1 Corinthians 10:19

1 Corinthians 10:19 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
• New International Version (NIV)Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
• New King James Version (NKJV)What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?
• New Living Translation (NLT)What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods?

Context of 1 Corinthians 10:19

17Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

1 Corinthians 10:19 word by word

Τί οὖν φημι; ὅτι εἰδωλόθυτόν τί ἐστιν ἢ ὅτι εἴδωλόν τί ἐστιν;Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Whatτίςtis · which?G5101
• say Iφημίphēmi · to assertG5346
• thenοὖνoun · therefore/thenG3767
• thatὅτιhoti · that/since: thatG3754
• the idolεἴδωλονeidōlon · idolG1497
• isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• any thingτιςtis · oneG5100
• orἤē · orG2228
• that which is offered in sacrifice to idolsεἰδωλόθυτοςeidōlothuton · sacrificed to idolsG1494

Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 10:19

• 1 Corinthians 1:28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
• 1 Corinthians 3:7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
• 1 Corinthians 8:4Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "an idol has no real existence," and that "there is no God but one."
• 1 Corinthians 13:2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
• Deuteronomy 32:21They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
• Isaiah 40:17All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
• Isaiah 41:29Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind.
• 2 Corinthians 12:11I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 10:19

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 19What say I then? - A Jewish phrase for, I conclude; and this is his conclusion: that although an idol is nothing, has neither power nor influence, nor are things offered to idols any thing the worse for being thus offered; yet, as the things sacrificed by the Gentiles are sacrificed to demons and not to God, those who partake of them have fellowship with demons: those who profess Christianity cannot have fellowship both with Christ and the devil.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 19What say I then? - This is in the present tense; ́ ̓͂ ti oun phēmiwhat do I say? What is my meaning? What follows from this? Do I mean to say that an idol is anything; that it has a real existence? Does my reasoning lead to that conclusion; and am I to be understood as affirming that an idol is of itself of any consequence? It must be recollected that the Corinthian Christians are introduced by Paul 1 Corinthians 8:4 as saying that they knew that an idol…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-22Verses 15-22 Did not the joining in the Lord's supper show a profession of faith in Christ crucified, and of adoring gratitude to him for his salvation ? Christians, by this ordinance, and the faith therein professed, were united as the grains of wheat in one loaf of bread, or as the members in the human body, seeing they were all united to Christ, and had fellowship with him and one another. This is confirmed from the Jewish worship and customs in…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 19-20Idols lack reality or life (see 8:4–6), and sacrifices to them achieve nothing. When pagans sacrifice to idols, they unknowingly sacrifice to demons (see Deuteronomy 32:16–17; Psalm 106:37; Revelation 9:20). By participating in these religious meals, people unite with demons.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 19-2019-20. What say I then?--The inference might be drawn from the analogies of the Lord's Supper and Jewish sacrifices, that an idol is really what the heathen thought it to be, a god, and that in eating idol-meats they had fellowship with the god. This verse guards against such an inference: "What would I say then? that a thing sacrificed to an idol is any real thing (in the sense that the heathen regard it), or that an idol is any real thing?" (The oldest…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Corinthians 10:19

• Idolatry

In the dictionaries

• Admonition
• Lust
• Meekness
• Corinthians, First Epistle to the
• Food
• Jude, the Epistle of
• Paul, the Apostle

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 10

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings