1 Corinthians 8 (DBY)

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Chapter Text

8:1 But concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know, (for we all have knowledge: knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.

8:2 If any one think he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know [it].

8:3 But if any one love God, *he* is known of him):

8:4 concerning then the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol [is] nothing in [the] world, and that there [is] no other God save one.

8:5 For and if indeed there are [those] called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, (as there are gods many, and lords many,)

8:6 yet to us [there is] one God, the Father, of whom all things, and *we* for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom [are] all things, and *we* by him.

8:7 But knowledge [is] not in all: but some, with conscience of the idol, until now eat as of a thing sacrificed to idols; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

8:8 But meat does not commend us to God; neither if we should not eat do we come short; nor if we should eat have we an advantage.

8:9 But see lest anywise this your right [to eat] itself be a stumbling-block to the weak.

8:10 For if any one see thee, who hast knowledge, sitting at table in an idol-house, shall not his conscience, he being weak, be emboldened to eat the things sacrificed to the idol?

8:11 and the weak [one], the brother for whose sake Christ died, will perish through thy knowledge.

8:12 Now, thus sinning against the brethren, and wounding their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

8:13 Wherefore if meat be a fall-trap to my brother, I will eat no flesh for ever, that I may not be a fall-trap to my brother.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "all things", "love God", "called", "world", "concerning", "sacrificed", "idols", and "knowledge". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "all things" and "love God", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The local DBY text gives this verse as the immediate unit, so "all things" and "love God" carries the first interpretive weight. In 1 Corinthians context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "all things" and "love God" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.