Commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:22b-33

Text in red are my additions. 

If There is Danger of Scandal the Faithful Should Abstain, Even at a Private Table, From Meats Offered to Idols 

1 Cor 10:22b. All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient.
1 Cor 10:23. All things are lawful for me, but all things do not edify.

All things are lawful, etc. See above, on 1 Cor 6:12 (see note below). The Apostle is speaking of all indifferent things, which, though lawful in themselves, sometimes are not expedient for the doer and do not edify the observer. “Saying they are not expedient, he alludes to injury to one’s self, and saying they do not edify, he hints at scandal to the brother” (St. Chrys.).

For me (Vulg., mihi) after “lawful” in these two verses is not represented in the best MSS.

Note: Here is what Father Callan wrote on 1 Cor 6:12~All things are lawful to me. When preaching at Corinth the Apostle had perhaps made use of this phrase with reference to the ceremonial observances of the Mosaic Law, telling his hearers that they were now free to eat all kinds of foods. Here he cautions that there are certain limitations to this Christian liberty, even in indifferent matters. Abusing the maxim, some of the Christians had extended it to the practice of fornication. All indifferent things, regarded in themselves, are permissible, but they are not always expedient, i.e., not profitable; and they may become positively harmful, if they bring us under their power and make us slaves. Thus one is obliged to abstain from the use of certain foods and drinks, if he foresees that these will enslave him to intemperance and gluttony. Furthermore, if an indifferent thing becomes a source of scandal it should be avoided (10:22, 23).

1 Cor 10:24. Let no man seek his own, but that which is another’s.

Let no man seek his own, etc., i.e., no one should seek his own good to the disregard and injury of his neighbor. The Apostle is referring to real scandal, which we are to avoid when our neighbor’s welfare demands it (1 Cor 13:5).

1 Cor 10:25. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat; asking no question for conscience’ sake.
1 Cor 10:26. The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. 

In the shambles, i.e., in the market.

Asking no question, etc., i.e., the Christians should buy and eat anything they find for sale in the market, since the foods there sold are harmless, whether they have previously been offered to idols or not. And in order not to excite any scruples, they should not ask whether the foods have been so offered; neither should they yield to such interior scruples as would make inquiries necessary.  They are free to eat anything because, as the Psalmist declared (Ps. 24:1) the earth, etc., i.e., everything belongs to the Lord and nothing is unclean in itself, or of itself able to defile. Naturally the Apostle is speaking to those Christians who are well instructed and whose consciences are right 1 Cor 8:1 ff.). If it be asked how this advice can be made to harmonize with the decree of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:23, 29), the answer given by Estius, Bisping, Cornely and others is that Achaia and Macedonia did not fall within the scope of that decree. The decree was intended only for those countries where there were many Jews, such as Antioch, Syria and Cilicia (Acts 15:23). The decree of the Council was, after all, only a temporary measure, and perhaps at the writing of this Epistle it was not considered any longer necessary to abide by it.

In the Greek, verse 26 is joined to verse 25 by the conjunction (γάρ), because, which shows that it is a proof of the direction given in verse 25.

1 Cor 10:27. If any of them that believe not, invite you, and you be willing to go; eat of anything that is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake.

If any of the faithful should be invited by their pagan relatives or friends to a private or ordinary banquet, they may go if they wish; and if they go, they should eat whatever is given them, asking no questions about where the food was procured, or whether it had previously been offered to idols, or the like, and this so as not to upset their consciences.

1 Cor 10:28. But if any man say: This has been sacrificed to idols, do not eat of it for his sake that told it, and for conscience’ sake.

But If any man say, i.e., if any fellow-Christian should say to you at the banquet, “this has been sacrificed” (which is the best reading), i.e., this has been offered to an idol, do not eat it, for fear of leading your scrupulous brother to follow your example against his conscience, and thus to commit sin. Similarly, if one of your pagan friends or relatives should call your attention to the fact that the meat had been offered in sacrifice, do not eat it, because you may cause him to think you do not care about your own religion, and thus, instead of edifying him by your example or abstinence, you will scandalize him, and make him, who might otherwise later become a convert, persevere in his own erroneous religion.

The conjunction (ἐάν = ean, translated “if”) which introduces this verse, as compared with (εἰ = ei, also translated “if”) at the beginning of the preceding verse, implies that the supposition here is far less likely to occur than the invitation spoken of there.

1 Cor 10:29. Conscience, I say, not thy own, but the other’s. For why is my liberty judged by another man’s conscience?

In 1 Cor 10:25, 27 the Apostle was speaking about the conscience of a well-instructed Christian, who knows that idols are nothing and that meat offered to them is not defiled. But here, as also in verse 28, it is the false and timid conscience of someone else that is in question; and it is only for the sake of this weak person that an enlightened Christian need abstain from eating certain things.

For why is my liberty, etc. The Apostle means that it is absurd to say that the conscience of an instructed Christian is to be judged as really wrong, and so condemned, just because the conscience of someone else thinks what that instructed Christian does is wrong. Why should one who is free be forced to think like one who is a slave? If, therefore, an enlightened Christian should abstain from eating things in themselves licit, it is not because his conscience tells him, contrary to fact, that those things are bad, but only for the sake of not giving scandal to his weaker neighbor. Apart from serious danger of scandal the lawful exercise of one’s liberty must not be enslaved by others’ scruples.

1 Cor 10:30. If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?

The sense of this verse, like that of the preceding one, seems to be: If I perform a good action, is that action made wrong in itself just because of the false judgment of someone else? The Apostle is alluding here to the custom among the Christians of saying grace before and after meals.

1 Cor 10:31. Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.

Concluding the subject of partaking of food offered to idols the Apostle now gives the general precept (Estius, Cornely, etc.) to all Christians of performing all their actions for the glory of God. Naturally this is to forbid all bad actions, such as the giving of scandal would be. St. Paul here commands that Christians should, at least virtually, direct everything they do to God’s honor and glory. Some interpreters (a Lapide, Estius, Corn.) regard this precept, although affirmative in form, as negative in meaning; and they argue this from what is said in the following verse: we must not do anything which could impede the glory of God. Thomists, however, hold that the precept here given is affirmative, and that it is satisfied by a virtual implicit reference of all our actions.

1 Cor 10:32. Be without offence to the Jews, and to the Gentiles, and to the church of God:

Be without offence, etc., i.e., give no scandal or other offence to the unconverted Jews, and to the Gentiles (literally, to the Greeks), nor to the church of God, i.e., to the faithful. Charity requires us to edify all, and to scandalize none.

1 Cor 10:33. As I also in all things please all men, not seeking that which is profitable to myself, but to many, that they may be saved.

The Apostle directs attention to his own conduct, which the faithful should imitate.

In all things, of an indifferent nature, he tried to accommodate (ἀρέσκω = areskō, translated “please”, used in the same sense in Rom 15:2; 1 Thess 2:4) himself to the needs and wishes of others in order to save as many as possible. The Christians, by imitating St. Paul in self-denial and self-sacrifice for others, will be imitating Christ who suffered all privations and sufferings, even death itself, for the salvation of men.