From Knowledge to Charity
September 12, 2024 - Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
1 Cor 8:1B-7, 11-13
Imagine yourself living in a Buddhist country where people offer large amounts of different food items in the Buddhist temples. However, the temples cannot process all those foods. You are running a Christian orphanage and are short of food items. The Buddhist monks are willing to donate a portion of the food they received to your orphanage to help your children. Would you accept this offer or not? What would you do in such a situation?
The Corinthian Christians lived in a pagan environment where temples dedicated to different gods were all over the city. The pagans offered different sacrifices to those gods, including a large quantity of food. Some of that food was used during the sacrificial banquets, some was sold in local markets, and still others were given to certain individuals of good standing who could use it during their family parties. The question that the Corinthians put forward to Paul was: should a Christian eat such food that was offered to gods as a sacrifice?
In principle, Paul agreed with the first group. There are no idols, no gods, besides our God. Moreover, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking (see Rom 14:17). Food neither brings us closer to nor separates us from God. However, Paul's answer indicates that within the community, there were two groups. The first had no problem with eating such food, while the other was bothered by it and considered it a form of idolatry. Paul understood the qualm of conscience of the second group; they wanted to avoid any traits of idolatry in their spiritual life.
These two groups form one community, but the issue of eating food sacrificed to idols threatens its unity. Thus, Paul addresses the first group — those who have the right knowledge — and reprimands them for not taking into consideration the view of their brothers and sisters. Within this context, we encounter the sentence that is so true until now: "Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up" (1 Cor. 8:1). The Greek word for knowledge is "gnosis," and "gnosticism," which claimed to have a mysterious knowledge of God, was one of the first heresies that appeared in the early Church. Paul reminds us that without love, all talents and gifts can become detrimental in our Christian life. "If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor. 13:2).
It seems that those who possessed knowledge looked down on those "weak" members of the community who mistakenly thought that eating food sacrificed to idols was a form of idolatry. But such an attitude shows a lack of charity. Among the seven deadly sins, pride takes the first place. Those knowledgeable brothers and sisters should put aside their knowledge if it would create tension within the community and negatively affect others. Paul goes as far as saying: "if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to sin" (1 Cor. 8:13). That is an example of charity that those who possessed knowledge lacked.
"Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up" (1 Cor. 8:1). Christianity has never been a mystery religion, a gnosis for a selected few. Christianity is a religion of love—agape. At the heart of our proclamation is Christ's sacrificial love for all of us, and every Christian is called to emulate that love in their life. Saint John expressed it in this way: whoever claims to be in Christ should live in the same way as Christ did (see 1 John 2:4). Jesus does not demand from us a doctorate in theology but a life marked by selfless love and becoming brothers and sisters to all.