First Corinthians 8:4 to 7 say, "Concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, either in heaven or on earth, even as there are many gods and many lords, yet to us there is one God, the Father, out from whom are all things, and we are unto Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we are through Him. But this knowledge is not in all men; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat the food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled." Please notice the word accustomed here. This was their past habit. Verse 12 says, "And sinning in this way against the brothers and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ." This passage teaches people to refrain from food offered to idols on account of the love for the brothers. You cannot act freely and put your brother into trouble simply because you have the knowledge.

From verse 7 until the end, the problem was that of the conscience. It was not a problem of the spirit. Paul was not talking here about eternal salvation or eternal perdition. Paul was telling us what to do in relation to a brother with a weak conscience. If a man does something that he knows he can do, his conscience will not condemn him. But if he does something that he knows he should not do, his conscience will condemn and rebuke him continually. For example, we know that we do not need to keep the Lord's Day, and we do not need to keep the Sabbath. It is all right to shop and to work on the Lord's Day. Our conscience never condemns us. This is a grace of the New Testament. The Lord has not laid upon us the burden of the Sabbath. But some do not have this knowledge. When they shop on the Lord's Day, they think that they have sinned a great sin. After such a one does this, his conscience will not be at peace. Sometimes the question of sin is simply a question of the conscience. Man's conscience determines for him what his sins are.

Paul was saying that here is a weak brother. Formerly he worshipped idols. Now he sees others eating, and he wants to join them. For you to eat is all right, because you have the discernment and you know that the idols mean nothing. You could therefore freely eat. He eats, not because he has the discernment, but because he sees you eating. All the time he is eating, he has no peace. You eat with joy. He eats with fear. After this meal, he can no longer pray. His conscience tells him that he has just sinned and that he has forsaken God to worship idols just as he used to do. His conscience begins to perish before God. He feels guilty before God. He thinks that he is through and that he has gone back to his former sins again.

In addition to John 3:16, the original word for perish also appears in Luke 13, 15, and 21. But in those three places, this word was used very differently. In chapter thirteen, Pilate had killed quite a number of people and had mixed their blood with their sacrifices. The Lord Jesus told the people that they should not consider these Galileans to be more sinful than they were. Unless they repented, they would all likewise perish. The perishing here refers to the body being killed; it has nothing to do with man's soul. The Lord said that there were eighteen killed when the tower in Siloam fell. Unless these repented, they would similarly perish. This refers to the killing of the outward body.