​1 Corinthians 8 focuses on a point of conflict within the Corinthian church that at first glance may seem to have no relevance to us.  However, on close examination and with proper application, the lessons Paul teaches in this chapter are more relevant to us than ever before.

​Pride is often the root issue in any conflict situation, and pride is fueled and puffed up by knowledge that is disconnected from application.  The Corinthians lived in a Greek culture that prized knowledge as the ultimate possession and leveraged any knowledge they gained to control and manipulate others.  This love for knowledge devoid of practical application caused many of the conflicts within the early church at Corinth and made them susceptible to false teaching. 
 
For this reason, as Paul prepares to address a second topic that the Corinthians wrote to him about, he prefaces this section with a quick teaching on the danger of empty knowledge.