1 Corinthians 8:12
in 1 Corinthians 8By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ.
KJV
But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
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This verse in 1 Corinthians 8
Commentary
11 notes on this verseConsequently, either when something is done which is intrinsically evil and scandal results, or if the performance of a licit act and one within our sphere of competence causes scandal to one who is weak in faith or knowledge, then the penalty is clear and unescapable.… "It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck.".
This site's exposition
for whom Christ died
on 1 Corinthians 8:11-12
And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died: Paul weighs the stronger believer's correct doctrine against the price Christ paid for the very brother that doctrine, used without love, may destroy, the brother's worth measured by the cross rather than by his theological maturity. But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ identifies the offense's true object, an injury done to a fellow believer landing on the Lord himself, the same logic Acts 9:4 states to Saul on the Damascus road. The bench treats the pair as the chapter's climax, knowledge answerable to love because the person it might wound is one Christ died for and one Christ counts as his own.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"And thus sinning against the brethren, and wounding their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ." Do you observe how quietly and gradually he hath brought their offence up to the very summit of iniquity? And again, he makes mention of the infirmity of the other sort: and so, the very thing which these considered to make for them, that he every where turns round upon their own head. And he said not, "Putting stumbling-blocks in their way," but, "wounding;" so as by the force of his expression to indicate their cruelty. For what can be more savage than a man who wounds the sick? and yet no wound is so grievous as making a man to stumble. Often, in fact, is this also the cause of death. But how do they "sin against Christ?" In one way, because He considers the concerns of His servants as His own; in another, because those who are wounded go to make up His Body and that which is part of Him: in a third way, because that work of His which He built up by His own blood, these are destroying for their ambition's sake.
It is the very law of Christ that we bear one another's burdens. Moreover, by loving Christ we easily bear the weakness of another, even him whom we do not yet love for the sake of his own good qualities, for we realize that the one whom we love is someone for whom the Lord has died.
...on this account we must be "on our guard that we be to no one a stumbling-block, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor yet to the Church of God; and we must not seek that which is profitable to ourselves only, but …
The Medieval Church1 voice
He did not say: causing to stumble, but: "wounding," in order to show their cruelty, when they wound even a weak conscience. And he elevated this sin to the very height of transgression when he said: "you sin against Christ." In what sense then is …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Note, Injuries done to Christians are injuries to Christ, especially to babes in Christ, to weak Christians; and most of all, involving them in guilt: wounding their consciences is wounding him.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But when ye sin so against the brethren,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
But when ye sin so against the brethren - Against Christians, who are called by the Gospel to abhor and detest all such abominations. Ye sin against Christ - By sending to perdition, through your bad example, a soul for whom he shed his blood; and so far defeating the gracious intentions of his sacrificial death. This is a farther intimation, that a person for whom Christ died may perish; and this is the drift of the apostle’s argument.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
wound their weak conscience--literally, "smite their conscience, being (as yet) in a weak state." It aggravates the cruelty of the act that it is committed on the weak, just as if one were to strike an invalid. against Christ--on account of the sympathy between Christ and His members (Mt 25:40;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
But when ye sin so against the brethren - This is designed further to show the evil of causing others to sin; and hence, the evil which might arise from partaking of the meat offered to idols. The word sin here is to be taken in the sense of “injuring, offending, leading into sin.” You violate the law which requires you to love your brethren, and to seek their welfare, and thus you sin against them. Sin is properly against God; but there may be a course of injury pursued against people, or doing them injustice or wrong, and this is sin against them. Christians are bound to do right toward all. And wound their weak conscience - The word “wound” here (τύπτοντες tuptontes, “smiting, beating”) is taken in the sense of injure. Their consciences are ill-informed. They have not the knowledge which you have. And by your conduct they are led further into error, and believe that the idol is something, and is to be honored. They are thus led into sin, and their conscience is more and more perverted, and oppressed more and more with a sense of guilt. Ye sin against Christ - Because: (1) Christ has commanded you to love them, and seek their good, and not to lead them into sin, and, (2) Because they are so intimately united to Christ (see the notes at Joh 15:1 ff) that to offend them is to offend him; to injure the members is to injure the head; to destroy their souls is to pain his heart and to injure his cause; see the note at Mat 10:40; compare Luk 10:16.
The words behind it
15 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| οὕτως | houtos | Thus | G3779 → | 208 times |
| δὲ | de | then | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ἁμαρτάνοντες | hamartanontes | sinning | G264 → | 42 times |
| εἰς | eis | against | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τοὺς | tous | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀδελφοὺς | adelphous | brothers | G80 → | 343 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| τύπτοντες | tuptontes | wounding | G5180 → | |
| αὐτῶν | auton | their | G846 → | 5565 times |
| τὴν | ten | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| συνείδησιν | suneidesin | conscience | G4893 → | 30 times |
| ἀσθενοῦσαν, | asthenousan | being weak, | G770 → | |
| εἰς | eis | against | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| Χριστὸν | christon | Christ | G5547 → | 523 times |
| ἁμαρτάνετε. | hamartanete | you sin. | G264 → | 42 times |
οὕτωςThus
houtosG3779 →208 times
δὲthen
deG1161 →2765 times
ἁμαρτάνοντεςsinning
hamartanontesG264 →42 times
εἰςagainst
eisG1519 →1755 times
τοὺςthe
tousG3588 →19766 times
ἀδελφοὺςbrothers
adelphousG80 →343 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
τύπτοντεςwounding
tuptontesG5180 →
αὐτῶνtheir
autonG846 →5565 times
τὴν<the>
tenG3588 →19766 times
συνείδησινconscience
suneidesinG4893 →30 times
ἀσθενοῦσαν,being weak,
asthenousanG770 →
εἰςagainst
eisG1519 →1755 times
ΧριστὸνChrist
christonG5547 →523 times
ἁμαρτάνετε.you sin.
hamartaneteG264 →42 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Corinthians 12:12The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.
it leads to
- Romans 12:4–5
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function,
- Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.
- 1 Corinthians 12:27
Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.
- Ephesians 4:15–16
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.
- Romans 12:4–5
Through
Matthew 18:21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
it leads to
- Luke 17:3–4
Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
- Luke 17:3–4
Through
Matthew 18:6But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned…
it leads to
- Mark 9:42
But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown…
- Luke 17:1–2
Jesus said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
- Matthew 18:10
See that you do not look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven.
- Mark 9:42
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Corinthians
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS 71; Basil of Caesarea, CONCERNING BAPTISM 10; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 20; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pseudo-Clement, Two Epistles on Virginity and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.