ally following the pattern of other Christians when he does not have sufficient faith in his own life. There never seems to be any ma turity or spiritual development at all. In vs. 11 we see that this weaker brother observes the activities of other Christians and does not have a victorious life. Instead of being built up in the faith he is really torn down. His conscience can be blunted (vs. 12). All this happens because he fails to grasp the fact that for the believer there is now no condemnation in Christ. Have you ever stopped to real ize that it is possible to know so much about salvation that we are a detriment to weaker believers. As we saw in our last lesson on I Corinthians 8 there were some Christians in Corinth who felt it was unwise to eat meat which was initially offered to idols. Paul re fers to these Christians as weaker brethren. He then points out that partaking of food has no merit with Cod. The only thing that is primarily important is whether or not we have Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. The strong Chris tian has a firm grip on his freedom from self-justification. He does not have to prove to Cod that he is somebody. He recognizes his need and allows Christ to take care of the necessity for him. It is ignor ance, not wisdom, that leads one to run roughshod over his weaker brother. Dealing in love is far pre ferable. To be self-centered means to be offensive. The first thing we find is that a person is knowledgeable. He knows that eating meat once of fered to idols means nothing. "An idol is nothing in the world and Page 41
certain behaviour we feel may not be appropriate for Christians. While we should want to live properly before the Lord we must recognize that there is nothing we can do to improve on the work Christ has already done for us. The weaker Christian cannot grasp that for he lacks knowledge. The people who were not strong in the faith were also easily influ enced (vs. 10). Here Paul is point ing out that the weaker person may see a stronger believer eating meat which had been offered to idols. In this way he might be encour aged to do the same. The axiom of the Christian is certainly not to be, “When in Rome do as the Rom ans." A weak Christian, without an adequate knowledge of the Word, keeps his eyes on others for direc tion rather than on the Lord. If one is uncertain he will always be subject to others. It is by the con sistent study of Scripture that we find out what Cod has for us in our daily experience. The next thing we see about the weak Christian is that he cannot live a victorious life. He is always plagued with fears and doubts. The joyous life which should be lived is subject to the varied existences others may have. There is constant frustration. There was always the danger of the conscience being wounded. There is also the possi bility of stumbling caused by the confusion of the way someone else lives. This certainly is not the way Christ wants us to set our stand ards. We are to rise above the circumstances through victorious living in Him by His Holy Spirit. There is a parallel passage to this in Romans 4:20-23. A person can become insensitive from continu
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