Knowledge and love

“Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” 1 Corinthians 8:1
Knowledge and intelligence are not bad things. God has given each of us a measure of knowledge, some people have more than others. Some people have a phenomenal ability to remember all kinds of things, others are able to quickly and logically piece information together. But like all things, knowledge can be used in the wrong way: when it causes us to become puffed up with pride.
In the Corinthian society, there were idols on every street corner. In those days, most of the animals killed for meat were offered as a sacrifice to some idol. Now there were some in the church at Corinth who (correctly) argued that an idol is nothing, so the fact that this animal had been sacrificed to an idol did not impart any spiritual thing to it – it is simply food that goes into the body and passes out again. But there were other believers who had a hang-up about it. They may have been more involved with this form of idol worship, and eating the meat panged them with guilt – they saw it as a form of idolatry, while they wanted to serve God alone.
Paul teaches an important lesson here. Knowledge is good, but we need to act in love. That means respecting the weaker brother – the one with the hang-up. We are not to try and convince them that their hang-up is wrong, even if Biblically it is unnecessary. For example, if someone in your church is offended because you play secular music in your house, then don’t play it when they come to visit. If someone in your church is offended by your clothing or jewellery, then don’t wear it in their presence. We are to act in love, which builds others up, rather than wounding their consciences.