1 Corinthians 10:19
What does 1 Corinthians 10:19 mean?
A plain-English look at 1 Corinthians 10:19 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What 1 Corinthians 10:19 means
Paul asks, “What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?” He anticipates a misunderstanding: earlier, he affirmed that idols have no true deity. He does not retract that. The point is not that the idol itself possesses power, but that the act of sacrifice and the communal meal involve real spiritual fellowship. Idols are nothing as gods, yet idolatry is not harmless. The Corinthians must avoid simplistic logic that treats all meals alike. The danger lies in the unseen allegiance fostered by participating in rites that deny the true God, even if the statue is empty of divinity.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
KJV
King James Version · 1611What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Do I say, then, that what is offered to images is anything, or that the image is anything?
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862what then do I say? that an idol is anything? or that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything? --
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752What then? Do I say that what is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? Or that the idol is any thing?
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890What then do I say? that what is sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
Context
This transitional question clarifies that Paul is not contradicting his earlier teaching about the nothingness of idols. He is setting up the sober reality stated in verse 20: sacrifices to idols are sacrifices to demons. Thus, while idols are not gods, the worship is not neutral—it aligns participants with hostile spiritual forces. Verse 21 will then draw the practical, exclusive conclusion about the Lord’s table versus the demons’ table.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Isaiah 40:17
All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
- 2 Corinthians 12:11
I am become foolish: ye compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing.
- 1 Corinthians 3:7
So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
- 1 Corinthians 1:28
and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, yea and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are:
- 1 Corinthians 13:2
And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
- Isaiah 41:29
Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nought; their molten images are wind and confusion.
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