1 Corinthians 10:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Corinthians 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.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Corinthians 10:25 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:
Luke 10:7-8 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to hou…
1 Corinthians 5:9-11 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
Luke 5:29-30 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.
Luke 15:23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
Luke 19:7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
2 Corinthians 1:13 For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;
2 Corinthians 4:2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestatio…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 10:23–end
In this passage the apostle shows in what instances, notwithstanding, Christians might lawfully eat what had been sacrificed to idols. They must not eat it out of religious respect to the idol, nor go into his temple, and hold a feast there, upon what they knew was an idol-sacrifice; nor perhaps out of the temple, if they knew it was a feast held upon a sacrifice, but there were cases wherein they might without sin eat what had been offered. Some such the apostle here enumerates. - But,
I. He gives a caution against abusing our liberty in lawful things. That may be lawful which is not expedient, which will not edify. A Christian must not barely consider what is lawful, but what is expedient,…
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).
Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 10:27
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 Co1 10:26.
John Gill on 1 Corinthians 10:27
If any of them that believe not,.... In Christ, and make no profession of faith in him; but are infidels to his person, office, grace, righteousness, Gospel, and ordinances, as there were many such at Corinth: "bid you" to a feast; invite you to dine or sup with them in their own houses:
and ye be disposed to go; the apostle does not lay any commands upon them to go, or not go, but leaves them to their own will, inclination, and discretion; for as circumstances might be, it might be either proper or improper to listen to an invitation from such a quarter; but if they were inclined, and did think fit to go, which they might without sin; for as it is lawful to trade, so to eat and drink with…
The Church Fathers
"If one of them that believe not biddeth you," saith he, "to a feast, and you are disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake." See again his moderation. For he did not command and make a law that they should withdraw themselves, yet neither did he forbid it. And again, should they depart, he frees them from all suspicion. Now what may be the account of this? That so great curiousness might not seem to arise from any fear and cowardice. For he who makes scrupulous enquiry doth so as being in dread: but he who, on hearing the fact, abstains, abstains as out of contempt and hatred and aversion. Wherefore Paul, purposing to establish both points, saith, "Whatsoever is set before you, eat."
Wherefore daintiness is to be shunned, and we are to partake of few and necessary things. "And if one of the unbelievers call us to a feast, and we determine to go" (for it is a good thing not to mix with the dissolute), the apostle bids us "eat what is set before us, asking no questions for conscience sake." Similarly he has enjoined to purchase "what is sold in the shambles," without curious questioning. We are not, then, to abstain wholly from various kinds of food, but only are not to be taken up about them. We are to partake of what is set before us, as becomes a Christian, out of respect to him who has invited us, by a harmless and moderate participation in the social meeting; regarding the sumptuousness of what is put on the table as a matter of indifference, despising the dainties, as after a little destined to perish.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Luke, Gospel according to — Was written by Luke. He does not claim to have been an eye-witness of our Lord’s ministry, but to have gone to the best sources of information within his reach, and to have written an orderly…
Expediency · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Guest · Rules for the conduct of — Rules for the conduct of
Idolatry · Accompanied by feasts — Accompanied by feasts
Manners · Rules for guests — Rules for guests
Prudence · 5:25,26;7:6; — 5:25,26;7:6;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
1 Corinthians 10:25-33
25. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:
25. Quicquid in macello venditur, edite, nihil disceptantes propter conscientiam.
26. For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.
26. Domini enim est terra, et plenitudo eius. (Psalm 24:1.)
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.
27. Si quis autem infidelium vos vocat, et vultis ire, quicquid vobis apponitur edite, nihil disceptantes propter conscientiam.
28. But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake…
Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Corinthians 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).
