Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 8:1
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian church to address their factional dispute over consuming food sacrificed to idols. He introduces the topic while correcting their arrogant reliance on intellectual understanding.
The words — The Greek term εἰδωλοθύτων (eidōlothutōn) literally means idol-sacrifices, identifying the specific food under discussion. Paul also uses γνῶσιν (gnōsin) for knowledge, which he immediately contrasts with love.
The thread — The text explicitly links this knowledge-love dynamic to Isaiah 5:21, Romans 14:3, and 1 Corinthians 8:7, where the same dietary controversy and warning against self-deceived wisdom recur.
Why it lands — The text states that knowledge puffs up while love builds up, demanding that readers apply understanding to construct others rather than inflate themselves. It requires prioritizing communal edification over personal intellectual superiority.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
Cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 8:7 But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that they eat such food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
- Isaiah 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
- Romans 14:3 The one who eats everything must not belittle the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted him.
- 1 Corinthians 8:4 So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
- Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
- Romans 15:14 I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, brimming with knowledge, and able to instruct one another.
- 1 Corinthians 8:2 The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
- Numbers 25:2 who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods.
- Isaiah 47:10 You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’
- Acts 15:19 It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God.