Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Corinthians 8:11

"For through thy knowledge he that is weak perisheth, the brother for whose sake Christ died." — 1 Corinthians 8:11 (ASV)

Though Christians have the authority to act as Paul has just described, they must “be careful” (GK 1063) lest through the exercise of this authority they somehow cause the weak (in conscience) to stumble in living their Christian lives. By “stumbling block” (GK 4682) is meant causing the weak believer not only to have a sense of guilt (v.7), but to go beyond this into sin (v.13) by compromising with pagan idolatry.

So Paul depicts for the Corinthians what may well have been an actual scene (v.10): Suppose a brother who is weak in conscience sees you, who understand that an idol is nothing, reclining at table to eat in an idol temple; won’t he also be encouraged to eat and so do what his conscience forbids him to do? When you do such a thing, you are using your freedom and knowledge to bring your weak brother down the path toward spiritual weakness and destruction. Paul does not mean ultimate spiritual destruction, for he calls this man a “brother, for whom Christ died.” The stress is on weakening the faith and ruining the Christian life of a fellow believer.

Speaking to the strong brother (v.12), Paul says in effect, “If you cause the weak brother to stumble into sin, you yourselves are sinning in a twofold way: (1) against your brother and (2) against Christ, by wounding the conscience of those who belong to him.” The plurals in this verse imply that Paul has in mind a sizeable group at Corinth who were both the offenders and the offended.