reclining on a couch at table. The word dvaKct/xat, to lie up^ is also used, as the couches were usually higher than the table. In the idol's temj^le. In the tenth chapter the apostle teaches, that as eating of things offered to idols was a matter of indif- ference, there was no harm in buying such meat in the mar- ket, or in partaking of it at a private table ; but that to eat it within the precincts of the temple was an act of idolatry, and brought them into communion with demons, and therefore utterly broke off their connection with Christ. Here he views the matter simply under the aspect of an offence^ or in refer- ence to its effect on the weaker brethren, and therefore says nothing of the sinfulness of the act in itself. In like manner, in the eleventh chapter, speaking of it as a matter of deco- rum, he simply condemns women speaking in church unveiled^ as though he had no objection to their speaking in pubUc ; but in the fourteenth chapter he condemns the thmg itself, and not merely the manner of doing it. Shall not the conscience of him hemg weak (i. e. being uncertain whether he was doing right or wrong,) he emholdened ; literally, he edified. This must either be understood ironically, which is out of keeping with the whole tone of the passage, or the word must be taken in the sense of huilt tip^ carried forward to the point (iU) of eating of the idol-sacrifices. That is, he might be led to do what his conscience secretly condemned.
11. And througli thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died ?
That is, shall your knowledge be the occasion of the per- dition of a weak brother ? There are three forms in which the apostle expresses the consequence of doing what the con- science is not satisfied is right. In v, 7 he says, the conscience is defiled ; here, he says, the man perishes or is lost ; in Rom. 14, 23, he says, " He that doubteth is damned (condemned) if he eat." All these forms of expression amount to the same thing. Guilt, condemnation and perdition are connected. The one implies the other. Whatever brings guilt on the conscience exposes to condemnation, and condemnation is perdition.
For whom Christ died. There is great power and pathos in these words. Shall we, for the sake of eating one kind of meat rather than another, endanger the salvation of those for whom the eternal Son of God laid down his life ? The infinite