The Corinthian church was a know-it-all, the sort of kid at school who raises a hand for every question, corrects other students, and shows a bit of disdain for those who aren’t as gifted. Paul writes to the Corinthians to bring them back to the main things: to the gospel instead of partisanship, to sacrifice instead of infighting, to caring for others in a culture where worship of foreign gods was part of the infrastructure of the region.

So when Paul writes that “knowledge puffs up,” he addresses not only the questions of a church about food offered to idols but the heart issue—that because of their arrogance what they know has not shaped how they live. Though today we may not worship idols of stone, we are all too familiar with using our knowledge to stay in our heads alone. We know the truths of the gospel; we know the goodness of God and God’s faithfulness to the covenant. We know that we are saved by grace, but often we live in ways that fail to reflect our knowledge of these essential facts. Instead our lives look as busy, frantic, and self-sufficient as the surrounding culture.

The solution for the Corinthian church—and for us—is to recall in word and deed that “love builds up.” Paul shows us that as we come to know God, we also realize how deeply we are known by God. True knowledge proceeds from our primary identity as being known and loved by God, and such knowledge leads to transformation. When we know how much we are loved by God, all the questions of what we know or one-upmanship fall away. It is not that morality is unimportant or that there aren’t looming questions about theology and practice. Rather, we learn that these fall into their appropriate place when we are in proper relationship with God.