Some Corinthians reasoned that because an idol is nothing, they were free to eat anywhere, even at a meal in an idol's temple. Paul does not argue with their facts. He asks them to look at who is watching. "There is not in every man that knowledge" (1 Corinthians 8:7), and a believer with a weak conscience might follow their example while still feeling that the idol is something. Barnes says such a brother "will be fully confirmed in the belief that an idol is to be regarded with respect and homage." The question expects the answer yes, and it presses the knowledgeable believer to see that his freedom could harm another.

The answer is plainly yes, and Paul follows it with a sharper question: "And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?" (1 Corinthians 8:11). He warns that to "wound their weak conscience" is to "sin against Christ" (1 Corinthians 8:12). Then he states his own resolve: "if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend" (1 Corinthians 8:13).

In Corinth, meals were often held in honor of idols. Barnes explains, "Those entertainments were either in the temple of the idol, or at the house of him who gave it." To "sit at meat" is literally to recline at a meal, as guests did at a feast. The word translated "emboldened" is oikodomeo, "to build up." Barnes notes that the KJV margin reads "Edified," and he explains it as "Confirmed; established." It is the same verb Paul used in 1 Corinthians 8:1: "charity edifieth."

Paul places love above knowledge. "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth" (1 Corinthians 8:1). Knowledge can be right and still do harm when it ignores a brother or sister. The weak believer is one "for whom Christ died" (1 Corinthians 8:11). If Christ valued that person enough to die for them, a stronger believer can give up a meal for them. Barnes says even the "bare possibility" of such harm "should deter us from a course of conduct that might have this tendency."

Matthew Henry draws out why this matters to Christ: "wounding their consciences is wounding him." Later in the letter Paul adds that idol feasts are not truly neutral ground: "ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils" (1 Corinthians 10:21).