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not hear anything of conditions. They know what the Christian i)rinciple is, and to determine their conduct they do not need to think of any- thing else. They know, for example, that an idol is nothing in the world, and that is enough to answer all questions about their relation to idolatry — about buying and eating meat which had been sacrificed in a pagan temple, about attending a pagan friend's feast in the temple, and so forth. They know that the earth is the Lord's, and all that it contains ; and that is enough to answer all questions about eating and drinking. In this region all things are lawful for them. It is at this point that St. Paul interposes in the spirit of Mt 11^*-'^'' (see above, 2 a). Tlie knowledge of tlie Christian princijile, he insists, is not enough. He accepts the principle, with a half-ironical depreciation of it : ' We know that we all have knowledge ' — as if he would say, but that does not carry us far (1 Co 8^). In dealing witli conduct we must always consider its moral consequences, both to others and to ourselves ; we must consider not only an abstract principle, which may in itself be sound enougli, but the practical effect of acting upon it in given con- ditions. We must consider, in particular, whether it may not cause others or ourselves to stumble. These are distinct questions, yet involved in each other. If we cause another to stumble by what we do, our own ruin is inseparable from his. St. Paul accepts the principle of liberty, but qualifies it in both directions to avoid a-KafdaXi^eiv and a-KavSaXl^ecrdai.. Thus he writes, ' All things are lawful for me, but all things do not edify,' sc. the Church (1 Co lO^'*) ; and the edifying or build- ing up of the Church is tiie rule of all Cliristian action (1 Co 14^6, Ro W^ W). To be Christian, in other words, conduct has to be guided not merely by knowledge, but by love. It has to include a reference to Christ's intei-est in others, especially in the weak ; a Christian sins griev- ously when he asserts his liberty in disregard of that. The extraordinary vehemence of St. Paul's language in discussing this subject reminds us vividly of our Lord's words in the same con- nexion. ' For meat destroy not the Avork of God ' (Ro 142"). 'Through thy knowledge he that is weak perisheth, the brother for whose sake Christ died' (1 Co 8"). 'If meat maketh my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh for evermore' (1 Co 8'^). ' Wlio is made to stumble, and I am not on fire with pain?' (2 Co IP^). These are flashes of the same fire which glows in Mt IS^"**. The use of Christian liberty in an environment of paganism no doubt presented many moral problems, all with possibilities of aKavSaXov in them. A false solu- tion, legitimating a free relation to pagan worship and its ordinary festive and sensual accompani- ments, which no doubt caused many to stumble, is denounced in Rev 2"; jiossibly in tlie 'Apostolic decree ' of Ac 15-»*- we have a more considerate and Christian solution for a special set of circumstances. (For the interpretation of the decree, practically m this sense, see Lightfoot, Gnlatinns, 306 K. ; Chase, Credibility of the Ads, 96 f. ). In the whole region in which liberty can be asserted, it is to be exercised only in subordination to love ; to violate this rule and so injure others in their conscience and in their relation to Christ is the most un- christian sin of which a Christian can be guilty. But Paul is aware of the other side of aKavSaWgew also— that in which a man so acts as to lead to his own stumbling, and the perdition of his own soul. ' All things are lawful for me,' but not only do all things not build up the Church, but ' / will not be tyrannized over by any' (1 Co 6'^). A man may be befooled by his wisdom : if he is putted up in the consciousness that he comprehends the
principles of Christianity, he is quite capable of yielding to his natural appetites under the delusion that he is exercising a Christian liberty. St. Paul dreaded this for himself. 1 Co 92^-27 — especially after v.^ 'Am I not free?' — is written in the very spirit of Mk 9'*^"'*'', and in 1 Co 10 the Apostle warns his converts of the peril which awaits them, if secure in their Christianity they slip into easy relations with paganism. In the end of this chapter the idea of ottence is generalized. ' Show yourselves awpua-KOTToi — persons in whom there is no occasion of stumljling — both to Jews and Gentiles and to the Church of God' (1 Co 10^-). This is a final if not the supreme maxim of Christian ethics ; there nmst be nothing in the Christian's conduct which could mislead, disconcert, or repel any person seeking or enjoying relations with Christ. Put positively, it is the rule of the Ai)ostle's own action : ' I have become all things to all men if by all means I might save some ' ( 1 Co 9'^-) ; which again is but one form of the Golden Rule. Hence the teaching of the NT on ' ottences ' can be sunnned up in Mt 7'^. The only passage in which (TKCLudaXov occurs in Jn. (1 Jn 2^") perhaps combines the two references which it has elsewhere. When a Christian loves his brother, there is no aKavSaXoi' in him ; he does not cause others to stumble, and he does not create difficulties in his own path. ' The triumph of love is that it creates no prejudice against the Truth' (' Wescott, ad loc).