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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.

Context of 1 Corinthians 8:1

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3But whoever loves God is known by God.

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

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Nowδέde · thenG1161
• as touchingπερίperi · aboutG4012
• things offered unto idolsεἰδωλόθυτοςeidōlothuton · sacrificed to idolsG1494
• we knowεἴδωeidō · to perceive: understandG1492
• thatὅτιhoti · that/since: thatG3754
• weἔχωechō · to have/beG2192
• allπᾶςpas · allG3956
• knowledgeγνῶσιςgnōsis · knowledgeG1108
• puffeth upφυσιόωphusioō · to inflateG5448
• charityἀγάπηagapē · loveG26
• edifiethοἰκοδομέωoikodomeō · to buildG3618

Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 8:1

• 1 Corinthians 8:10For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?
• 1 Corinthians 10:19Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
• Numbers 25:2who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods.
• Acts 15:10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?
• Acts 21:25As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”
• Revelation 2:14Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.
• 1 Corinthians 8:2Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.
• 1 Corinthians 1:5For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—
• 1 Corinthians 4:10We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!
• 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.
• 1 Corinthians 14:20Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.
• 1 Corinthians 15:34Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
• Romans 14:14I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.
• Colossians 2:18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.
• 1 Corinthians 4:18Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.
• 1 Corinthians 5:2And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?

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