Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 8:10
For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;
10. For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple ] St Paul would seem here to be putting an extreme case. He supposes the more enlightened believer to have carried his views of the non-existence of idols to their utmost possible limits, and to have seated himself in the idol temple, and partaken of the food which to his eyes is as fit for food as any other, if it be partaken of with thanksgiving (ch. 1Co 10:25-30; 1Ti 4:3). He points out the terrible danger such a man runs of inducing others to regard idol-worship as a thing indifferent, to relapse into idolatry and to ruin their souls. Some commentators, supposing it impossible that a Christian could be found in the idol temple, have rendered ‘ at an idol sacrifice,’ but the analogy of other similarly formed Greek words confirms the rendering in the text.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For if any man – Any Christian brother who is ignorant, or anyone who might otherwise become a Christian.
Which hast knowledge – Who are fully informed in regard to the real nature of idol worship. You will be looked up to as an example. You will be presumed to be partaking of this feast in honor of the idol. You will thus encourage him, and he will partake of it with a conscientious regard to the idol.
Sit at meat – Sitting down to an entertainment in the temple of the idol. Feasts were often celebrated, as they are now among the pagan, in honor of idols. Those entertainments were either in the temple of the idol, or at the house of him who gave it.
Shall not the conscience of him which is weak – Of the man who is not fully informed, or who still regards the idol with superstitious feelings; see 1Co 8:7.
Be emboldened – Margin, Edified oikodomethesetai. Confirmed; established. So the word edify is commonly used in the New Testament; Act 9:31; Rom 14:19; Eph 4:12; 1Th 5:11. The sense here is, Before this he had a superstitious regard for idols. He had the remains of his former feelings and opinions. But he was not established in the belief that an idol was anything; and his superstitious feelings were fast giving way to the better Christian doctrine that they were nothing. But now, by your example, he will be fully confirmed in the belief that an idol is to be regarded with respect and homage. He will see you in the very temple, partaking of a feast in honor of the idol; and he will infer not only that it is right, but that it is a matter of conscience with you, and will follow your example.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. If any man see thee which hast knowledge] Of the true God, and who art reputed for thy skill in Divine things.
Sit at meat in the idol’s temple] Is it not strange that any professing the knowledge of the true God should even enter one of those temples? And is it not more surprising that any Christian should be found to feast there? But by all this we may see that the boasted knowledge of the Corinthians had very little depth in things purely spiritual.
There are many curious thin-spun theories in the rabbinical writings concerning entering idol temples, and eating there, and even worshipping there, providing the mind be towards the true God. Dr. Lightfoot produces several quotations to prove this. Perhaps the man of knowledge mentioned by the apostle was one of those who, possessing a convenient conscience, could accommodate himself to all circumstances; be a heathen without and a Christian within, and vice versa, as circumstances might require.
Be emboldened to eat] , Be built up-be confirmed and established in that opinion which before he doubtingly held, that on seeing YOU eat he may be led to think there is no harm in feasting in an idol temple, nor in eating things offered to idols.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Here the apostle showeth how they sinned in eating meat in the idols temple, which had been before offered to the idol, admitting the thing in itself lawful, (which indeed it was not), viz. accidentally, by laying a stumblingblock before their brethren, who either were really weak in their knowledge, or, at least, they were looked upon as such. For (saith he) if any see thee, who, they think, hast knowledge, or who boastest of thy knowledge, sit at meat in the idols temple, will not he by it be encouraged to do the same, though possibly he judgeth it is not lawful? The word translated emboldened, is the same which is elsewhere often in the New Testament translated edified: it metaphorically signifies to make a progress or proficiency either in good or evil (though this be the only text in the New Testament where it is taken in an ill sense). This the apostle determines sinful; which lets us know the obligation that lieth upon every good Christian, not to use his liberty to the prejudice of others souls, by doing any actions which we may do or let alone, which done by us may probably become a snare to them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. if any manbeing weak.
which hast knowledgeThevery knowledge which thou pridest thyself on (1Co8:1), will lead the weak after thy example to do that against hisconscience, which thou doest without any scruple of conscience;namely, to eat meats offered to idols.
conscience of him which isweakrather, “His conscience, seeing he is weak”[ALFORD and others].
emboldenedliterally,”built up.” You ought to have built up your brotherin good: but by your example your building him up isthe emboldening him to violate his conscience.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For if any man see thee which hast knowledge,…. That is, not any person whatever; not one that has equal knowledge, and can with a good conscience take the same liberty; but one that is weak in the faith, that has not such a clear sight of the doctrine of Christian liberty: if such an one should observe one that is famous for his superior abilities, learning, and knowledge,
sit at meat in the idol’s temple; or at table, or at a feast, where, it seem, after the sacrifice was over, a feast was made of what was left, and friends were invited to partake of it; and some such there were in this church, who to show their Christian liberty, and their knowledge of it, would go and sit down at these feasts publicly, looking upon such meats as having nothing different from common food, or what they bought in the markets, or brought up as their own:
shall not the conscience of him that is weak; in knowledge, who is not clearly instructed in the doctrine of Christian liberty, but has some doubts upon his mind whether it is lawful to eat such meats, imagining them to be polluted by the idol: “be emboldened”; Greek for “edified”; that is, induced by such an example, and confirmed by such an instance with boldness, and without fear, to eat those things which are offered to idols, contrary to his light, and knowledge, and conscience; and so upon a reflection on what he has done, wound his weak conscience, destroy his peace, and distress his soul. This the apostle proposes to the consideration of these men of knowledge and liberty, as what might be the case, and which they could not well deny, to dissuade them from the use of their liberty, in all places and times, and under all circumstances; all which ought to be seriously weighed and attended to in this business.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
If a man see thee which hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idol’s temple ( [] ). Condition of third class, a possible case. Paul draws the picture of the enlightened brother exercising his “liberty” by eating in the idol’s temple. Later he will discuss the peril to the man’s own soul in this phase of the matter (10:14-22), but here he considers only the effect of such conduct on the unenlightened or weak brother. This bravado at a sacrificial banquet is in itself idolatrous as Paul will show. But our weak brother will be emboldened (, future passive indicative, will be built up) to go on and do what he still believes to be wrong, to eat things sacrificed to idols ( ). Alas, how often that has happened. Defiance is flung in the face of the unenlightened brother instead of loving consideration.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Idol ‘s temple [] . Only here in the New Testament. See on Rev 2:14.
Be emboldened [] . Lit., be built up. The A. V. misses the irony of the expression. His apparent advance is really detrimental. Calvin remarks : “a ruinous upbuilding.”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) For if any man see thee which hast knowledge,
(ean gar tis ide se ton echonta gnosin) For if anyone behold you, the one having knowledge, one considered a mature Christian – no man lives to himself, without influencing another Rom 14:7.
2) Sit at meat in the idols temple. (en eidoleio katakeimenon) Sitting in a lingering manner in an idols temple. As if to sanction, by influence of presence, the worship of idols.
3) Shall not the conscience of him which is weak. (ouchi he suneidesis autou asthenous) Shall not the conscience of the one that is weak – The weak brother is to be restored, rescued from moral and religious wrong, not led into it. Gal 6:1.
4) Be emboldened. (ontos oikodemethesetai) be emboldened, or encouraged to stand up straight and defiant. One must not let his good be evil spoken of! Rom 14:16.
5) To eat things which are offered to idols. (to ta eidolothuta esthiein) to the eating of the idolatrous sacrifices? To become a true disciple Gods children must often change the company they keep, the places they go, and the speech they use, so as not to bring shame to the church and profession of the believer, Rom 12:1; 1Ti 4:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10. If any one see thee. From this it appears more clearly, how much liberty the Corinthians allowed themselves; for when the wicked made a kind of sacred banquet for their idols, they did not hesitate (471) to go to it, to eat of the sacrifice along with them. Paul now shows what evil resulted from this. In the first clause, instead of the words who hast knowledge, I have rendered the expression thus — though thou shouldest have; and in the second clause, in the expression who is weak, I have introduced the word notwithstanding. This I found it necessary to do for the clearing up of Paul’s meaning. For he makes a concession, as if he had said: “Be it so, that thou hast knowledge; he who seeth thee, though he is not endowed with knowledge, is notwithstanding confirmed by thine example to venture upon the same thing, while he would never have taken such a step if he had not had one to take the lead. Now when he has one to imitate, he thinks that he has a sufficient excuse in the circumstance that he is imitating another, while in the meantime he is acting from an evil conscience.” For weakness here means ignorance, or scruple of conscience. I am aware, at the same time, in what way others explain it; for they understand the occasion of stumbling to be this — when ignorant persons, induced by example, imagine that in this way they perform some kind of religious service to God, but this idea is quite foreign to Paul’s meaning. For he reproves them, as I have said, (472) because they emboldened the ignorant to hurry on, contrary to conscience, to attempt what they did not think it lawful for them to do. To be built up means here — to be confirmed (473) Now that is a ruinous kind of building, that is not founded on sound doctrine.
(471) “ Les Corinthiens n’auoyent point de honte;” — “The Corinthians were not ashamed.”
(472) See commentary on 1Co 8:7.
(473) The original word οἰκοδομηθήσεται, shall be built up, is used here, in the opinion of some learned critics, to mean encouraged or emboldened, and a parallel passage is pointed to in Mal 3:15, where the Hebrew word כבכי is rendered in the Septuagint ἀνοικοδομοῦνται or emboldened It deserves notice, however, that the Apostle had in the commencement of the chapter spoken of love as edifying, while knowledge puffeth up, and it is not improbable that he made use of the same word here ironically, as we would say — “Will not this be edifying the wrong way?” — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) For if any man (i.e., any of the weak brethren) see thee which hast knowledge.The fact of your being avowedly advanced in the knowledge of the faith will make your example the more dangerous, because more effective.
Sit at meat in the idols temple.Some went so far as to not only eat, but eat in the precincts of the heathen temple. The Apostle being concerned now only with the point of the eating, does not rebuke this practice here, but he does so fully in 1Co. 10:14-22. He probably mentions the fact here as an instance in which there could be no salving of his conscience by the heathen convert thinking that it was not certain whence the meat had come.
Be emboldened.Better, be built up. The people addressed had probably argued that the force of their example would build up others. Yes, says St. Paul, with irony, it will build him upto do what, being weak, he cannot do without sin.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. If any man Scarce firmly converted from idolatry.
Knowledge The boasted of 1Co 8:1.
Sitting Greek, reclining, as was the ancient custom at meals. See note on Matthew xxiii, 6.
Idol’s temple Greek , an idoleum. The word, Stanley says, “is only used by Jewish writers, apparently to avoid designating heathen temples by the sacred word , naos, used to express the temple of Jerusalem. 1Ma 1:47 ; 1Ma 10:83 . It is a kind of parody on the names of temples, as derived from the divinities to which they are dedicated.” Similar words are museum, lyceum.
Emboldened Built up. The beauty of the apostle’s word is lost; it being the same Greek word as for edified, in 1Co 8:1. The weakling is built up, but in a bad direction, to a proud wrong-doing.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 8:10. Sit at meat in the idol’s temple Entertainments among the heathens commonlyconsistedofwhathadbeensacrificedtotheirfictitiousdeities;fromwhich, however, the truly pious among Christians religiously abstained, even when most rigorously imposed; and no doubt the Apostle’s decision here had great weight with them. These feasts were often celebrated in their temples. See Elsner, Chemnitz, and Faber.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 8:10 . ] any such weak brother, namely.
] quippe qui cognitionem habes , in significant apposition to . It is just this, which the weaker believer knows respecting the stronger, that leads him astray.
] Their liberal-mindedness went, it seems, so far that they even reclined at table in idol-temples with those who held the sacrificial feasts there. The absolute prohibition of this abuse of liberty (which follows afterwards in 1Co 10:14-22 ) would not have come in suitably here, where the connection of itself naturally led the apostle simply to point out in the way of warning the bearing of such conduct upon the weak.
Instances of the use of which does not occur in profane writers from the LXX. and the Apocrypha, may be seen in Schleusner, Thes. II. p. 246. See also Eustath. a [1357] Od. vi. p. 263. 17. In the Fragm. Soph. 152 (Dind.), the true reading is .
] is neither a vox media (Clericus, Elsner, Wolf, al [1358] ), nor does it mean impelletur (Castalio, Kypke, Hermann, Stolz, al [1359] ) or confirmabitur (Syr [1360] , Grotius, Zachariae, Schulz, Billroth), but as always in the N. T.: will be built up, advanced in a Christian frame of mind, so as to eat ( ). To be brought to eat sacrificial flesh while one is weak ( . , opposite of ), is, as Calvin rightly expresses it, a ruinosa aedificatio , seeing that the foundation which it ought to have, the , is wanting. We have here, therefore, an ironically significant antiphrasis ; without the . it might be a case of a real ; things being as they are, however, it can be so only in appearance , and, in reality, it is the very opposite . [1361] Egregie aedificabitur ! The hypothesis (Storr, Opusc. II. p. 275 f.; Rosenmller, Flatt, comp Neander), that Paul borrows the word from the letter of the Corinthians to him (in which they had said that by partaking of sacrificial flesh people edify the weak), and gives it back to them in an antiphrastic way, cannot be established, and is unnecessary.
[1357] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[1358] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
[1359] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
[1360] yr. Peschito Syriac
[1361] Wetstein compares with this the passage in Nedarim , f. 40. 1 : “Si dixerint tibi juniores aedifica, et seniores demolire, audi seniores et non audi juniores, quia aedificatio juniorum est demolitio, et demolitio seniorum est aedificatio.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
10 For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;
Ver. 10. Be emboldened ] This is, Proficere in peius, aedificare in gehennam, To make in more evil, is to build in hell, as Tertullian hath it. While men look upon parti-coloured objects they bring forth spotted fruits, as Laban’s sheep did.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
10 .] Explanation how the may arise .
, scil. (see below) .
seems to imply that the weak brother is aware of this , and looks up to thee as such .
. ] See on ., 1Co 8:1 .
, as , , , &c.
“ is not a vox media , as Le Clerc, Elsner, Wolf, al., nor is it impelletur , as Castal., Bengel, Kypke, al., nor confirmabitur , as Syr., Grot., Billroth, al.” (Mey.), but as Meyer and De Wette, dificabitur , not without a certain irony, seeing it is accompanied by , for thus the building up would be without solid foundation a ruinosa dificatio , as Calv.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 8:10 enforces ( ) the above warning. “thee, the man that has knowledge” (see 1): the Cor [1262] pretension to superior enlightenment, shown in 1Co 8:2 f. to be faulty in Christian theory, now discloses its practical mischief. The behaviour of the Christian man of knowledge who “reclines (at table) in an idol’s temple,” is represented as a sort of bravado a thing done to show his “knowledge,” his complete freedom from superstition about the idol. This act is censured because of its effect upon the mind of others; in 1Co 10:18-22 it will be condemned on its own account. The form (or – ) occurs in the Apocrypha; it follows the formation of Gr [1263] temple names , etc. , . . .; “will not his conscience, weak as he is, be ‘edified’ unto eating the foods offered to idols?” not because he is weak (as though overpowered by a stronger mind), but while he is still weak, as under the lingering belief that the idol is “something in the world” (1Co 8:7 ): “his verbis exprimitur horror infirmi, tamen edentis” (Bg [1264] ). Thus eating unpersuaded “in his own mind” (Rom 14:5 ), he sins (Rom 14:23 ), and therefore “is perishing” (1Co 8:11 ). The vb [1265] “edified” instead of “persuaded” or the like is used in sad irony ( cf. Tert [1266] , “dificatur ad ruinam,” De Prscr. Hretic. , 3); P. probably takes up the word in this connexion from the Church Letter: the eaters of idolothyta thought their practice “edifying” to less advanced brethren “ edifying , forsooth! to what end?”
[1262] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[1263] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.
[1264] [1265]
[1266]ert. Tertullian.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
see. App-133.
sit at meat = sitting down.
idol’s temple. Greek. eidoleion. Only here.
conscience. Greek. suneidesis.
which = since he.
emboldened. Literally built up. Greek. oikodomeo, as in 1Co 8:1. There is Irony (App-6) here. Instead of building up the weak brother, the edifice will come tottering down (1Co 8:11).
to eat = for (Greek. eis) eating.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
10.] Explanation how the may arise.
, scil. (see below) .
seems to imply that the weak brother is aware of this, and looks up to thee as such.
.] See on ., 1Co 8:1.
, as , , , &c.
is not a vox media, as Le Clerc, Elsner, Wolf, al., nor is it impelletur, as Castal., Bengel, Kypke, al., nor confirmabitur, as Syr., Grot., Billroth, al. (Mey.), but as Meyer and De Wette, dificabitur, not without a certain irony, seeing it is accompanied by ,-for thus the building up would be without solid foundation-a ruinosa dificatio, as Calv.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 8:10. ) A word fitted to deter. It is found in 1Ma 1:47; 1Ma 1:50, 1Ma 10:83.; 3 Esdr. 2:10.-, shall be built up in [emboldened to]) An antiphrasis.[67] You ought to have built up your brother in doing good; but you by your example impel him to do evil. [The force of example is great.-V. g.]- , to eat things offered to idols) By these very words the horror of the weak man is expressed, who eats notwithstanding.
[67] See Appendix: When words are used to signify the contrary of what is expressed, as here, shall be built up (usually applied to what is good), meaning, shall be impelled to what is bad.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 8:10
1Co 8:10
For if a man see thee who hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idols temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?-Those who have not freed themselves from conscience of the idol, who cannot eat of the meat sacrificed to it, without worshiping it, seeing one who has knowledge sitting at meat in the idols temple, would suppose that the strong brother was worshiping the idol, and be led by the example to eat in worship to the idol. [The fact of his example being avowedly advanced in the knowledge of the faith would make his example the more dangerous, because more effective.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
which hast: 1Co 8:1, 1Co 8:2
sit: 1Co 10:20, 1Co 10:21, Num 25:2, Jdg 9:27, Amo 2:8
shall not: 1Co 10:28, 1Co 10:29, 1Co 10:32, Rom 14:14, Rom 14:23
emboldened: Gr. edified, 1Co 8:1
Reciprocal: Exo 34:15 – eat 1Ki 15:26 – in his sin Jer 31:8 – them the Mat 10:42 – one Mar 9:42 – offend Rom 15:14 – filled 1Co 8:7 – with 1Co 8:9 – take Rev 2:20 – and to seduce
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 8:10. See thee is a key to the subject, which will be referred to at verse 13. Idol’s temple. After the religious exercises were over, a temporal meal was served and a visitor could sit down and eat in much the same fashion he would today in a restaurant. There was nothing wrong about it in itself; but if one of these weaker brethren should see it, he would be emboldened (encouraged) to eat also. He would reason, “If that brother may eat of that meat, I will also.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 8:10. For if a man see thee who hast knowledgeof the emptiness of idols and the lawfulness of all foodsitting at meat in an idols temple. The word here used (in the Greek of the Old Testament and this one place of the New Testament) is used only for heathen temple, to mark its idolatrous character; the word employed for the temple of the living God being studiously avoided on such a subject.
will not his conscience, if (or while) he is weak, be emboldenedGr. built up, just as we speak of one built up in self-conceitto eat things sacrificed unto idols?
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The meaning of the apostle seems to be this: If any man with an erroneous conscience goes to these feasts, and there sees thee, (who he thinks has more knowledge than himself,) sit at meat in the idol’s temple, will not his conscience be the more emboldened by thy example to eat things offered to idols in the honour of the idol, or, as thinking it no hurt, to worship the idol?
And thus by occasion of thy knowledge, a weak brother is in danger of perishing, for whom Christ died. An indiscreet use of that liberty which our supposed knowledge teaches us to make use of, doth that, if we be not careful, which may be accounted a destroying of our weak brother, by causing him to fall into sin. By all which the apostle lets us know the obligation which lies upon every good Christian not to use his liberty to the prejudice of others’ souls, by doing any action which may be let alone, but if done, may really become a snare to others.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 10, 11. For if any man see thee, which hast knowledge, sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? 11. And so through thy knowledge thy weak brother perisheth, for whom Christ died.
The for indicates that here is the danger Paul had in view when he said: Take heed! in 1Co 8:9.
This any man is one of the some of 1Co 8:7.
The reading , thee, must evidently be preferred to that of the Mjj., which omit this pronoun.
The term , the situation in which the idol is set up, is not common in classic Greek; it is not even mentioned in Passow’s large dictionary. It was formed by Jewish writers (1Ma 1:47; 1Ma 10:83) on the model of the words , , temple of Bacchus, Neptune, etc.; the apostle no doubt uses it to avoid the word (Edwards).
It is far from probable that one formerly a Jew would be found within the enclosure of an idolatrous temple, and still less that the sight of a Christian partaking of such a banquet would have inspired him with the desire to eat meats offered to the idol; this spectacle, on the contrary, would have filled him with horror. The weak brother is therefore, as we have said, rather a former heathen.
The term , will be edified, [emboldened], is used with evident irony. It suffices to call to mind that the more advanced believer should by his superior knowledge have edified the other by enlightening his conscience and emancipating him from his false scruples, whereas by his imprudence he leads him to trample upon his conscience, and thus substitutes false edification for the true: he enlightens and strengthens him to his loss! Fine edification! It may appear surprising that Paul here lets the conduct of the strong Christian pass without calling his attention to the evil which he may do himself by taking part in such a banquet in such a place. But the apostle never wanders from his subject. His subject here is the self-denial imposed by love to our neighbour. He will afterwards (1Co 10:15-21) treat the other side of the question, that concerning the danger to which the strong believer exposes himself.
Vv. 11. If we read for, with the two oldest Mjj., this particle refers to the ironical term will be edified [emboldened]: edified, for as the fruit of it he perishes! But it seems to me more natural simply to read, with all the other Mjj. and the Peschito, , in the sense of: and so. As to the tense of the verb, the present, perisheth, in the Alex. should be preferred to the future, shall perish, of the T. R. The apostle is thinking of the immediate effect: He is from that moment in the way of perdition. An unfaithfulness, however small it may appear, separates the believer from his Lord; by interposing between the branch and the stock, it interrupts the communication of life which ought to take place from the one to the other. From that moment spiritual death commences, and if this state continues and becomes aggravated, as is inevitable in such a case, eternal perdition is the end of it; comp. Rom 14:15. Every word of this verse has a force of its own: cause to perish; what success! A weak brother; what magnanimity! Through knowledge, which ought to have been used for his advancement; what fidelity in the use of grace received! A brother over whom thou shouldest have watched as over the apple of thine eye; what love! A man for love of whom Christ gave Himself to die; what gratitude!
It is this last particular, the sin against Christ, which the apostle more especially emphasizes as the gravest of all, in the following verse.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
For if a man see thee who hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idol’s temple [Literally, idoleum, or idol-house; a term coined by the Jews to avoid desecrating the word “temple” by applying it to seats of idolatry. The idol temples were frequently used as banqueting- houses; but for a Christian to feast in such a place was a reckless abuse of liberty], will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened [literally, built up, as at verse 1–built up in evil, not in Christ] to eat things sacrificed to idols? [will he not eat as a worshiper, and not sinless as you do?]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
10. For if any one may see thee having knowledge, sitting in the idols temple, will not the conscience of him being weak be encouraged to eat the things offered to idols?
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 10
Which hast knowledge; whose mind is enlightened in regard to the moral indifference of the act.–Be imboldened to eat, &c.; and thus led to sin by doing what he supposes to be wrong.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
8:10 {6} For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;
(6) Another plain explication of the same reason, propounding the example of the sitting down at the table in the idol’s temple. This thing the Corinthians did wrongly consider among things indifferent, because it is simply forbidden for the circumstance of the place, even though the offence had ceased, as it will be declared in its place.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
In 1Co 8:10-12 Paul proceeded to appeal on behalf of the rights of the weak. Suppose a Corinthian Christian appreciated the fact that eating meat offered to an idol was insignificant in itself. He might accept an invitation from friends to share a meal in a pagan temple at which the cultic leader served offered meat if he saw another Corinthian believer there. Undoubtedly some of the believers in Corinth were attending these feasts and were encouraging other Christians to take this "knowledgeable" stand. Some have argued that the meals here were spiritually harmless temple meals. [Note: E.g., Bruce K. Fisk, "Eating Meat Offered to Idols: Corinthian Behavior and Pauline Response in 1 Corinthians 8-10 (A Response to Gordon Fee)," Trinity Journal 10 NS:1 (Spring 1989):49-70.] But this seems indefensible to me. This verse is one of the clearest evidences that participating in feasts in idol temples was the issue Paul was addressing rather than simply eating marketplace meat.