Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Knowledge, idols and the weak
Answering those who know that an idol is nothing, Paul agrees there is one God and one Lord but warns that their freedom to eat sacrificial food, even in an idol's temple, can destroy a weaker believer.
1 Corinthians 8:1-13, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul responds to Corinthians who argued that, since idols are nothing, eating meat offered to them is harmless. He agrees there is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, but says knowledge can puff people up while love builds others up. Some believers still feel the pull of the gods they once served, and if they see a confident believer dining in an idol's temple they may be drawn back and ruined, so Paul would give up meat entirely before causing that.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/pagan-gods-and-idols\/","n":"Many gods and their images","s":"The Greek and Roman world was full of gods, each with temples, statues, priests and local stories. Jews and Christians called the images things made with hands, while holding that there were real powers behind them.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/imperial-cult\/","n":"Caesar worshiped as savior and lord","s":"Augustus and the emperors after him were hailed as savior, lord and son of a god, and in the eastern provinces they were worshiped. The titles the Gospels give Jesus were already being used for Caesar.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/reclining-at-table\/","n":"Reclining at table","s":"At banquets men lay on couches, propped on the left elbow, and where you lay showed your rank.","r":""}
Corinth was full of gods; the most honored were Poseidon, Aphrodite and the emperor (the cultural backgrounds notes), and Arnold adds Apollo, Asclepius, Demeter, Isis, Sarapis and the Great Mother. Sacrifice did double duty, since most of the animal was eaten, and even ordinary banquets opened with a libation, so most Gentile meals were consecrated to some god (the cultural backgrounds article Sacrificed Food). Wright notes that Roman citizens in Corinth "had a special right to share in meals connected with imperial festivals," so staying away would be noticed. Paul names both the Father and Jesus in Judaism's confession of one God and one Lord (Keener and his notes). Whether the gods of verse 5 are real is debated. Heiser writes, "These gods and lords are considered real by Paul"; the ESV Study Bible says idols represent no real gods; Arnold takes a middle line, no gods in their own right but demons behind the images (10:20), and real to those who worshiped them. The weak are read as the socially powerless (Keener), as weaker consciences (the cultural backgrounds notes), or as former idol-worshipers (Wright's biography; Carson, Moo and Morris; Arnold, who thinks some had gone back to the temples).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Corinthians 8:5, 8:6 and 8:10, and article Sacrificed Food
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, and on 8:6 and 8:7
- N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography, ch. 10, Ephesus I
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians, comments on 1 Corinthians 8:1-6 and 8:7-13
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 37, This Means War
- ESV Study Bible, study note on 1 Corinthians 8:4-6
- Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness, ch. 2, The Melting Pot, and ch. 6, What Are the Powers?, They Are Involved in the World Religions
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 9, 1 and 2 Corinthians, The Character of Paul's Opponents in 1 and 2 Corinthians
