ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 Corinthians 8.5-6

Book: 1 Corinthians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

3. but if any man loveth God, the same is known by him. 4. Concerning therefore the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no God but one.

5. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth; as there are gods many, and lords many; 6. yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.

  1. Howbeit there is not in all men that knowledge: but some, being used until now to the idol, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. 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. (1 Corinthians 8:3-8, ASV)
WEB

3. But if anyone loves God, the same is known by him. 4. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

5. For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth; as there are many “gods” and many “lords”; 6. yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.

  1. However, that knowledge isn’t in all men. But some, with consciousness of the idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8. But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better. (1 Corinthians 8:3-8, WEB)
KJV

3. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. 4. As 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.

5. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6. But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. in: or, for

  1. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. 8. But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. are we the better: or, have we the more are we the worse: or, have we the less (1 Corinthians 8:3-8, KJV)
YLT

3. and if any one doth love God, this one hath been known by Him. 4. Concerning the eating then of the things sacrificed to idols, we have known that an idol [is] nothing in the world, and that there is no other God except one;

5. for even if there are those called gods, whether in heaven, whether upon earth, as there are gods many and lords many 6. yet to us [is] one God, the Father, of whom [are] the all things, and we to Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom [are] the all things, and we through Him;

  1. but not in all men [is] the knowledge, and certain with conscience of the idol, till now, as a thing sacrificed to an idol do eat [it], and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8. But victuals do not commend us to God, for neither if we may eat are we in advance; nor if we may not eat, are we behind; (1 Corinthians 8:3-8, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul the Apostle
  • Audience: the church at Corinth, a mixed Jew-and-Gentile congregation in a wealthy Roman colony, fractured over teachers, status, sexual ethics, and the limits of freedom
  • Location: composed in Ephesus, addressed to Corinth
  • Time period: c. AD 55-56

Theological reading

Verse 6 is one of the most important Christological sentences in the New Testament, and its force is invisible unless the Old Testament text beneath it is heard. Deuteronomy 6:4 in Greek reads the Lord our God, the Lord is one, using kyrios and theos together of YHWH. Paul takes that confession apart and distributes it: one God, the Father, of whom are all things and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.

He does not add Jesus alongside the Shema. He puts Jesus inside it, in the kyrios slot, while still asserting in verse 4 that there is no God but one. N.T. Wright named this a Christological reworking of the Shema, and Richard Bauckham and Larry Hurtado have both built on the same observation in arguing that the highest Christology is present in the earliest recoverable layer rather than arriving centuries later. See Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ and Pre-Pauline Creeds.

Two consequences follow for apologetics. The claim that the deity of Christ was voted into existence at Nicaea has to reckon with a monotheistic Jew writing this around AD 55, some two hundred and seventy years earlier. See Council of Nicaea and Trinity. And the prepositions do real work: of whom for the Father, through whom for the Son, distinguishing the persons within the one divine identity rather than collapsing them, which tells against Modalism as firmly as it tells against Arianism.

Verse 5 concedes that there are many so-called gods and lords, which is not a concession that they exist as deities but that they exist as powers people serve. Paul's monotheism is not a claim that the spiritual world is empty.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

People:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.