~ LISTENING CENTER ~

Date: January 28, 2018 Title: The Weaker Brother Passage: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 Speaker: Bob Corbin Sermon Note Sheet (PDF) Download Audio

Paul's first epistle (letter) to the church of Corinth was written in order to assist them in dealing with various issues with which they were struggling. Living in a hedonistic, licentious society can have an affect upon the "set-apartness" of the individual believer and gathering of believers. Paul continues to deal with the balance of Christian liberty in this next section of his epistle with a consideration of "meat offered unto idols" and by contrasting the dynamics knowledge and love. As we consider the dynamic of "knowledge," we need to consider a larger issue that Paul has been addressing throughout the epistle. In the days of the early church, there was a prevalent Greek philosophy called Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a philosophy of dualism - that there was a clear separation between the physical and the spiritual. That which was physical was evil. That which was spiritual was good. The spirit side of man required special, or exclusive, knowledge that would awaken the individual to a spiritual liberation. Those with this special knowledge received direct revelation from the Spirit which then had greater significance than God's recorded word. Hence, only those with this special knowledge were truly saved. All others were ignorant (a-gnostic ... without knowledge). We see Paul dealing with this in chapters 12-14.