FOR MEAT DESTROY NOT THE WORK OF GOD

We might wonder why the whole of chapter 14 is given over to the subject of Christian liberty, especially where food is concerned, if it really makes no difference whether certain foods are eaten or not. Paul states in verse 14 ‘that there is nothing unclean of itself’, so is the whole matter being blown out of all proportion? No, this is a serious issue, not because of the foods concerned, but because of the potential to deeply wound the weaker brother and even to provoke his spiritual downfall.

Behind the subject lies the principle stated in chapter 13 verse 8, ‘Owe no man any thing, but to love one another’. If I have a proper love for my brother, seeing him truly as one ‘for whom Christ died’, 14. 15, it will matter to me immensely whether or not I hurt his conscience or give him occasion to stumble. My own persuasion that what I am doing is right will be tempered by the desire to see him edified and grow stronger in the faith. The question of whether a certain food, object, practice or whatever is harmless within itself becomes secondary to the question of the spiritual wellbeing of my brother in Christ. A careless use of Christian liberty could, as in the similar passage in 1 Corinthians 8, lead to a brother becoming caught up again in the idolatrous system from which he had been delivered, and the strong believer thus causes to perish a brother for whom Christ died. ‘Perish’ in this context does not mean to be lost, but to ruin or render useless, as illustrated in Luke 5. 37, ‘And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish’. The contrast between the love of Christ to die for the man and the carelessness of the Christian who causes him to perish is self-evident.

Paul returns to this principle in verse 20. The word translated ‘destroy’ is the opposite of ‘edify’. It means to demolish and Paul uses it again, ‘For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor’, Gal. 2. 18. The work of God in the individual believer and the local assembly can be pulled down by the carelessness of those who exercise liberty at the expense of love.