1 Corinthians 8:10-11

“For if any man see thee, which hast knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? 11. And so through thy knowledge thy weak brother perisheth, for whom Christ died.”

The for indicates that here is the danger Paul had in view when he said: Take heed! in 1 Corinthians 8:9.

This any man is one of the some of 1 Corinthians 8:7.

The reading σέ, thee, must evidently be preferred to that of the Mjj., which omit this pronoun.

The term εἰδωλεῖον, the situation in which the idol is set up, is not common in classic Greek; it is not even mentioned in Passow's large dictionary. It was formed by Jewish writers (1Ma 1:47; 1Ma 10:83) on the model of the words βακχεῖον, ποσειδωνεῖον, temple of Bacchus, Neptune, etc.; the apostle no doubt uses it to avoid the word ναός (Edwards).

It is far from probable that one formerly a Jew would be found within the enclosure of an idolatrous temple, and still less that the sight of a Christian partaking of such a banquet would have inspired him with the desire to eat meats offered to the idol; this spectacle, on the contrary, would have filled him with horror. The weak brother is therefore, as we have said, rather a former heathen.

The term οὐκ οἰκοδομηθήσεται, will be edified, [emboldened], is used with evident irony. It suffices to call to mind that the more advanced believer should by his superior knowledge have edified the other by enlightening his conscience and emancipating him from his false scruples, whereas by his imprudence he leads him to trample upon his conscience, and thus substitutes false edification for the true: he enlightens and strengthens him to his loss! Fine edification! It may appear surprising that Paul here lets the conduct of the strong Christian pass without calling his attention to the evil which he may do himself by taking part in such a banquet in such a place. But the apostle never wanders from his subject. His subject here is the self-denial imposed by love to our neighbour. He will afterwards (1 Corinthians 10:15-21) treat the other side of the question, that concerning the danger to which the strong believer exposes himself.

Vv. 11. If we read for, with the two oldest Mjj., this particle refers to the ironical term will be edified [emboldened]: “edified, for as the fruit of it he perishes!” But it seems to me more natural simply to read, with all the other Mjj. and the Peschito, καί, in the sense of: and so. As to the tense of the verb, the present, perisheth, in the Alex. should be preferred to the future, shall perish, of the T. R. The apostle is thinking of the immediate effect: “He is from that moment in the way of perdition.” An unfaithfulness, however small it may appear, separates the believer from his Lord; by interposing between the branch and the stock, it interrupts the communication of life which ought to take place from the one to the other. From that moment spiritual death commences, and if this state continues and becomes aggravated, as is inevitable in such a case, eternal perdition is the end of it; comp. Romans 14:15. Every word of this verse has a force of its own: cause to perish; what success! A weak brother; what magnanimity! Through knowledge, which ought to have been used for his advancement; what fidelity in the use of grace received! A brother over whom thou shouldest have watched as over the apple of thine eye; what love! A man for love of whom Christ gave Himself to die; what gratitude!

It is this last particular, the sin against Christ, which the apostle more especially emphasizes as the gravest of all, in the following verse.