1 Corinthians 8:8

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 8:8

But meat commendeth us not to God; rather, will not recommend us. God would think none the better of them for eating idol sacrifices, even though they asserted thereby a freedom which was the reward of clear insight. This verse will serve to show why "fasting" is nowhere rigidly enjoined on Christians. If fasting is a help to our spiritual life, then we should practise it, but with the distinct apprehension of the truth that God will think none the better of us merely because we eat... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 8:8-9

Christian liberty. No doubt Paul was regarded as the great champion of liberty. The apostles at Jerusalem were more under the influence of the old Judaism; Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, gained a larger spirit of tolerance through his association with men of various races and habits. The Spirit of God set him free from restraints by which many good men were fettered. To him the party of knowledge, of emancipation, of liberalism, would naturally look for countenance and encouragement,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Corinthians 8:8

But meat commendeth us not to God - This is to be regarded as the view presented by the Corinthian Christians, or by the advocates for partaking of the meat offered in sacrifice to idols. The sense is, “Religion is of a deeper and more spiritual nature than a mere regard to circumstances like these. God looks at the heart. He regards the motives, the thoughts, the moral actions of people. The mere circumstance of eating ‘meat,’ or abstaining from it, cannot make a man better or worse in the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Corinthians 8:7-8

1 Corinthians 8:7-8. Howbeit, there is not in every man In every professing Christian; that knowledge Namely, that there is but one God, and one Lord, and that an idol is nothing, and has no power to defile the meat: some Christian converts may not sufficiently apprehend this, but may imagine there is really some invisible spirit present in the idol, and acting by and upon it: for some with conscience of the idol Out of some respect to it, as if it were a kind of deity; unto this hour ... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

8:1-11:1 FOOD OFFERED TO IDOLSIn Corinth, as in other places, temples were not just religious centres but also popular eating places. This created problems for the Christians, because the food was usually first offered to idols and Christians were not sure whether they should eat it. A related problem concerned food they bought in the market, for it also may have been first offered to idols. These are the issues Paul now deals with, though they lead him to the more important issue of the... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 1 Corinthians 8:8

commendeth = presenteth. Greek. paristemi. See Acts 1:3 , and compare 2 Corinthians 11:2 .Ephesians 5:27 . Colossians 1:22 , Colossians 1:28 . if . App-118 . are we the better . Literally do we exceed. are we the worse . Literally do we lack, or come short. Greek. hustereo. See Romans 3:23 . read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 8:8

But food will not commend us to God: neither if we eat not, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.In a sense, it was absolutely immaterial where the meat came from, whether sacrificed to idols or not; because salvation is simply not a matter of diet at all. Christ took away all prohibitions, "making all meats clean" (Mark 7:19); and Paul himself wrote that "every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, etc." (1 Timothy 4:4); but for a Christian who had not learned... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - 1 Corinthians 8:8

1 Corinthians 8:8. Meat commendeth us not to God— Ου παριστησι, sets us not before God; that is, to be taken notice of by him. It cannot be supposed that St. Paul, in answer to a letter of the Corinthians, should tell them, that if they ate things offered to idols, they were not the better, or if they ate not, were not the worse, unless they had expressed some opinion of good in eating. Locke. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - 1 Corinthians 8:8

8. Other old manuscripts read, "Neither if we do not eat, are we the better: neither if we eat are we the worse": the language of the eaters who justified their eating thus [LACHMANN]. In English Version Paul admits that "meat neither presents [so the Greek for 'commendeth'] us as commended nor as disapproved before God": it does not affect our standing before God (Romans 14:6). read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - 1 Corinthians 8:7-13

The criterion of care for a brother 8:7-13"He [Paul] develops an airtight case based on a solid theological foundation (1 Corinthians 8:6). But then comes the alla (’however’ [1 Corinthians 8:7]), and the argument moves in an entirely different direction."At issue is the nature of the community. Is it a community where those with a correct theology can ignore others who have an aversion to eating the idol-consecrated food? What must prevail is not the principle of superior knowledge but the... read more

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