What we do affects others, and part of being a Christian is knowing how your brothers and sisters in the Lord are going to take your activity. Now that does not mean that nobody can ever eat any meat that has ever been offered to any idol. Those with weaker consciences cannot use their weakness as a club over those who regard this as a matter of freedom in the Lord. On the other hand, Paul also has some directions for those who feel free to eat. In verse 9 he says, “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.” He is not saying that you can never exercise your freedom, but be careful that your freedom is not used in such a way so as to offend Christians with weaker consciences.
Because Paul is a good pastor he knows people, and he knows that there are genuinely weak brothers and sisters for whom this is a real problem. If you really love them and you find yourself in that situation where you have to make a choice between your freedom and their weak conscience, then you had better conduct yourself in such a way that you have not your freedom at heart but their spiritual well-being. I think what he has in mind is the example of Christ. Paul could well have written the second chapter of Philippians here, pointing out how the Lord Jesus, though He had all the prerogatives of godhead, did not count that as His right to be maintained at all cost. Rather He willingly yielded those things, laid them aside, in order that He could take on the form of a human being and die on the cross in order to save us.
If the Lord Jesus Christ did that for you, it is not a significant sacrifice if you have to give up doing something for the sake of your brother in the Lord. You might know that a certain practice is permissible, but you give it up out of your love for the Lord and for the person involved. Where another Christian’s conscience is concerned, our own liberty is not the top priority. It is love for one another.
In verse 13 Paul concludes with a very strong statement: “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.” This is a hard statement for those with strong consciences. But Paul wants us to see how this really works. It is better to give something up to which I have every right, not just for a few months, but forever, if it is really hurting somebody else, spiritually. There is a balance to this, of course, as I mentioned earlier. Those with weaker consciences are not to lord it over their brothers and sisters by crying “Foul” every time somebody does something they do not like. That can create a kind of legalism that is to be avoided. But neither do we want a swing in the other direction, where a license prevails with no care for what other Christians might think about such behavior.
At the end of chapter 12, when Paul is talking about spiritual gifts, after having answered a question, he says, “And now I will show you the most excellent way,” which is the way of love. That could well fit this discussion on doubtful things. He would go on to give in Philippians another exhortation that equally applies: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (4:8-9).
Christians should really have their minds set on the best things. If you fill your mind and heart with the best things, these other things fall into the place where they belong. Matters of indifference, and even other things, too, will hold less importance for you because you are going on in the Lord in a way that is benefitting His body, the church of Jesus Christ. This is easier to talk about than to actually do. It requires maturity, and that is what we have to become, and what He wants us to become.
