Read & explore together
Food Sacrificed to Idols
Paul answers a question about food sacrificed to idols by comparing knowledge with love. In this passage, he says true understanding must care for other believers, especially when Christian freedom could harm a weaker conscience.
Understanding the passage
The setting of these words
This part of 1 Corinthians is a piece of letter teaching about "things sacrificed to idols". Paul begins with what "we know", then explains that there is one God and one Lord. He then applies that truth to believers whose consciences are not equally strong.
1 Corinthians 8:1–13Main takeaway
Christian freedom should be guided by love, so that what we know does not lead another believer into harm.
Follow the letter’s teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Knowledge can swell, but love strengthensPaul starts by saying many claim knowledge, yet knowledge by itself can make a person proud.
Explanation
Paul starts by saying many claim knowledge, yet knowledge by itself can make a person proud. Love has a different effect: it builds up. He adds that someone who thinks they know enough still lacks proper understanding, while the one who loves God is known by him. The passage begins with humility, not self-confidence.
02There is one God and one LordPaul states that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no other God but one. People may speak of many "gods" and "lords", but for believers there is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.
Explanation
Paul states that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no other God but one. People may speak of many "gods" and "lords", but for believers there is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ. This is the doctrinal base for the whole discussion about food.
03Not everyone has the same conscience in this matterPaul says this knowledge is not in all people. Some still connect the food with idol worship, so when they eat, their conscience is defiled.
Explanation
Paul says this knowledge is not in all people. Some still connect the food with idol worship, so when they eat, their conscience is defiled. He also says food does not make us better or worse before God. The issue is not the food itself, but the effect on a person’s conscience.
04Liberty must not trip up a brotherBelievers must be careful that their liberty does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
Explanation
Believers must be careful that their liberty does not become a stumbling block to the weak. If someone with knowledge is seen eating in an idol’s temple, a weak person may be encouraged to act against conscience. Paul says wounding a weak brother in this way is sin against Christ, so he would rather never eat meat than cause stumbling.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What contrast does Paul make between knowledge and love at the start of the passage?
Look closely at the different effects Paul names: one "puffs up" and the other "builds up", which shapes the rest of his teaching.
02How does Paul describe God and Jesus Christ when explaining why idols are nothing?
Notice the repeated words "one God" and "one Lord", and the phrases about all things being from the Father and through Jesus Christ.
03Why does Paul decide he would rather never eat meat?
Trace his reasoning from liberty becoming a stumbling block, to a weak brother being harmed, to sinning against Christ.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
1 Corinthians 8:1–13
1Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
2But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know.
3But anyone who loves God is known by him.
4Therefore 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.
5For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”—
6yet 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.
7However, 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.
8But 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.
9But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak.
10For 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?
11And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died.
12Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
13Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.