Chapters like 1 Cor 8 are not at all irrelevant to modern life, even if the practices they discuss are not of paramount importance to us today (having said that, to Jews and Muslims, how animals are butchered is of paramount significance, with kosher and halal meat...

1 Cor 8 and Rom 14 deal with specific ‘grey areas’ of 1st century life. Eating meat sacrificed to idols and celebrating certain days more than others were areas of concern for Christians getting to grips with how their faith related to their everyday living. The ‘grey...

Paul has already dealt with the subject of strength and weakness in the early chapters of 1 Corinthians, reminding us in 1 Cor 1:18-25 that God’s weakness is stronger than our strength and His foolishness wiser than our wisdom. In 1 Cor 8 he talks about a ‘weak...