When we read these New Testament letters to the various churches you can't help but see the practical and needed teaching Paul and the other Apostles were giving. In these two chapters alone we have some great teaching on marriage, post-salvation life and of course, do I or don't I eat the meat I bought at the local, "Discount Isaac's Meat Emporium." In the Biblical days of the early church you could shop at two distinct locations for your meat products. One would be the up-town market where fresh meat was sold: Meat that had no history other than it once moved. Or, you could buy meat at the discount market that came with a past: It had previously been sacrificed to idols. This is the background for the teaching in chapter eight. The members at the church at Corinth were in a dispute about wether they should or shouldn't eat meat offered to idols. Both sides of the dispute were claiming superior knowledge and enlightenment (8:1). Paul, as only he could, cuts the meat issue right to the point (pun intended). The point isn't who is right on disputed things like this (we might argue today about dancing, movie attendance, going to the bar, etc.), the point is who is going to practice love and who is not. Paul sums up his entire argument by saying he won't eat meat in front of those who disapproved (but would otherwise) because he had too much love for them. He would practice love over getting his own way, everyday (8:13). Even though he had the "right" to eat what he wanted, Paul decided and taught not to claim your right but to set aside those rights to demonstrate Christian love to your brother. He wouldn't do something he could so as to not hurt a relationship he shouldn't. Don't stick your your feet out to stretch your Christianity - if in the process you are only going to trip your brother in the process.
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