1 Corinthians 8

¹ Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

² But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know.

³ But anyone who loves God is known by him.

⁴ Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

⁵ For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”—

⁶ yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.

⁷ However, that knowledge isn’t in all men. But some, with consciousness of an idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸ But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat are we the worse, nor if we eat are we the better.

⁹ But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰ For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol’s temple, won’t his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

¹¹ And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died.

¹² Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

¹³ Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.

Around 1 Corinthians 8

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

1 Corinthians 8 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

Someone in Corinth has asked about meat that was offered to idols. In a city full of temples, it showed up in markets and at feasts, and believers were unsure whether eating it was safe.

Paul starts with what everyone knows: an idol is nothing, and there is only one God. “to us there is one God, the Father,” and one Lord, Jesus Christ. But he adds a warning about how knowledge can be used. “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

Not everyone has the confidence that an idol is nothing. Some have been used to idols until now, and when they eat, their weak conscience is hurt. So Paul asks the knowing ones to look at it from the other side. If a believer with knowledge sits at a meal in an idol’s temple, a weaker believer may be led to do what he thinks is wrong. His conclusion is personal: “if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more”.

Background

Meat from temple sacrifices was sold in markets and served at civic and social meals in Corinth, which made this a daily problem. Paul treats it in three chapters: here, in the middle of chapter 9 and again in chapter 10. His approach is to start from the truth about one God and then to weigh it against love for others. Churches have used this chapter to think about freedom and responsibility, about when to give up a right for another person’s sake. See Romans 14 for a related discussion.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 16 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes