NOTES for Co1 8:1

A significant part of Holy Scripture, especially the Old Testament, is devoted to what "ought to be done." How one ought to act, how one ought to build life and relationships with God and people, what is required, what is permitted, and what is harmful for a person. Yet this is connected with a serious problem that stands at the center of the New Testament: we are too fond of turning these ideas about what "ought to be done" into knowledge that looks like science, and then using it to judge others. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks of this more than once, and the apostle Paul speaks of it as well in First Corinthians. With the aphoristic style often characteristic of him, he writes: "...knowledge puffs up, but love builds up". The verbs in the Greek text are noticeably more vivid than in our Synodal translation: "...knowledge inflates, but love builds".

Indeed, knowledge of the commandments of Scripture as a religious system can turn you into an arrogant, inflated type of person whose only concern is to lecture others and point out their mistakes. Building up the Church, one of the key concepts in the apostle Paul's theology, requires more than simply knowing what "ought to be done"; it requires love. Behind these words lies a very important and profound understanding of the Church as the Body of Christ. More broadly, the meaningfulness of relationships among us, the justification of our existence, and life itself can be built only by us, and only through love. Righteousness, that is, conformity to what "ought to be done," is far from sufficient for this.

Speaking about food offered to idols, Paul remains faithful to the revelation he received and to his experience of the Kingdom. He states plainly that for its inhabitants idols and pagan gods are nothing and may simply be ignored (v. 4). The apostle does not even attempt to examine the subtleties of foreign beliefs; he merely reminds us that in heaven and on earth there are many beings considered gods and rulers ("lords", v. 5), although anyone who has received revelation must know that there is only one true God (v. 6). Such an approach is possible only when a person's relationship with the Creator is no longer defined by any religion, as happens to everyone who lives in the Kingdom: religion is no longer needed there, because people commune with God directly.

Yet this knowledge can be either true or imaginary. It is not by chance that Paul contrasts knowledge, which puffs up, with love, which builds up (v. 1), adding that genuine knowledge is given only to those who love God (vv. 2-3).

The issue here is the difference between spiritual freedom, so familiar and intelligible to the inhabitants of the Kingdom, and religious indifference, widespread both in Paul's day and in ours. Outwardly, both groups treated with equal unconcern the fact that all provisions bought in city markets had been offered to idols: markets were usually under the patronage of one pagan god or another, and everything sold there was formally regarded as dedicated to that deity. But their reasons were exactly opposite. For inhabitants of the Kingdom, permeated by the breath of God, everything connected with pagan gods was no more real than a mirage in the desert. The religiously indifferent simply did not care which gods the food on the market was dedicated to, or whether it was dedicated at all. This deceptive outward similarity could sometimes confuse religious people, who cared very much to whom the food placed on their table had been dedicated.

A person spends a large part of his life trying to acquire certain knowledge - formally beginning at age 7, though in fact much earlier, and at least until age 23, and often longer, he studies, studies, studies. For what? Ask any first grader why he goes to school, and he will answer, "To get knowledge." Knowledge, information, is the second most important capital in our civilization after money. And it should be noted that from this point of view the 21st century is no different from the 1st. The apostle Paul himself, as we know, was a very learned man. And suddenly, quite unexpectedly, we hear from him: "If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he does not yet know as he ought to know." What is this? How can it be? Does this mean that we spend most of our life acquiring knowledge, and it turns out that we know nothing?! And how ought one to know?

In fact, Paul's thought is very simple. Our dry, intellectual knowledge, memorized and learned by rote, on which we spend so much effort, is a treasure we acquire on earth, not in heaven. Before the face of God it is nothing; it will not bring us even one iota closer to the central mystery of Christianity, the mystery of the Lord's Cross and His Resurrection. From the point of view of rational logic, both are meaningless, paradoxical, and inexplicable. And no matter how many theological constructions we create, nothing will change in our life, because the essence of the Good News will remain an abstraction for us. The apostle points out only one path by which we can comprehend it: Love. There is indeed no logic in God's infinite and patient love for the world, love unto the Cross. It is only by His love that we are all alive, because our life is His gift, not according to our merits, but according to His Love for each of us. Simply because only by Christ, that is, only thanks to Him, do we all exist.

This means there is only one way to reach eternity, to make sure that our life has not been lived in vain: to carry into the world His love, which is the one treasure that can be gathered in heaven and not on earth. Does this mean that there is no need to study? Not at all. We simply must always remember what we live for and keep asking ourselves why we need this knowledge. We must remember that intellectual baggage is not the goal, but one possible means of becoming what God intended us to be. And we must also remember that we can receive true knowledge only in communion with God.

Today we read astonishing words of the Apostle Paul: “If food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to stumble.” Paul understands better than anyone that outward matters such as food, customs, and traditions are not of primary importance. How pleasant it is to say, “I know that all this is nonsense; I can do whatever I want, and let those people look at me and envy me”... For the Apostle Paul, food is of course not the main thing. People, his brothers and sisters, are what matter most to him. For the sake of not troubling or leading a brother into condemnation, Paul is prepared to observe any rites and traditions, whether meaningful or meaningless.