Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
Parallel translations
- WEB What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- KJV What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
- NKJV What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?
- NASB What do I mean then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- NLT What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul clarifies that he is not claiming idols or idol-food have any real power or reality. The danger lies elsewhere, not in the lifeless idol itself.
Overview
Anticipating misunderstanding, Paul reaffirms his earlier point that an idol is nothing (8:4). He does not contradict that monotheism, but he is about to expose what idolatry truly engages. The verse shows Paul's careful theology: the problem is not the meat or the statue but the spiritual reality of demonic worship behind pagan sacrifice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Cor 8:4So 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.
- 1 Cor 13:2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
- 1 Cor 1:28He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,
- Deut 32:21They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.
- 1 Cor 3:7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
- Isa 41:29See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.
- Isa 40:17All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
- 2 Cor 12:11I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 10:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.