Knowledge Must be Balanced with Love
From Pastor Shemalya
“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth”
1 Corinthians 8:1
Because knowledge increases one's understanding, it naturally inflates, causes one to swell up, and makes one prideful. If not tempered, the more knowledge you have, the more prideful you become.
Paul was an apostle of great knowledge and had an abundance of revelations. In order to keep Paul from being prideful, God ordered up a humbling device: “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure” 2 Corinthians 12:7. Paul was teaching the Corinthian church how to bring their liberties, gained by knowledge, under control. He taught them how to walk in love.
The Corinthian church, mainly, had a knowledge that meat sacrificed to idols was nothing: they had the liberty to eat it. They knew that an idol was nothing because there was and is only one God. However, not every man had this knowledge. Paul didn't want the Corinthians to be prideful about what they knew and eat meat sacrificed to idols before their weak brethren who didn't have the same understanding. This act of freedom could have brought a weak brother (one who lacks understanding) into bondage. Seeing another, who they esteemed in the church, behave as such, could have compelled them to follow the same pattern. They (the weak) could perceive that they were able to worship God AND idols; simply because of their belief that an idol WAS something (a god). Therefore, taking such liberties gained by knowledge without walking in love toward others Paul identified as sin (1 Corinthians 8:10-12).
When we gain knowledge, we must temper that knowledge with love. Not many of us understand that with knowledge comes a huge responsibility. By default, knowledge produces a crop of self-centered individuals. We should use our knowledge aright: “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend” 1 Corinthians 8:13. This is what sacrificial love looks like.
Even concerning knowledge, it is true that to whom much is given, much is required. We are required by God to be great stewards over the knowledge that He gives us. Great stewards exercise love towards others.
