# 1 Corinthians 08 📖: Food Offered to Idols [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-1 Corinthians Overview]] | [[1 Corinthians 07]] | [[1 Corinthians 09]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Food Sacrificed to Idols **Principle**: It takes strength to give room for the growth of others. [[#Verse 01.]] With regard to food sacrificed to idols, we know that “we all have knowledge.”Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  [[#Verse 02.]] If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know.  [[#Verse 03.]] But if someone loves God, he is known by God. [[#Verse 04.]] With regard then to eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that “an idol in this world is nothing,” and that “there is no God but one.”  [[#Verse 05.]] If after all there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),  [[#Verse 06.]] yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live. [[#Verse 07.]] But this knowledge is not shared by all. And some, by being accustomed to idols in former times, eat this food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, because it is weak, is defiled.  [[#Verse 08.]] Now food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.  [[#Verse 09.]] But be careful that this liberty of yours does not become a hindrance to the weak.  [[#Verse 10.]] For if someone weak sees you who possess knowledge dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience be “strengthened” to eat food offered to idols?  [[#Verse 11.]] So by your knowledge the weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed.  [[#Verse 12.]] If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.  [[#Verse 13.]] For this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them to sin. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Much of the meat in ancient cities came from animals sacrificed in temples. Leftovers were eaten at temple meals or sold in markets. 2. Temples in Corinth had dining rooms where people shared meals in honor of gods. Excavations at Corinth's sanctuary of Asclepius uncovered such rooms. 3. In 8:6 Paul adapts the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4, placing Jesus within the confession of the one God. 4. The word "conscience" appears more often in 1 Corinthians 8 to 10 than in any other section of the New Testament. 5. "We all have knowledge" (8:1) and "an idol is nothing" (8:4) were probably Corinthian slogans. 6. Paul agrees that idols are nothing, yet in 10:20 he warns that demons stand behind pagan sacrifices. 7. A "stumbling block" (8:9) is something that trips a person and causes them to fall. 8. For poorer people, temple festivals were among the few times they might eat meat at all. 9. The Jerusalem council asked Gentile believers to abstain from food sacrificed to idols (Acts 15:29). 10. Revelation 2:14, 20 later rebukes churches for eating food sacrificed to idols in connection with false teaching. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the one Lord through whom all things exist and through whom we live (8:6). He died for the weaker brother or sister (8:11), so love for those He redeemed shapes how we use our freedom (Romans 14:15). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (8:1). When has knowledge made you proud? 2. Paul says there is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ (8:6). Why is this confession so important? 3. Paul would rather give up meat than cause a fellow believer to fall (8:13). What freedom might you need to set aside for someone else's good? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 1: Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. - 📖 verse 6: There is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist. - 📖 verse 9: Be careful that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. - 📖 verse 13: Paul would never eat meat again rather than cause a brother or sister to sin. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[1 Corinthians 13#Verse 02.|1 Corinthians 13:2, 4]] - Knowledge without love is nothing (8:1). - 🔗 [[Deuteronomy 06#Verse 04.|Deuteronomy 6:4]] - The Lord is one (8:4). - 🔗 [[Malachi 02#Verse 10.|Malachi 2:10]] - One Father, one God who created us (8:6). - 🔗 [[John 01#Verse 03.|John 1:3]] - All things made through Christ (8:6). - 🔗 [[Colossians 01#Verse 16.|Colossians 1:16]] - All things made through Christ (8:6). - 🔗 [[Romans 14#Verse 13.|Romans 14:13]] - Do not put a stumbling block in a brother's way (8:9). - 🔗 [[Galatians 05#Verse 13.|Galatians 5:13]] - Do not put a stumbling block in a brother's way (8:9). - 🔗 [[Romans 14#Verse 15.|Romans 14:15]] - Do not destroy one for whom Christ died (8:11). - 🔗 [[Matthew 25#Verse 40.|Matthew 25:40]] - Sinning against believers is sinning against Christ (8:12). - 🔗 [[Acts 09#Verse 04.|Acts 9:4-5]] - Sinning against believers is sinning against Christ (8:12). - 🔗 [[Romans 14#Verse 21.|Romans 14:21]] - Better not to eat meat if it causes a brother to fall (8:13). ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[1 Corinthians 08 - SOAP|Truth + Love = Strength]] ## 📂 Internal Notes