1 Corinthians 8:1

1 Corinthians 8:1 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
• New International Version (NIV)Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." This "knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.

Context of 1 Corinthians 8:1

Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. 2If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; 3but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

1 Corinthians 8:1 word by word

Περὶ δὲ τῶν εἰδωλοθύτων, οἴδαμεν ὅτι πάντες γνῶσιν ἔχομεν. ἡ γνῶσις φυσιοῖ, ἡ δὲ ἀγάπη οἰκοδομεῖ.Read the interlinear

• Nowδέde · thenG1161
• concerningπερίperi · aboutG4012
• thingsεἰδωλόθυτοςeidōlothuton · sacrificed to idolsG1494
• that we allπᾶςpas · allG3956
• haveἔχωechō · to have/beG2192
• knowledgeγνῶσιςgnōsis · knowledgeG1108
• makesφυσιόωphusioō · to inflateG5448
• but loveἀγάπηagapē · loveG26
• edifiesοἰκοδομέωoikodomeō · to buildG3618

Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 8:1

• 1 Corinthians 8:10For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?
• 1 Corinthians 10:19What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
• Numbers 25:2For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.
• Acts 15:10Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
• Acts 21:25But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.”
• Revelation 2:14But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.
• 1 Corinthians 8:2If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;
• 1 Corinthians 1:5that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge,
• 1 Corinthians 4:10We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.
• 1 Corinthians 13:2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
• 1 Corinthians 14:20Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
• 1 Corinthians 15:34Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
• Romans 14:14I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
• Colossians 2:18Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
• 1 Corinthians 4:18Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
• 1 Corinthians 5:2You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 8:1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 1As touching things offered unto idols - This was another subject on which the Corinthians had asked the apostle's advice, and we shall understand the whole of this chapter the better when we consider one fact, viz. That there had long subsisted a controversy between the Karaites and the Traditionists, how far it was lawful to derive any benefit or advantage from things used by the Gentiles. The Karaites were a sect of the Jews who scrupulously held to the…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1Now as touching - In regard to; in answer to your inquiry whether it is right or not to partake of those things. Things offered unto idols - Sacrifices unto idols. Meat that had been offered in sacrifice, and then either exposed to sale in the market, or served up at the feasts held in honor of idols, at their temples, or at the houses of their devotees. The priests, who were entitled to a part of the meat that was offered in sacrifice, would expose it to…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 1The danger of having a high conceit of knowledge. (1-6) The mischief of offending weak brethren. (7-13) Verses 1-6 There is no proof of ignorance more common than conceit of knowledge. Much may be known, when nothing is known to good purpose. And those who think they know any thing, and grow vain thereon, are the least likely to make good use of their knowledge. Satan hurts some as much by tempting them to be proud of mental powers, as others, by alluring…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1Paul addresses the Corinthians' question about eating food offered to idols. In the Greco-Roman world, temples and shrines dedicated to pagan gods were common. Worshipers often offered animal sacrifices, and pagan priests sold the extra meat in the market. Christians wondered if they could eat this meat. Was meat from a sacrifice to a pagan god impure? Paul does not mention the Jewish Christian leaders' prohibition in Acts 15:20, 29. Instead, he stresses…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-131Co 8:1-13. On Partaking of Meats Offered to Idols. 1. Though to those knowing that an idol has no existence, the question of eating meats offered to idols (referred to in the letter of the Corinthians, compare 1Co 7:1) might seem unimportant, it is not so with some, and the infirmities of such should be respected. The portions of the victims not offered on the altars belonged partly to the priests, partly to the offerers; and were eaten at feasts in the…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Corinthians 8:1

• Commandments
• Fraternity
• Idolatry
• Love
• Pride
• Wisdom

In the dictionaries

• Charity
• Commend
• Offend
• Perish
• Touching
• Builder
• Corinthians, First Epistle to the
• Food
• Gnosticism
• Jude, the Epistle of

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 8

• 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
• 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