Passage Overview · Free · 1 Corinthians 8:4–6
One God, One Lord: Knowledge Must Be Governed by Love
The issue is food associated with idols, but Paul first addresses the attitude of the “knowledgeable.” “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.” Correct theology can still be used destructively if love is absent.
Paul agrees that an idol has no true divine existence and that “there is none other God but one.” Verse 6 then gives one of the New Testament’s most important Christological formulations: “one God, the Father… and one Lord Jesus Christ,” through whom are all things. Many scholars see Paul deliberately reshaping the language of Israel’s Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) around the Father and Jesus while maintaining monotheism.