The Weak Brother Perish

“Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died” Rom. 14:15

“And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?” 1 Cor. 8:11

Without question, “brother” is someone genuinely saved. And since Paul emphasized “for whom Christ died,” he was clearly talking about him perishing from the salvation he once had in Christ. The bolded words in these verses are from the Greek word transliterated as “apollymi” which means to perish or to be lost. Here is how it is used in several other places: Matt. 10:28, 15:24, 18:11; Luke 13:3, 15:6,9,24, 19:10; John 3:16, 17:12; Rom. 2:12; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 4:3; 2 Pet. 3:9.

Furthermore, “perish” is positively in reference to salvation because both passages also speak of this brother being caused to stumble. The Greek word transliterated as “proskomma” is translated as “stumbling block.”

“Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way” Rom. 14:13

“But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak” 1 Cor. 8:9

There are only two other places in the New Testament where this word is used (Rom. 9:33; 1 Pet. 2:8) and both are quotations from Isaiah about Israel rejecting their own Messiah (Is. 8:14, 28:16). Christ, the very Savior Himself became a stumbling block to their salvation! And the very next thing Paul said after quoting from Isaiah is: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Rom 10:1). The term “stumbling block” is clearly a metaphor for somebody being a hindrance to another’s salvation.

In Romans 14 and First Corinthians 8, Paul was not saying that a Christian will perish by simply doing something one time against their own conscience. He was giving his readers a scenario of what could possibly happen to a weaker brother if they (his readers) did not walk in love and abused their liberty in Christ. Their bad example might stimulate a weaker brother to do something against their conscience. This in turn could start them in the direction of routinely violating their consciences to the point of being seared and consummating in their departure from Christ. It is a sobering warning against the consequences that could come from us not walking in love toward our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Don't Stay Deceived

One thing worse than being deceived is staying deceived. In this short writing, when I talk about being deceived I'm not talking about the people in cults and false religions who believe they are saved but really are not. I'm referring here to Christians who are genuinely saved but have some wrong denominational beliefs. All true believers embrace the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith: Christ's death, burial, and resurrection; His divinity and humanity; the Trinity, etc. But Christians who hold to and defend the fundamentals may be erring in some of their secondary beliefs.

We all tend to think that our own beliefs are right while others with differing beliefs are wrong. But why don't we ever think that we could just as easily be the ones who are wrong? The fact is, nobody is right about everything which means all of us are wrong about some things. And if we are wrong about some things then we are deceived to a certain degree. The deceived believe they are not deceived while at the same time believe the undeceived are deceived. This is the nature of deception.

It wasn't until many years into following Christ that I realized I was deceived about some things I believed. Saved, yet somewhat deceived. And once I adjusted my beliefs in a few areas, I had to admit there were probably other areas I was deceived but not yet aware of. Now I've come to a place where I try to regularly question what I believe against what Scripture actually teaches. After all, if what I believe is really true then it should stand up to close scrutiny. And if some of my beliefs turn out to be false then as a servant of Christ I have no choice but to change them. Being right honors Christ and being right comes only after changing my wrong beliefs.

Many Christians, on the other hand, seem to have their beliefs set in stone. They don't even want to consider they could be wrong about some things. But to not think they might be wrong about some things is really to think they are right about everything. And, as said earlier, nobody is right about everything. We all need to reevaluate our beliefs often and be willing to change them when we are found to be wrong. Staying deceived is far worse than being deceived.