1 Corinthians 10:27

1Co 10:27-30. If any of them that believe not — Any heathen who lives in your neighbourhood; bid you to a feast — Invite you to his house; and ye be disposed — To accept the invitation; whatever is set before you — At the entertainment; eat, asking no question — About its having been sacrificed to idols; for conscience’ sake. See on 1Co 10:25. But receiving it, whatever it may be, as that supply which Divine Providence has then been pleased to send you. But if any man say, This food is part of what hath been offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not, for his sake that showed it — Whether he be a heathen, who might thereby be confirmed in his idolatry, or a brother, who might otherwise be insnared by thy example, and tempted to violate the dictates of his own mind; and for conscience’ sake — For the sake of his weak conscience, lest it should be wounded by seeing thee do what he judged to be unlawful. To explain this further, “The heathen often, in their own houses, made an ordinary feast of a part of the sacrifice, see on chap. 1Co 8:1; to these entertainments, the apostle told the Corinthian brethren, they might lawfully go when invited. But on such occasions, if a Christian domestic or slave, by informing them that this or that dish consisted of things which had been sacrificed to an idol, signified that they considered their eating these things as sinful, they were to abstain from them, for the reasons mentioned in the text.” For the earth is the Lord’s, &c. — This clause, inserted in our copies, is omitted in the Alex. Clermont, and other manuscripts, and the Syriac, Arabic, and Vulgate versions; and some other critics think it disturbs the sense. “But,” says Macknight, “it renders the argument more complete; for the meaning is, The Lord, to whom the earth and all its fulness belong, having allowed men a sufficiency of other wholesome food, no one is under any necessity of offending those who are either ignorant or scrupulous, by eating a particular kind.” Conscience, I say, not thine own — I speak of his conscience, not thine, lest it be troubled, and his mind be disquieted; for why is my liberty judged by another’s conscience — I ought not to use my liberty so as to do that which another man thinks in his conscience to be evil, and so judges me a transgressor for it. Or, as Dr. Doddridge paraphrases the verse, “I mean not thine own conscience immediately, but that of another person; for how indifferent soever thou mayest esteem the matter, thou art obliged in duty to be very cautious that thou dost not wound and grieve that of thy brother: but you will observe, that I here speak only of acts obvious to human observation; for, as to what immediately lies between God and my own soul, why is my liberty to be judged, arraigned, and condemned at the bar of another man’s conscience? I am not, in such cases, to govern myself by the judgment and apprehension of others; nor have they any authority to judge or censure me for not concurring with them in their own narrow notions and declarations.” Others think it is an objection in the mouths of the Corinthians, and to be thus understood: “But why should I suffer myself to be thus imposed on, and receive law from any, where Christ has left me free?” But the above interpretation seems more probable, which supposes that this and the following verse come in as a kind of parenthesis, to prevent their extending the former caution beyond what he designed by it. For if I, by grace — The divine favour; be a partaker — Of the common gifts of Providence; why am I evil spoken of for my free and cheerful use of that for which I give thanks — As tracing it up to the hand of the great Supreme Benefactor?

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:27-29 When Christians are invited for a meal with an unbeliever, the Christians are free to eat what is set before them unless warned that the meat has been offered to an idol. In that case, the Christian should refrain from eating it out of consideration for the conscience of the other person, who might misinterpret it or be hurt by believing that such eating honors the god to whom the meat has been sacrificed (see 8:7, 9-10; cp. Rom 14:13-15, 20-23).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Co 10:27. Θέλετε πορεύεσθαι, you wish to go) Paul does not much approve of this, nor does he forbid it.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_10:27. Δέ] of continuation. In the matter of invitations too the same principle holds good, only with the incidental limitation adduced in 1Co_10:28. Note the emphasis conveyed by the unusual place of the καλεῖ, in contrast to the τὸ ἐν μακέλλῳ πωλούμ. which has been already spoken of. Attention is thus called to the fact that a second and a new situation is now to be discussed; before, the reader was in the fleshmarket; now, he is a guest at a feast.

It is plain, at the same time, from 1Co_10:28, that what is meant is not the invitation to festivals in express connection with sacrifice, but to other heathen feasts, at which, however, flesh offered to idols might occur; for in the case of a sacrificial feast the ἱερόθυτόν ἐστι was a matter of course.

καὶ θέλετε πορ.] Admonet tacite, melius forte facturos, si non eant, ire tamen non prohibet, Grotius.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_10:27

If any of them that believe not bid you (to a feast), and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.

As the sacrifices lost their religious character when sold in the market, so also at any private table they were to be regarded not as sacrifices, but as ordinary food, and might be eaten without scruple. The apostle did not prohibit the Christians from social intercourse with the heathen. If invited to their tables, they were at liberty to go.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ye be disposed to go--tacitly implying, they would be as well not to go, but yet not forbidding them to go (Co1 10:9) [GROTIUS]. The feast is not an idol feast, but a general entertainment, at which, however, there might be meat that had been offered to an idol.

for conscience' sake--(See on Co1 10:25).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 27. If any - bid you to a feast] The apostle means any common meal, not an idol festival; for to such no Christian could lawfully go.

Whatsoever is set before you, eat] Do not act as the Jews generally do, torturing both themselves and others with questions, such as those mentioned in 1Co 10:26.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

27. If any one of them that believe not invites you. Here follows an exception, to this effect, that if a believer has been warned, that what is set before him has been offered to an idol, and sees that there is a danger of offense being given, he sins against the brethren if he does not abstain. He shows then, in short, that care must be taken not to hurt weak consciences.

When he says — and you are willing to go, he intimates indirectly, that he does not altogether approve of it, and that it would be better if they declined, but as it is a thing indifferent, he does not choose to forbid it absolutely. And, certainly, there could be nothing better than to keep at a distance from such snares — not that those are expressly to be condemned, who accommodate themselves to men only in so far as conscience permits, but because it becomes us to proceed with caution, where we see that we are in danger of falling.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(27) If any of them that believe not. . . .—How should a Christian act if a heathen friend invited him to a feast? Should he inquire whether there was any sacrificial meat at the feast, and so avoid eating it? No. The same principle applies here—no question need be asked.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27. If any of them that believe not bid you] i.e. to a feast in a private house. Although some of the Corinthians had gone so far as to declare that a Christian might innocently sit at meat in the idol temple, confident in his conviction that an idol was ‘nothing in the world’ (ch. 1Co_8:10), yet the Christian religion could not permit them thus to abuse their freedom. To sit at meat in the idol temple was directly to countenance idol worship, and thus to become ‘partaker’ of the ‘table of devils.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But if any man say unto you,.... Either a weak believer, to prevent the doing of what he thought to be sinful; or the unbeliever, that invites to try the integrity of his Christian guest, and to draw him into a snare:

this is offered in sacrifice unto idols; the meat that is in that dish, or that portion of food which stands in such a part of the table, came out of an idol's temple, and was sacrificed to idols; which with the Jews were forbidden (o): for

"everything that came out of an idol's temple was forbidden, and was reckoned as the sacrifices of the dead; for it was not thought possible it could be there, and not offered to idols:''

now when any at the feast, either believer or unbeliever, should thus point at any particular dish, and affirm this of it; then the apostle's advice is,

eat not for his sake that showed it: who, if a weak believer, will be grieved and wounded; and if an infidel, will be hardened in his impiety, and be furnished with an opportunity of reproaching the Christians, as variable, insincere, and unfaithful in their religion:

and for conscience sake; which is explained in the following verse:

the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; which words are neither in the Syriac version, nor in the Vulgate Latin, nor in the Alexandrian copy, and some others, and are thought by some to be added, from Co1 10:26 though the repetition of them is far from being impertinent; since they contain a very good reason why such a man should abstain from things sacrificed to idols, seeing there is such a plenty and variety of creatures for his use, which he has a right to eat of; and therefore is under no necessity to eat of such sacrifices, nor is it any hardship upon him to forbear the use of them.

(o) T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 32. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

27 If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.

Ver. 27. And ye be disposed to go] Our Saviour, when he saw that John’s austerity was censured, took his liberty in the use of creatures, and convenient company keeping, Luk 7:33-34. I do not find where ever he was bidden to any table and refused. Not for a pleasure of the dishes, but for the benefit of so winning a conversation.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If any of them that believe not - That are not Christians; that are still pagans.

Bid you to a feast - Evidently not a feast in the temple of an idol, but at his own house. If he asks you to partake of his hospitality.

And ye be disposed to go - Greek, “And you will to go.” It is evidently implied here that it would be not improper to go. The Saviour accepted such invitations to dine with the Pharisees (see the note at Luk 11:37); and Christianity is not designed to abolish the courtesies of social life; or to break the bonds of contact; or to make people misanthropes or hermits. It allows and cultivates, under proper Christian restraints, the contact in society which will promote the comfort of people, and especially that which may extend the usefulness of Christians. It does not require, therefore, that we should withdraw from social life, or regard as improper the courtesies of society; see the note at 1Co 5:10.

Whatsoever is set before you ... - Whether it has been offered in sacrifice or not; for so the connection requires us to understand it.

Eat - This should be interpreted strictly. The apostle says “eat,” not “drink;” and the principle will not authorize us to “drink” whatever is set before us, asking no questions for conscience sake; for while it was matter of indifference in regard to eating, whether the meat had been sacrificed to idols or not, it is not a matter of indifference whether a man may drink intoxicating liquor. That is a point on which the “conscience” should have much to do; and on which its honest decisions, and the will of the Lord, should be faithfully and honestly regarded.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Eat of any thing, &c. Here at length St. Paul prescribes them a rule by which they were to govern themselves, as to meats that they met with. Buy and eat any thing sold in the market, or of any thing that you meet with at the table of infidels, when they invite you, for all are the Lord’s creatures, and may be taken with thanksgiving, as we ought to take whatsoever we eat. --- But if any man say, this hath been sacrificed to idols, do not eat of it for his sake, &c. And why must they not then eat of it? because either he is an infidel that says it: and then by saying so, he may mean that they who eat it, ought to eat it in honour of their gods. Or if a weak brother says so, he thereby signifies, that his conscience judges it not lawful to be eaten; so that in one case, you seem to consent that things are to be taken in honour of idols: in the other, you give offence to your weak brother: and I would have you to be without offence, both to Jews and Gentiles; and not to think it enough that you can eat such things with thanksgiving. It may be asked here why the apostle should not absolutely for bid them ever any thing offered to idols, as this seems a thing absolutely forbidden in the council of Jerusalem? (Acts xv. 23.) To this some answer, that the apostle here expounds the true sense of that decree, which was only to be understood, when eating such meats gave scandal. Others say, the prohibition was only for a short time, and now was out of date. Others take notice, that the prohibition was not general, nor for all places, but only for the new converted Gentiles that were at Antioch, or in Syria and Cilicia, as specified in the decree. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The apostle puts another case, in which they might lawfully enough eat of meat offered to an idol; that was in case any of their neighbours, that were heathens, invited them to dinner or supper in a private house (some add, or in the idol’s temple, if it were a feast of friendship, not a feast upon a sacrifice; but I doubt that, and also whether in the idol-temples there were any feasts but upon sacrifices): he determineth it lawful for them to go and eat whatsoever was set before them; but in this case he would also have them

ask no questions for conscience sake.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

27. If—St. Paul has thus far stated the rule for the market; now comes the rule for the table.

Bid… feast—A Christian is invited by a pagan friend, not to a temple banquet, but to a feast at the latter’s residence.

Disposed to go—Though a pagan, he may still be a dear friend, and Christianity requires not that the innocent tie be broken.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bid you to a feast. It is assumed that the feast is to take place in a private house, not an idol temple. (1Co_8:10) Ye be disposed to go; rather, ye wish to go, with an emphasis on the "wish," which, as Grotius says, perhaps implies that the wish is not particularly commendable, although the apostle, in his large-hearted tolerance, does not actually blame it. The rabbis decided very differently. "If," said Rabbi Ishmael, "an idolater makes a feast in honour of his son, and invites all the Jews of his town, they eat of the sacrifices of the dead, even though they eat and drink of their own" ("Avodah Zarah," fol. 18, 1). There are many passages of the Talmud which raise the suspicion that the rabbis are purposely running counter to the teaching of the New Testament.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our apostle here puts another case: "Suppose an unbeliever, an infidel or heathen, did invite a believer, a Christian, to a feast of civil friendship in his private house, (not to a feast upon a sacrifice in the idol-temple, which was absolutely unlawful,) what was to be done in this case?" He declares they may warrantably go and eat whatever is set before them without scruple, but would have them ask no questions about the lawfulness of it; nevertheless, if the master of the feast, or any present at the feast, shall suggest that some part of the meat has been offered to an idol, in that case he would have them forbear, lest they should encourage any man to idolatry; adding his reason as before, For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: that is, there is plenty and variety of other meat to be had, which God, the Creator of all things, the Lord of the whole earth, has allowed us the free use of; so that we may well let the idol sacrifices alone.

Here we see, that an action lawful in itself becomes sinful, and is condemned as such, when there is a breach of charity in the doing of it.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If one of them that believe not biddeth you to a feast, and ye are disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience' sake .

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

27–33. If any of them that believe not, etc. If invited to an unbeliever's house, go, if you wish, and eat what is set before you without question on account of conscience.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

[1568] parallel.

[1569] classical.

[1570] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[1571] idd. Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon.

[1572] Grimm-Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the N.T.

[1573] English Version.

[1574] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[1575] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27. εἴ τις καλεῖ ὑμᾶς τῶν ἀπίστων, i.e. to a feast in a private house, not in an idol temple. See ch. 1Co 8:9. To sit at meat in the idol temple was clearly to be a partaker of the ‘table of daemons.’

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27.] The same maxim applied to their conduct at a banquet given by a heathen. A miscellaneous banquet, and not a sacrificial feast, is meant. At such, there might be meat which had been offered to idols. Grot, says well on θέλετε πορεύεσθαι, “Admonet tacite, melius forte facturos, si non eant: ire tamen non prohibet: supra, cap. 5:10.”

On (διὰ τ. συνείδ., see above, ver. 25.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27. καλεῖ ὑμᾶς. The pronoun here has a slight change of meaning. He has been addressing all the Corinthian Christians, but this ὑμᾶς can only mean ‘some of you.’ All of them had heathen acquaintances, one of whom might invite several of them. And the emphasis is on καλεῖ: he suggests that without an express invitation they surely would not go.

καὶ θέλετε πορεύεσθαι. ‘And you care to go’: an intimation that he does not advise their going, though he does not forbid it; satius fore si recusarent (Calv.).

πᾶν τὸ παρατιθέμενον. Placed first with emphasis, like πᾶν τὸ ἐν μ. πωλ.: ‘Anything that is put before you’; ‘Anything that is for sale,’ etc. Cf. Luk 10:8.

εἴ τις (א A B D* F G P, Latt.) is to be preferred to εἰ δέ τις (C D 3 E H K L, Syrr.).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 27. “If any of them that believe not bid you, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.” — The reading δέ, but, may be supported as contrasting this new case with the foregoing; but the two cases may also be simply put in juxtaposition without particle, according to the reading of the Alex.

There is much delicacy in the: and ye be disposed...Paul does not forbid acceptance of the invitation; for family bonds ought to be respected; they may even become, in the case of the believer, a means of advancing God’s kingdom. But, while speaking as he does, and expressly referring the decision to the Christian’s conscience, he yet makes him feel the need of reflection; for many dangers might accompany such invitations to heathen houses, even in a private dwelling, where the meal was always accompanied with certain religious ceremonies. The words εἰς δεῖπνον, to a feast, in the Greco-Lat. reading, are certainly a gloss. For the διὰ τὴν συνείδησιν, see on 1Co 10:25. Holsten gives to these words the meaning: “The strong believer need not make inquiry, and that because of the conscience of the weak brother, present or not present, who might be offended if it turned out as the result of the inquiry that the meat had been offered to idols.” The same reasons as we have given at 1Co 10:25 seem to us to exclude this meaning.

The second alternative, 1Co 10:28-30 : the case in which the question is raised as to the origin of the meats offered at a feast.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.