things:

1) The highest knowledge leads us to a love for God which manifests itself on this earth by loving those that are born of Him...the Church (1Jn4:11).

2) We can know God because he first knew us; otherwise we would be limited to stumbling the darkness of the damned (Matt.7:23, Gal.4:9).

Truth we seek of Thee who sought us,

Beginner knowledge
(4)Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.

Thou, the one true God of all,

The Corinthian's belief in many gods had been supplanted by the one God of the gospel. Idols are just props used by demons to ensnare souls.

Higher Knowledge

Higher Knowledge
(5)For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, (6)yet for us there is {but} one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we {exist} for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we {exist} through Him.

Yes, the Corinthians now knew that there is only one true God, but that was just the beginning of knowledge. Even though all other gods do not really exist, there is no shortage of rulers, seen and unseen, who are commanding our attention and devotion where they can.

In this short verse, Paul reveals some higher knowledge about God--yet utmost knowledge is higher still.

1) All things are from the Father... All things emanate from the Father as a building germinates from the architect. Jesus was sent into this world by the Father to accomplish the work that the Father had given Him to do (Jn 8:42). The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and comes to us through Jesus (Acts2:33).

All designs of Thy creation

2) …and we exist for him. It pleases the Father that all things should be for Jesus. We exist for Jesus as the branches exist for the vine and the living stones exist to be placed around the cornerstone of a building. But we ultimately exist for the Father; it is the Father’s house just as it is the Father's vineyard (Jn.15:1-2,8).

Golden wheat of heav'nly stand

3) And one Lord, Jesus Christ by whom are all things. Jesus not only created all things, he continues to hold them together . By Jesus "are all things" (Col.1:16-19)! Jesus is the master builder perfectly executing the blueprint of the Father. He is the creating hands of the Father’s plan. And by these hands He builds his Father a dwelling place (Heb.3:6).

Come to be by They Right Hand

4) and we exist through Him. We exist for the Father as fruit that satisfies Him, but only because we exist in Jesus the Vine. We satisfy the Father as grain of his field but only because we abide in the One who died as a lone grain of wheat buried in the ground, but then sprung up to bear the fruit of the Church (Jn.12:24).

That transforms our mind and fashions

Conscience

A little knowledge can be a stumbling block to others
(7)However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat {food} as if it were sacrificed to an idol...

Perhaps some Corinthian's thought themselves to be beacons of truth as they ate food sacrificed to idols. If so, they were not guiding others to knowledge but grounding others upon the shoals of a guilty conscience---harming those who had not yet assimilated this knowledge.

How the conscience Works
(7)...and their conscience being weak is defiled.

Where their conscience would not go

Once upon a time in a garden, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God as they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That knowledge forms the basis of our conscience that has since been begotten to all mankind.

The conscience is like a smoke alarm that goes off whenever the homeowner thinks, says or does something he would not like if the tables were turned (Rom.14:14).

Like smoke damage inside a house, the alarm alerts us to the defilement that is occurring as the alarm is sounding (Isa.1:18). Nobody but God can see this smoke damage on the soul, but the home owner senses it and feels unclean under his guilt (Rom.2:14-15).

There are laws of God we are born with and laws that God has added through Israel in the Old Testament.

1)Laws we are born with that confirm a Creator and our guilt before Him (Rom.2:1-3).

2)Added laws:

a) To reinforce the laws of our conscience (Ex. 20:13,15,16).

b) To expand our conscience with laws we wouldn't otherwise be aware of (Ex.20:3).

c) Old Testament ceremonial laws were added so the Israelites might stay separate from the surrounding heathen nations until the Messiah came (Lev.11). These ceremonial laws were abolished when Jesus ushered in the New Covenant. But the conscience of many Jews, steeped in these laws, did not fully embrace the New Covenant as readily as did Peter (Acts 11:6-9). Gentile Christians were therefore instructed by the apostles to follow dietary laws when they were in the company of Jews to protect them from being tempted to eat something that would violate a weak conscience (Acts 15:20).

A Christian is to consider his conscience as the ultimate sin indicator of his walk (2Cor.1:12). The old saying, ‘Let your conscience be you guide”, is very true as it establishes Godly guardrails for our daily walk (Acts 24:16).

As for an unbeliever, his conscience can lose its sensitivity when repeatedly violated (1Tim.4:2). It can also be clogged with the soot of the mind and not recognize good from evil (Titus 1:15).

(8)But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.

God was not impressed by the diet of the Corinthian believer as a display of knowledge. Food alone does not spiritually build us up or tear us down, but other believers can stumble from a guilty conscience their conscience has not yet been built up in truth.

Rights must yield to conscience
(9)But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

Causing not Thy sheep to stumble,

God set up dietary boundaries in the old testament times and removed them in the new covenant. He gave his people new rights to eat of all foods of the field (Acts 10:10-15). As with most rights---God given or otherwise---there are responsibilities and limitations.

Stumbling and falling are descriptions of what God sees when we sin---for example, the “fall” of Adam. The guardrail of the conscience, so indispensable for guiding our walk, becomes something we stumble over when we violate its boundaries. Paul tells the Corinthians they had a responsibility to be on the look-out for those whose consciences are slow to adapt to the new eating rights.

Leading Others to Fall
(10)For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

Even the Jews who had the basic knowledge of the one true God could not stomach the thought of eating food offered to idols. Their consciences were not easily making the transition into the New Covenant ways (Acts 15:19-29)---thinking that food connected to an idol should not become part of God’s people. God's knowledge is intended to build-up, but among some Corinthians it had the opposite effect---causing weak brothers to stumble as they followed the "stronger" brothers into a temple of idols.

Utmost Knowledge

Do not ruin those for whom Christ died
(11)For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.

Let Thy knowledge be our vision
Of our union, laying bare

The quality our knowledge is seen in its fruits. The knowledge of the Corinthians caused a weaker brother to be ruined. They were wreaking the same havoc to God’s house as were the destructive workmen of 1Cor.3:17. Utmost knowledge sees that God has paid a tremendous price to beget a spiritual family. Utmost knowledge understands that our love for God is commensurate with the care we show for the sheep of His fold.

Do not sin against Christ by causing a member of His Body to fall.
(12)And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

Works of love for Thy commission

As an unbeliever, Saul of Tarsus was very adept at sinning against Christ by sinning against His Body. These Corinthians were also sinning against Christ, but they were doing it as believers! They were unaware of this because they held insufficient knowledge, similar to Saul.

Utmost knowledge sees that believers are one with the Body of Christ. And if we walk carelessly and cause a brother to stumble it is because we fall short of the knowledge of our oneness in Christ. This is the walk of darkness that John talks about (1Jn.4:20-21). It is the walk of careless Christians.

Be a keeper of your brother in Christ
(13)Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble

To now seek Thy Body's care.

Utmost knowledge is so simple a child can understand it...and the loftiest theological truths pale by comparison. It is the recognition that our brother is part of the Body of Christ for whose sake Christ died. It is a knowledge that is demonstrated by showing our love for God by loving those that are begotten of Him (IJn.5:1). The Church is God's field and His building in which God delights because both the Vine and the Cornerstone are Christ.

Paul walked according to this utmost knowledge, faithfully using his gift as a master builder of God's house. Paul "knew as he ought to know".