What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
Parallel translations
- WEB What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- BSB Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- 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 8:4As 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.
- 1 Cor 13:2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
- 1 Cor 1:28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
- Deut 32:21They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
- 1 Cor 3:7So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
- Isa 41:29Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
- Isa 40:17All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
- 2 Cor 12:11I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be 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.