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?
• English Standard Version (ESV)What do I imply then? That food offered to idols 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 loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. 18Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table 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 the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,
• 1 Corinthians 3:7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
• 1 Corinthians 8:4So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.”
• 1 Corinthians 13:2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
• Deuteronomy 32:21They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.
• Isaiah 40:17Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
• Isaiah 41:29See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.
• 2 Corinthians 12:11I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the “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