It's the principle of the thing. 1 Corinthians 8.

I really like this section of Paul's letter, for one very specific reason. As I (you/we?) begin the chapter, I'm thinking, "What in the world does food given to idols have to do with me?" And by the end of the chapter, Paul gives me (you/us) the answer: "If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. For this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them to sin." (1 Corinthians 8:12-13)

Paul answers the very specific question of how to deal with food given to idols, by applying a general principle to the problem. And then he describes that general principle, and how he would apply it. In this case, the principle has to do with making sure we don't lead our sisters and brothers in the faith into some area of thought or behavior that for them, would be a sin. Or would exploit a weakness of theirs, or lead them into temptation. (Remember what Jesus taught us to pray?)

The simplest way to understand this is to take the issue of drinking alcohol -- should I drink or shouldn't I? Paul would say that there are those for whom drinking a glass or two of wine at dinner, for example, is perfectly acceptable. But if that same individual had a recovering alcoholic over for dinner, drinking that wine would now be wrong.

Sometimes what we read in the Bible is just as foreign as the question of eating food sacrificed to idols, but we don't have a general principle to connect it to written in the text. In that case, it's our job to be like Paul. It usually begins with the same question that I asked at the start of this passage: "What does ___________________ have to do with me?" Only now, we have to discover the answer, like Paul did. And then apply it to our own lives, like Paul did.

How about we watch for an occurrence like that as we continue to read through the New Testament and talk more about the process when we find one?

Oh yeah, we shouldn't forget what Paul said at the outset -- acting out of love beats acting out of knowledge, which is the starting point for his understanding. Again, consider the situation with alcohol. We might know that alcohol is permissible. We might know that our alcoholic friend could rationally understand why they shouldn't drink. But the loving act is to just take it out of the equation.