Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of 1 Corinthians
Chapter 8: There Is But One God
1 Corinthians 8 takes up meat offered to idols, and turns it into a lesson on love over knowledge. 'Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.' The mature know 'that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one'; though the pagans have 'gods many, and lords many,' for the believer 'there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things... and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.' Yet not everyone has this settled knowledge, and a believer's liberty must never become 'a stumblingblock to them that are weak.' To wound a weak brother's conscience, 'for whom Christ died,' is to 'sin against Christ.' So Paul lays down the law of love: 'if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth.' The chapter shows us the one God confessed in the one Lord Jesus Christ, and the love that lays down its rights for a brother's sake.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of 1 Corinthians chapter 8. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Greek words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Here Paul answers the question of food offered to idols, confesses the one God who is the one Lord Jesus Christ, and teaches that love, not mere knowledge, must govern the use of Christian liberty. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Things Offered to Idols
May a believer eat meat that had been sacrificed to a pagan idol?
Charity Edifieth
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up; love must rule.
There Is But One God
One God, the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.
Not a Stumblingblock
Liberty must never wound a weak brother for whom Christ died.
There Is None Other God but One (1 Corinthians 8:1-6)
Love must govern knowledge; and the great knowledge is that there is but one God, confessed as the one Lord Jesus Christ.
One God, the Father, and One Lord Jesus Christ
"Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him."
Word Study
"one Lord," Greek heis Kurios (εἷς Κύριος). The word heis is "one," the same word that stands in the great confession of Israel, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Paul says "there is none other God but one," and then, "to us there is but one God, the Father... and one Lord Jesus Christ." He is not naming two divine beings, one God plus one Lord, over against the pagans' "gods many, and lords many." He is confessing the one God of the Shema, distributing the titles between the one deity and the one revelation of that deity in flesh. The "one God, the Father" is the eternal Spirit, the deity itself, "of whom are all things"; the "one Lord Jesus Christ" is that same one God made flesh, "by whom are all things", the Creator, for all things were made by Him (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16). The Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are not two persons of a Godhead but the one God: the eternal Father who is Himself the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in flesh. So the verse does not divide God; it confesses the one God who is both the Father in His deity and the Lord Jesus in His incarnation, the one Creator of all, in whom "we" live and by whom "we" are made new.
Explanation
On meat offered to idols, Paul opens with a maxim that governs the whole discussion: "knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." The Corinthians "knew" that an idol is nothing, and they were right — "there is none other God but one," and "there is but one God, the Father... and one Lord Jesus Christ." But knowledge alone inflates; love builds. Being correct about idols is not enough if it makes one careless of a brother. The confession of the one God and one Lord is meant to unite the church in love, not to arm the strong with contempt for the weak.
Gospel Focus
The Corinthians prided themselves on their "knowledge" that idols were nothing, so they felt free to eat meat that had been offered to idols. Paul agrees with the doctrine but corrects the spirit: "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." Bare knowledge inflates the ego; love builds up the church. "If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know", true knowledge is humble and loving, and "if any man love God, the same is known of him." The deepest thing is not our knowing God but God's knowing us, His loving embrace of those who love Him. Then Paul states the doctrine plainly: "an idol is nothing in the world, and... there is none other God but one." The pagan pantheon of "gods many, and lords many" is empty; there is only one true God. And Paul confesses that one God in the fullest Christian terms: "to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." This is the heart of Apostolic faith. Paul does not set up two Gods, nor two persons in rivalry; he confesses the one God of Israel, now known in Jesus Christ. The "one God, the Father" is the eternal deity from whom all things flow; the "one Lord Jesus Christ" is that same God come in flesh, "by whom are all things," the Creator Himself. To confess Jesus as the "one Lord" is to confess Him as the LORD of the Shema, for there is only one God, and He is the Father who has revealed Himself in the Son. The One who made all things is the One who redeemed us; the God we worship is the Lord Jesus Christ. Here knowledge and love meet: to know the one God truly is to love Him, and to love Him is to love the brothers for whom His Son died.
Take Heed Lest Your Liberty Become a Stumblingblock (1 Corinthians 8:7-13)
Not everyone has this knowledge; so love limits liberty, refusing to wound a weak brother for whom Christ died.
When Ye Sin Against the Brethren, Ye Sin Against Christ
"Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."
Word Study
"stumblingblock," Greek proskomma (πρόσκομμα). The word means an obstacle that one strikes the foot against, a thing that causes stumbling or falling. Paul warns, "take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak." A believer's freedom, though real, can be a stone over which a weaker brother trips into sin against his own conscience. The mature believer may know an idol is nothing, but if a brother with "conscience of the idol" sees him eating in an idol's temple and is "emboldened" to eat against his own convictions, that liberty has become a snare. Love watches the ground it walks, not only for itself but for others, so as never to lay a proskomma in a brother's path. The strong are not free to do simply as they please; they are bound by love to consider the weak, "for whom Christ died." A right that ruins a brother is not worth exercising.
Explanation
Paul reminds the "strong" that "there is not in every man that knowledge." A recent convert from paganism may still feel that eating idol-meat is real idolatry, and to see a knowledgeable believer eating in an idol's temple may embolden him to violate his own conscience — so "through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish." To wound a weak conscience, Paul says, is to "sin against Christ." His own resolve settles it: "if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth." Love gladly surrenders a lawful liberty to protect a weaker believer.
Gospel Focus
Paul now turns from doctrine to love. Though the mature know an idol is nothing, "there is not in every man that knowledge." Some newer believers, only recently out of paganism, still feel the pull of the idol, and if they eat such meat their "conscience being weak is defiled", they act against their own convictions and are wounded in soul. Paul reminds the strong that the food itself is a matter of indifference: "meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse." Since the food gains them nothing, why insist on it at a brother's expense? "Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak." A strong believer flaunting his freedom in "the idol's temple" might embolden a weak brother to eat against his conscience, and so "through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died." Here Paul sets the weight of the matter: the weak brother is one "for whom Christ died." Would you, for the sake of a meal, help destroy a soul the Son of God gave His life to save? And he presses it to the sharpest point: "when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ." To wound the least member of Christ's body is to wound Christ Himself, so closely does the Lord identify with His own. Then Paul gives his own resolve as the pattern of love: "if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." He would give up meat entirely, forever, rather than trip a single brother. This is the law of love that governs Christian liberty: my freedom ends where my brother's soul is endangered, for love does not ask "what may I do?" but "what will help my brother?" The one Lord Jesus Christ, who died for the weak, calls the strong to lay down their rights in love.
Chapter 8 in Review
1 Corinthians 8 answers the question of meat offered to idols by subjecting knowledge to love. "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." The mature rightly know "that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one", and Paul confesses that one God in full: "to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things... and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things." But knowledge is not the whole story, for "there is not in every man that knowledge." A believer's liberty must never become "a stumblingblock to them that are weak," lest "the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died." To wound such a brother is to "sin against Christ." So Paul lays down the law of love: "if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth."
For the Apostolic reader this chapter joins the confession of the one God to the practice of self-giving love. At its center stands the great truth that there is but one God, and that one God is confessed as the "one Lord Jesus Christ," the Father in His eternal deity revealed as the Lord Jesus in flesh, the Creator "by whom are all things." To know that one God is not merely to win an argument about idols but to be gripped by His love, and so to love the brothers for whom His Son died. Knowledge that leaves a brother wounded is knowledge that "puffeth up" without building up. The strong are called to weigh their liberty in the balance of a brother's soul, remembering that Christ died for the weak and counts a wound to them as a wound to Himself. Real maturity is not asserting every right but laying rights down in love, as Paul would give up meat forever rather than trip a single believer. The one Lord who gave Himself for us teaches us to give ourselves for one another.
- "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth"; love must govern knowledge (8:1).
- "There is none other God but one," confessed as "one Lord Jesus Christ" (8:4-6).
- The one God, the Father, is revealed as the one Lord Jesus, "by whom are all things" (8:6).
- Liberty must never become a stumblingblock to the weak (8:9).
- The weak brother is one "for whom Christ died"; to wound him is to sin against Christ (8:11-12).
- Love lays down its rights: "I will eat no flesh while the world standeth" (8:13).
Questions for Reflection
- Does your knowledge build others up, or only puff you up?
- What does it mean to you that the one God is confessed as the one Lord Jesus Christ?
- Is there a liberty you should lay down for the sake of a weaker brother?
- Do you see how closely Christ identifies with the least of His people?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. Knowledge and love; the one God and one Lord: 1 Corinthians 8:1-6; Deuteronomy 6:4; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; 1 Timothy 2:5. The deity of Christ, the Creator and the one Lord: John 1:1-3; Colossians 2:9; Isaiah 44:24; 1 Timothy 3:16. Christian liberty and the weak conscience: 1 Corinthians 8:7-13; Romans 14:13-21; 1 Corinthians 10:23-33. Christ died for the weak; sinning against Christ by wounding His own: 1 Corinthians 8:11-12; Romans 14:15; Matthew 25:40, 45; Acts 9:4. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The one God confessed as the one Lord Jesus Christ: 1 Corinthians 8:1-6; Deuteronomy 6:4; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16.
- Liberty limited by love for the weak brother: 1 Corinthians 8:7-13; Romans 14:13-21; Matthew 25:40.