Give none offence
Avoid everything that may be the occasion of offence, of the
stumbling and falling of others; whether things indifferent, when
they are offensive to weak minds, and grieve, and wound, and
stumble them; especially things sinful, which as they offend God,
and are therefore called "offences", so they are offensive to the
churches of Christ, and are cognizable by them; they are
staggering and stumbling to weak believers, when committed by
professors of religion; are the means of inducing others to sin,
and of hardening profane sinners in their iniquities, and give
occasion to the enemy to blaspheme: but things that are good, and
are made our incumbent duty, are not to be avoided, though
persons may be offended thereat; such as the pure preaching of
the Gospel, the profession of it, and submission to the
ordinances thereof; for an offence is either taken or given; to
give offence is one thing, which we should carefully avoid; and
to take it, when there is no just reason for it, is another, and
not to be regarded:
neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church
of God;
which may be considered as having a peculiar respect to the
people of God: the two first of these, namely, Jews and Gentiles,
being what constituted the first churches, and this at Corinth,
so that they may be thought to be the parts, and the church the
whole; and the apostle first mentions the one, and then the
other, signifying, that they were not to give offence neither to
single persons, nor to the whole church; and particularly in the
case of eating things offered to idols, care was to be taken that
neither Jews nor Gentiles were offended, being both members of
the church. Or these may be considered as including all sorts of
persons; for Jews and Gentiles include the whole world, and may
here mean all that are without, that have no true faith in
Christ, nor any spiritual knowledge of him; and "the church", all
such as know him, believe in him, and profess his name: so that
the apostle's sense is, that care should be taken that no offence
be given to any sort of men, neither to the men of the world, of
whatsoever character, nor to professors of religion, and more
especially the latter; since offending one of the least of them
that believe in Christ, is displeasing to him; and since he was
so careful to guard against the offence of them, and will, by his
angels, at the last day, gather out of his kingdom all such as
offend; and has ordered his churches to mark them which cause
offences and divisions; and since it is so hard a thing to
reconcile an offended brother, who is harder to be won than a
strong castle; though that is not his excellency, yet as it makes
the case so difficult, it should be guarded against.