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.