Now as touching things, &c.— This chapter is concerning the eating of things offered to idols: wherein one may guess by St. Paul's answer, that they had written to him; that they knew their Christian liberty herein; that they knew that an idol was nothing, and therefore argued that they did well to shew their knowledge of the nullity of the heathen gods, and their disregard of them, by eating promiscuously, and without scruple, things offered to them. Upon which the design of the Apostle here seems to be, to take down their opinion of their knowledge, by shewing them, that notwithstanding all that knowledge on which they presumed, and with which they were puffed up, yet the eating of those sacrifices did not recommend them to God, 1 Corinthians 8:8 and that they sinned through want of charity, by offending their weak brother.
This seems plainly, from 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 and 1 Corinthians 8:11-12 to be the design of the Apostle's answer, and not to resolve the case of eating things offered to idols in its full latitude; for then he would have prosecuted it more at large, and not have deferred the doing so to ch. 10 where, under another head, he treats of it more particularly. See Locke; who observes, that to continue the thread of the Apostle's discourse, the 7th verse must be considered as joined to the 1st, and all the rest looked on as a parenthesis. Elsner, with many other commentators, allow that there is a parenthesishere; but they think it begins in the middle of 1 Corinthians 8:1 and ends after the first clause of the 4th.—We all have knowledge;—we know that an idol is nothing, &c.—We know that we all have knowledge, means, "We know that we all, as Christians, have that general knowledge of the vanity of those fictitious deities, of which some are ready to boast as if it were an extraordinary matter, and which they are at some times in danger of abusing, by making it the foundation of liberties which may be very detrimental. But let it be remembered, that knowledge often puffeth up, and is the occasion of great self-conceit and arrogance; whereas it is considerate love and gentle tenderness which edifies, and has such a happy effect in building up the church of Christ." See Locke, Doddridge, Elsner, and Bos.