1 Corinthians 8

1 Corinthians 8
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1 Corinthians 7:33-8:4 in Papyrus 15, written in the 3rd century.
Book	First Epistle to the Corinthians
Bible part	New Testament
Order in the Bible part	7
Category	Pauline epistles

1 Corinthians 8 is the eighth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Sosthenes in Ephesus. In this short chapter, Paul deals with an issue about food offered to idols.

This chapter can be grouped:

At the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem, reported in Acts 15, following advice offered by Simon Peter (Acts 15:7–11 and Acts 15:14), Barnabas and Paul gave an account of their ministry among the gentiles (Acts 15:12), and the apostle James quoted from the words of the prophet Amos (Acts 15:16–17, quoting Amos 9:11–12). James added his own words to the quotation: "Known to God from eternity are all His works" and then submitted a proposal, which was accepted by the Church and became known as the Apostolic Decree:

Here, Paul makes no reference to the Apostolic Decree, advising members of the Corinthian church that we all know that food offered to idols is a meaningless concept - "we know that an idol is nothing in the world" - but its consumption is capable of leading to misunderstanding. Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer argues that this omission "is in keeping with [Paul's] consciousness of his own direct and independent apostolic dignity".