1 Corinthians 8:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore, after refuting the notion about idols, he sets the scandal of the brethren as the first reason for abstinence. "Therefore concerning the eating," he says, "of things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world." Again he makes this knowledge common. He does not assign it to them alone, but ascribes it to the whole world. This teaching is known not only among you, he says, but throughout the earth.

What teaching? "That an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God except one." But are there no idols? Are there no images? There are. But they have no power and are not gods, but stones and demons.

He is now addressing two sorts of people: the more crude and the more fond of reasoning. Some see nothing in idols except stones. Others suppose that certain powers live in them, and they call these gods. To the first he says: "An idol is nothing in the world." To the latter: "There is no other God except one."

Do you see how he sets forth this teaching not simply, but with adaptation to pagans? Everywhere one must consider whether he says something absolutely or in relation to someone. This can greatly help us both in exact knowledge of the teaching and in understanding what has been said.

Are the holy icons like this? Are they depictions of invented, imagined, unreal persons? Was the incarnate Son of God nowhere and never present? If we believe that Christ truly was and remains in the flesh, then one cannot say that His icon is nothing in the world or that it is an idol.

Seeing that the more perfect did the same, they took part in those suppers and suffered great harm from it. They did not touch what was set before them with the disposition of the perfect. They touched it as food sacrificed to idols, and by this idolatrous worship was maintained. At the same time, the perfect themselves fell into no small sin, defiling themselves by demonic tables. These Corinthians, if one speaks abstractly and without relation to practice, had a correct view of idols. The Apostle fully agrees with it. He proclaims with great force the teaching of the one God, that there is no other God but One. He proclaims the unity of His Only-begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the vanity of the so-called gods. Yet at the same time he teaches that this correct view of idols is not to be taken abstractly. In practical application, in eating what is sacrificed to idols, and in relation to others before whose eyes it is done, it becomes not only incorrect but unworthy of a Christian. Christians must consider the influence of their opinions and actions not only on themselves, but also on others. For Christians, the fundamental guiding principle of life must be not knowledge, but love. Knowledge often leads to pride and division, but love always leads to edification and strengthening. Christians must have love first toward God, and then toward men. Yet both forms of love are incompatible with eating what is sacrificed to idols. Therefore, if a man eats what is sacrificed to idols and thinks he acts according to knowledge, he is mistaken. He shows that he does not know the fundamental Christian law of love. In general, he lacks full knowledge, which depends on God and love for Him. In this teaching the Apostle Paul repeats the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself, Who says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” (Jn 14:23). He also stands very close to John the Theologian, who taught, “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love has not known God, for God is love” (1 Jn 4:7-8). “Knowledge has need of love,” says St. John Chrysostom. “He who loves, as one who fulfills the chief of all commandments, can quickly acquire knowledge with the help of love, even if he has certain deficiencies. But he who has knowledge without love not only gains nothing, but often loses even what he has.” Blessed Theodoret, as if summing up the Apostle’s thoughts, writes: “We need much knowledge, and in the present life it is impossible to acquire perfect knowledge. Therefore let us love God, that we may be counted worthy of His providential care for us. This is what the Apostle expressed in the words, ‘He who loves God is known by Him.’ That is, he is counted worthy of His care.” Or, as Blessed Theophylact says, “He is made known to God and receives knowledge from Him. Though even then he possesses it imperfectly.” Dwelling on the Apostle’s well-known saying about the unity of the Godhead, our commentators chiefly concentrate on explaining the equal honor of the Father and the Son. Thus St. John Chrysostom says: “You will say that God, the Father, is called the one God. Therefore the name God does not belong to the Son. But see that the same is said of the Son, and the Son is called the one Lord. Yet we do not say that therefore the name Lord belongs to Him alone. Just as the Son’s being called the one Lord does not prevent the Father from being Lord, so the Father’s being called the one God does not prevent the Son from being God. And the same God as the Father.” The same is seen in the words, “through Whom are all things, and we through Him,” which refer to creation and salvation. “We are from God in two ways: by being and by faith. The same must be understood of Christ. Through Him the human race was brought from non-being into being, and from error to truth” (Chrysostom).

The words of verses 4-6 lose none of their dogmatic importance if they are counted as the Corinthians' words. From whom did the Corinthians receive them, if not from Saint Paul? Therefore, even if the Corinthians cite them, they are not the product of their own mind. They are the God-revealed apostolic word. Moreover, by citing them here, the Apostle confirms them by his agreement. He makes no remark against them, but approves them in full force. Then he observes that not everyone understands the matter so exactly and clearly, and afterward says what came of this.

Behold to what perfection Saint Paul brought his disciples, that they could assimilate and utter such lofty truths. Or perhaps only the first words, up to "we know," are again taken from the Corinthians' letter. Then the Apostle, in his own words, explains the thought contained in "we know."

"Now concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know." He repeats the same thing, only adding "concerning the eating," to show that the perplexity concerned precisely this, not what idols and things sacrificed to idols are. "We know that an idol is nothing." Theodoret puts such a word into the Apostle's mouth: "This is how you are accustomed to speak, because you learned from me to say this, namely, that idols are soulless and insensible, and that the Creator and Master of all is the one God."

"An idol is nothing in the world." But are there no idols? Are there no images? There are. But they have no power and are not gods, but stones and demons (Saint Chrysostom). "In the world" means among things that truly exist in nature and are necessary in the chain of beings. They are an invention of human imagination and have no significance.

Concerning statues and images, some thought that these themselves were gods. Others believed that statues served only as dwellings for gods, while the gods were distinct beings. The Apostle calls both the one and the other an idol. Bringing both together in one word, he says that an idol is nothing.

Idol properly means something phantom-like, imagined, conceived, but not existing in reality. People imagine that the statue is a god, but it is not a god. They imagine that someone lives in it, but no one is there. All this is fantasy. God is one, and besides this one God there is no other.